Friday brought two more commitments, one from a juco receiver and one from a high school receiver. Pleasant Hill (Cali.) Diablo Valley C.C. wide receiver John Hendershott (6-foot-3, 195-pounds, 4.5 seconds) has given Marshall a commitment, per Saturday's Dec. 20 edition of Huntington, W.Va.'s hometown newspaper, The Herald-Dispatch. Hendershott, who was just 6-foot-1, 190-pounds out of high school is rated three-stars by Rivals.com. Hendershott had offers from Bowling Green, Arkansas State, Utah State, Utah and several FBS (I-AA) offers.
In addition, Hendershott was named to the First Team JC Grid-Wire All-Americans. This is the 49th annual selection of junior college players by the JC Grid-Wire, as reported at JCFootball.scout.com. Hendershott, who was named as a utility player on the first team Juco All-American team, has already graduated from Diablo Valley. He is eligible to enroll at his school of choice in January. Diablo Valley C.C. had a passing attack that also ranked No. 2 in the state of California. The Vikings averaged over 425 yards and 36 points per game in 2008.
The new high school commitment is also a wide receiver. Michale Rhynes of Charlotte (N.C.) Independence High School told Marshall he would sign to play for the Herd. Rhynes is 6-foot-6, 205-pounds and has 4.6 speed in the 40. Although he missed some games with injuries this year, he returned to catche 18 passes for 347 yards and scored eight times. He was drawing interest from North Carolina, Duke, Tennessee and NC A&T, and has a 3.7 grade point average and is fully qualified by the standards set by the NCAA.
Last Wednesday, Marshall signed quarterback Press Taylor of Butler (Kan.) C.C., back/returner Troy Evans of Laney (Calif.) College, quarterback Jacob Laudenslayer of Mendocino (Calif.) College and Brandon Miller of Bakersfield C.C. Then on Thursday, Marshall added receiver Wayne Bonner of East Mississippi C.C.
Marshall’s other early commitments are Huntington (W.Va.) High School’s outstanding athlete, C.J. Crawford, 6-foot-2, 200-pounds with a 4.4 40-yard dash; James Rouse, a 6-foot-6 defensive end from Harrisonburg (Va.) HS; a 6-foot-3 wide receiver Freddie Moore of Austin HS in Decatur, Ala.; and Zakee Bashir, a 6-foot-2, 212-pound strong side linebacker who is ranked as the No. 56 SLB in the nation by Scout.com (Herd Insider is a member of the Scout.com Network).