A small ray of sunlight in an otherwise dark time for Griz football.In 2011, Travon Van was the second-leading rusher for the Marshall Thundering Herd, and a year later he was a cornerback.
Now he’s a Montana Grizzly.
Van confirmed Friday that he’s transferring from Marshall to its former Football Championship Subdivision rival, the University of Montana. The 5-foot-11, 195-pounder out of San Diego will play running back for the Griz.
That’s partly why he ended up at Marshall – Florida, among other schools, had offered him a scholarship but couldn’t guarantee he would “carry the mail.”
“My goal in life was to play offense in college,” Van said of his decision. “They had a change of heart and I decided to transfer.”
Doc Holliday, Marshall’s coach, gave him his release.
“He’s a really good coach and we saw eye-to-eye, and he said he’d help me get to a school where they’d let me play offense,” Van said. “That’s where Montana came into the picture.”
Also helping was Jason Van, Travon’s brother, who played against Griz running backs coach Justin Green back in their high school days. Both went to San Diego State, though Green ended up playing for the Griz in 2003-04.
“He said, ‘You could give (Green) a call,’ ” Travon Van recalled. “I did and we just clicked from there.”
Van rushed for 551 yards and three touchdowns for the 2011 Herd, and started their first three games of 2012. He gained 93 yards on 39 carries – enough to lead the team – but on Sept. 22, in Marshall’s 54-51 double-overtime loss to Rice, he played a series at cornerback.
He didn’t play again. Holliday hinted that injury – after the 2011 season Van had two surgeries, including one to repair a torn labrum in his hip, and missed spring ball – had shelved the sophomore. But Van said he asked for his release after the Rice game.
Physically, he said, “I’m doing fine.”
Van rushed for 1,237 yards at Helix High School in San Diego in 2008 and then spent a year at the Milford (N.Y.) Academy. He signed a letter of intent with Florida and was going to enroll in Gainesville in the spring of 2010, but according to the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch didn’t qualify academically.
He switched to Marshall – Holliday is a former assistant to Urban Meyer – and redshirted in 2010.
He becomes the second running back to verbally commit to the Griz for 2013. The other is John Nguyen out of Bellevue, Wash.
The younger brother of Peter Nguyen is 5-7 and 187, and rushed for over 1,000 yards and 17 touchdowns as the Wolverines won a fifth straight Washington State 3A title.
Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 523-5247, at fneighbor@missoulian.com or @Fritz_Neighbor.
Welcome Travon Van!
Seriously?
