Tom Bragg: NFL Draft was good to Marshall; Jackson brings Dawson home

Spring sports are starting to wind down at Marshall, and summer is right around the corner. Let’s dive into a few things here before the students scurry away from campus and our focus shifts to preparing for fall sports.

l Rasheen Ali and Micah Abraham became the most recent additions to the fraternity of former Marshall football players to hear their name called in the NFL Draft.

Ali went in the fifth round to the Baltimore Ravens — making him the first former Thundering Herd running back drafted since Ahmad Bradshaw was picked by the Giants in 2007. Baltimore feels like a pretty good landing spot for Ali, even if he is a Cleveland guy, because there won’t be pressure on him to be “the man” right away. With his recent history of injuries, the Ravens should provide an opportunity for Ali to hone his craft while getting his body right and back to the top condition MU fans saw flashes of during his time in Huntington.

Abraham was selected in the sixth round by the Indianapolis Colts. His father Donnie, currently the defensive coordinator for the St. Louis Battlehawks of the United Football League, had a long NFL career and went into coaching when his playing days were done. Combine that pedigree, family connection to the professional game and Micah’s undeniable ability to flat-out play ball and it shouldn’t come as a surprise the Herd defensive back came off the board.

The Colts also scooped up former Marshall offensive lineman Dalton Tucker as an undrafted free agent, while defensive lineman and Herd folk hero Owen Porter (Minnesota Vikings) and linebacker Eli Neal (Los Angeles Rams) were also signed as undrafted free agents.

l There is still obviously a lot of work to do in rebuilding the men’s basketball roster this offseason, but first-year head coach Cornelius Jackson may have already made a crucial move for the Herd in the transfer portal.

Marshall picked up a transfer commitment from Akron’s Mikal Dawson last week — and if that name rings a bell, there’s a reason. Dawson is a Huntington native who was a superstar on the hardwood as well as a standout for Billy Seals and the Huntington High football team before spending a season at Huntington Prep prior to college.

Dawson wasn’t what I’d call a “star” for the Zips, but he did play important minutes for the team last season on their run to the Mid-American Conference tournament championship and a spot in the NCAA tournament, averaging 5.2 points per game mostly coming off the bench.

The Herd’s roster is pretty thin, and I’d expect Dawson to see that playing time increase in his return to Huntington.

l It has been a rough spring for the stickball sports at Marshall, with the softball team taking a significant step back from 2023’s success and baseball in the Sun Belt cellar for most of the season.

Softball sits at 24-24 overall and 10-11 in conference play — placing the Herd seventh in the SBC standings going into the final weekend of the regular season with a three-game series on the road at second-place Texas State.

Baseball is 13-30 overall prior to Wednesday’s scheduled game against Eastern Kentucky and resides in last place in the SBC standings with a 6-15 record in the league. Marshall hosts Georgia State for a three-game set this weekend before closing the regular season with SBC games against James Madison and Coastal Carolina, with mid-week games against rival Ohio sprinkled in.

I’m willing to give baseball a pass for this season. The stadium finally exists, the program wasn’t going to turn around overnight. Still, this is the ground floor, the ride must start going up next season and showing some positive progress in terms of wins and losses.