Marshall University made its first move within East Texas in years Monday evening by targeting Tevailance Hunt.

The rising senior Texas High receiver, who reported the offer from the West Virginia based college directly to ETSN.fm, is the first local player to hear from the Thundering Herd since the ETSN.fm website went live in August of 2012.   

Hunt (6-2, 180) helped guide Texas High to a 10-0 regular season last year ahead of a mildly surprising loss in the bi-district round of the Class 5A Division I state playoffs to West Mesquite. He caught 36 passes for a second-best 701 yards on the team and scored 10 touchdowns through his junior season.

Senior receiver Quan Hampton had the most receiving yards on the 2016 Texas High squad and has since signed with Kansas.

With 10 NCAA Division I FBS offers in total, Hunt is expected to be an important holdover this fall for first-year coach Gerry Stanford.

Texas High, in addition to exhausting Hampton's eligibility, sent senior quarterback Cade Pearson to North Texas as an early enrollee and will lose lead running back Devuntay Walker to Midwestern State in May.

Marshall University -- which will play the upcoming season with one Texan on its roster in former Dallas Lincoln defensive back Rodney Allen -- went 3-9 overall last year and posted a 2-6 record in Conference USA competition. The program won 10 or more games in the three seasons before 2016, and head coach Doc Holiday is back for an eighth season in Huntington, West Virginia.

The Thundering Herd program relaunched in 1971 after 75 people affiliated with the football team, including 37 players, died in a plane crash in November of the 1970 season. Its story turned into a well-known football film, "We Are Marshall," starring Longview High School graduate Matthew McConaughey as new coach Jack Lengyel.

Marshall University, which had been a member of what is now known as the FBS level of Division I football up to 1970, relaunched itself as what is now known as an FCS program for the 1971 season ahead of coming back to the FBS level in 1997. The program won FCS national championships in 1992 and 1996.

Randy Moss and Chad Pennington were stars on the 1996 Thundering Herd team at receiver and quarterback, respectively.

Hunt, like all college football prospects currently in their junior year of high school, will become eligible to sign with any school that offers him in February.

2018 East Texas Football Players With Division I FBS Offers

  • Tre Allison, John Tyler, OLB, 6-0, 200 — committed to SMU; additional offer from ULL, Mississippi State (3)
  • Chance Amie, Tyler Lee, QB, 6-3, 190 — offers from Arkansas State, Bowling Green, Central Florida, Colorado State, Iowa State, Rutgers, Southern Miss, Syracuse, Tulane, ULL, Virginia (11)
  • Xavier Benson, Pleasant Grove, LB, 6-0, 200 — offers from Tulane, ULL (2)
  • Dekalen Goodson, John Tyler, DE/OLB, 6-2, 215 — offers from Houston, Mississippi State, Texas State, ULL (4)
  • Trae Hall, Henderson, QB/ATH, 6-3, 185 — offer from ULL (1)
  • Conner Henson, Harmony, OL, 6-4, 250 — offer from ULL (1)
  • Chasen Hines, Marshall, OL, 6-3, 340 — committed to LSU; additional offers from Arizona, Baylor, Louisiana Tech, Minnesota, North Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Southern Miss, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas State, Texas Tech (15)
  • Tevailance Hunt, Texas High, WR, 6-2, 180 — offers from Arkansas State, Bowling Green, Iowa State, Kansas, Louisiana Tech, Marshall University, Nevada, North Texas, Southern Miss, Tulsa (10)
  • Keaontay Ingram, Carthage, RB, 6-0, 198 — offers from Arkansas, Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, LSU, Memphis, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UCLA, UTSA (23)
  • Malik Jackson, Lufkin, WR, 5-8, 165 — offer from Arkansas State (1)
  • DeMarvion Overshown, Arp, ATH, 6-4, 196 — offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Clemson, Colorado, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Kansas, LSU, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, SMU, South Carolina, Southern Miss, Stanford, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, UTSA (27)
  • Tyree Wilson, West Rusk, LB, 6-5, 225 — offer from ULL, Washington State (2)

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