The Mountaineers By The Numbers: No. 2

A series breaking down the best Mountaineers to wear each jersey number at WVU

Through the years, West Virginia football has had certain jersey numbers become iconic through the play of the men who wore them. To honor this, Mountaineer Maven is beginning a new series entitled “The Mountaineers By The Numbers,” in which we will select the best player to wear each jersey number for the West Virginia Mountaineers football team.

This is an entirely subjective process and if you disagree, let us know! Every edition of the series will include one or more numbers, starting with number one, and running all the way until 100.

Up next,

Number 2: Rasheed Marshall-QB (2000-04)

In Rich Rodriguez’s spread option offense, before Pat White there was Rasheed Marshall. An elite athlete from the same high school that produced Major Harris, Marshall spent a postgraduate year at Valley Forge Military Academy before joining the Mountaineers.

After a redshirt year in 2000, he entered his first active season as the understudy to returning starter Brad Lewis. Bringing in a different level of athleticism than Lewis, the youngster saw the field early in Rich Rod’s scheme, but a broken wrist bone ended his season after just five weeks.

With Lewis graduated the following year, Marshall entered as the expected starter and held the position, starting all 12 games as a sophomore and completing 139 passes for 1616 yards and nine touchdowns while getting it down on the ground with 666 yards and 13 scores.

Following the 2002 season, then-all time leading rusher Avon Cobourne graduated and the soon-to-be junior became the focal point of a punishing offensive attack that included 1000-yard rusher Quincy Wilson and junior college standout Kay-Jay Harris in the backfield along with Big East Conference Rookie of the Year Chris Henry split out wide.

Marshall served as a true leader for that 2003 squad as the Mountaineers put together an 8-5 record including upset wins over number-three ranked Virginia Tech and sixteenth ranked Pitt. Statistically, his numbers took a jump in the passing game with 1729 yards and 15 touchdowns, including the second-longest throw in school history on a 93-yard scoring toss to Travis Garvin in the win over the Hokies.

With over 300 yards in the run game as well, Marshall proved to still be one of the preeminent dual-threat signal callers in the country. With a highly anticipated 2004 season on deck, his senior year would be his best in the gold and blue.

The 2004 Mountaineers assembled one of the most talented rosters in school history, paced by returning stars in Marshall, Henry, Harris and Adam “Pac-Man” Jones. The Pittsburgh native did what was expected of him and more, putting up career highs in both passing and rushing yardage, as well as passing touchdowns.

Tossing 19 scores with 1886 yards through the air and 861 on the ground, he etched his name into the West Virginia record books for all time.

By the end of the season, Marshall found himself fourth all-time in passing, third in completions and first in snaps at WVU. He still ranks in the top ten of each of those categories.

A fifth round draft pick of the San Francisco 49ers in the 2005 NFL Draft, he played wide receiver and returned kicks and punts for two years before spending time on practice squads for Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

Marshall last played professional football in 2008 and now works as a fitness trainer while providing analysis for Mountaineer football coverage on the WV MetroNews Radio Network.

Honorable Mentions

Dan Kendra-QB (1974-77)

Charles Emanuel-DB (1993-96)

Darius Reynaud-WR (2005-07)

Robert Sands-DB (2008-10)

Ka’Raun White-WR (2015-17)