The first thing to remember about Marshall's recruiting class of 2012 is its volume.
It was huge.
Marshall had just eked out a 7-6 season, upsetting Louisville and winning the last three in gutsy fashion. Entering coach Doc Holliday's third season, there were many holes and many scholarships available to fill them.
Herd coaches signed well over the 25 annual limit. In the next five years, this class produced a lot of everything - talent, production, heartache, headache, great students, head cases and a wide variety of career endings.
A little too wide. Of the 30 signees introduced on Feb. 1, 2012, only nine made it to their senior day, the last ones saying goodbye last November.
That's not good. It's a notch above horrendous.
Still, the class helped produce a 38-8 record over the next four years, winning two division titles and the 2014 Conference USA championship. Just four of the signees, offensive linemen Clint Van Horn and Ryan Riedel, defensive linemen Gary Thompson and Joe Massaquoi, were around to suffer through the 3-9 season of 2016.
(Yes, Van Horn was a sixth-year man in 2016. He entered the program in 2011 as a walk-on and was announced as a scholarship athlete in 2012. Remember that invited walk-ons remain recruitable athletes until they enroll, and are not announced by the school.)
There were three later additions who contributed and finished what they started. Punter Tyler Williams walked on and earned his scholarship in a hurry. He averaged 43.9 yards on 211 kicks, including quite a few boomers of 50 yards and beyond.
The other two were the most interesting - graduate transfers Dominick LeGrande and Okechukwu Okoroha. They were both safeties, both had communication degrees from Boston College and both had the gift of gab to back them up. It's a shame they couldn't save the Herd's 2012 defense, the most generous in school history.
As I wade through my annual five-year review of a signing class after it has completed its work, let's review the others who reached the finish line.
n Matt Cincotta, long snapper: Much like the punter, the Herd couldn't afford to miss at this position. They didn't, getting a consistent snapper who could get downfield and serve as a "third missile." He had 12 tackles and two fumble recoveries - a snapper's Holy Grail.
n Devon Johnson, linebacker/running back: After switching between linebacker and tight end, he was shifted to running back in what may have been MU's most successful position change ever. His straightforward, smashing, stiff-arming style was a hit with fans and a terror for defenders.
He rushed for 2,373 yards and 23 touchdowns, most coming in a splendid junior season. But a back injury hampered his senior season and hurt his NFL pursuits. Give him credit for his 10 carries for 38 yards in the 2015 St. Petersburg Bowl despite not being 100 percent.
(Contrast that to Christian McCaffrey and Leonard Fournette, who abandoned their teams a year later while in good health.)
n Steve Dillon, defensive lineman: Had a solid career, forming a nice starting tackle duo with Jarquez Samuel in 2015.
n Joe Massaquoi, defensive lineman: Played outside, played inside, battled his way to eight career starts, seven in 2016.
n Gary Thompson, defensive end: Had 12.5 tackles for loss, nine sacks and five forced fumbles as a junior, but did not play nearly as well his senior year.
n Gage Niemeyer, offensive lineman: He started 11 games, though he was eventually beaten out by Garrett Scott at left tackle. Good juco plug-in.
n DeAndre Reaves, wide receiver/kick returner: One of my favorite stories of this group. He made his name with game-changing kickoff returns, then fought his way into the lineup and a big senior season at slot receiver. He is a prime example of patience and hard work paying off.
n Clint Van Horn, offensive line: When he wasn't fighting injury, he was one of the very best.
n Ryan Riedel, scout team: Good student, good citizen, always showed up for practice.
Save for special units, there wasn't a position unit that wasn't affected by early departures. The reasons spanned the spectrum - medical, dismissals, voluntary exits, transfers.
By position, here is the strange roundup:
n Quarterback: Gunnar Holcombe wasn't a good candidate to start, and he didn't start when he finished his career at Tennessee-Martin. But had he stuck around, he would have played against Louisville in front of a packed house, and Western Kentucky in front of a not-so-packed house.
n Offensive line: When Cam Dees arrived, he seemed to be the heir apparent to Chris Jasperse at center. He even started the last three games at center as a true freshman.
But medical reasons ended his career. Injuries also short-circuited the career of Tyler Combs, who redshirted in 2013, had his ankle reconstructed the next offseason and couldn't make it back.
Anybody remember Eric Ansley, Josh Murriel and Billy Rone?
n Wide receiver: Chris Alston. Caught a few passes in spring ball.
n Tight end: Anybody remember Chris Hall and Rakeem Reed?
n Defensive line: Anybody remember Ken Smith and Marcus Gilchrist?
n Linebacker: After signing, Kent Turene arrived as a midyear non-qualifier with all sorts of hype. But of all the prospects who couldn't buy a breather from injuries, he's among the top of the list.
Anybody remember Deyonte Henderson?
n Cornerback: A.J. Leggett was ticketed here, later moved to safety and could have been great at either spot. After an injury in 2012, he had four interceptions in 2013, four more in 2014, but played just two snaps and was gone by the end of September 2015.
Corey Tindal did play cornerback, and often worked as the nickel. He had 31 pass break-ups and two interceptions, and he was poised to have a fantastic senior year in 2016.
But he started a disturbing trend of Herd players declaring for an NFL draft in which they have no chance of being selected.
Anybody remember Deontae West?
n Safety: We mentioned Leggett. Here, we also mention Stefone Grace, Shawn Samuels and Andre Scott.
Grace was shifted to tight end, but only graced the 2014 roster. Ditto for Samuels. Scott played two games in 2013, recording two tackles and an interception with a 27-yard return before fading out.
Scott easily joined the All-Overhyped Team, coming to MU as the Central Florida Athlete of the Year and listing dozens of offers from all strata of major-college football.
n Running back: No, I didn't forget this position as much as I wanted to.
You know which names are coming up. Steward Butler. Kevin Grooms.
I wonder how many times Holliday wanted to head-butt the nearest wall after dealing with these two.
(Butler also was announced as a signee in 2011, by the way. I don't remember why that was so, but I'm not worried about it. Stew's announced 2012 signing lands him in this column.)
They combined for 3,303 yards and 32 touchdowns, and brought thousands of Marshall fans out of their seats with excitement. But they weren't the brightest bulbs, and they both earned their dismissals.
Butler was dismissed in 2015 after allegedly punching two men who exchanged a kiss on a downtown Huntington street early in the morning of April 5. Charged with misdemeanor battery and felony civil rights violations, Butler was dismissed quickly after his arrest in May, with interim university president Gary White weighing in with a strongly worded statement.
A Cabell Circuit judge ruled in May that Butler could not be charged with a hate crime, though a number of entities still want a state Supreme Court ruling on that, a Gazette-Mail story reported in November.
Grooms was tossed from the MU team in July 2014, after his third arrest in 16 months. He was released from the Western Regional Jail on March 24, 2015, after which an FBI investigation reported he sent 158 threatening messages to his ex-girlfriend within eight hours of his release. He was sentenced last month to two years in federal prison and three years of supervised release for cyberstalking.
Can't make that stuff up. Can't make this class up, either.
Contact Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsmock@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @dougsmock and read his blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/dougsmock/.