Receivers A Focus Point This Spring
4/5/2016 1:26:00 PM | Football
With 18 starters among the 58 lettermen returning from last year's 11-4 NCAA Division I Football Championships semifinalist squad, the Bearkats look to have plenty of experience at most positions.
Wide receiver is one spot, however, where Sam Houston lost two talented seniors. LaDarius Brown and Gerald Thomas combined for 1,741 receiving yards last year. Brown caught 54 throws for 838 yards and nine touchdowns while Thomas grabbed 51 passes for 903 yards and six scores.
While the Bearkats might not have size at the wide receiver position like that of the 6-foot-2, 215 pound Brown, they do have plenty of guys with wheels, according to Head Coach K. C. Keeler.
“We actually have more speed now than we did last year at that outside position,” Keeler said. “Losing that experience that LaDarius and Gerald had and those big bodies definitely is a loss. They played a lot of snaps and caught a lot of balls. At the same time, we have some guys who are going to be a little bit different. I think we're going to be a little bit faster on the perimeter.”
Brown and Thomas combined for 34 percent of Sam Houston's receptions, 42 percent of the team's receiving yards and 45 percent of team's receiving touchdowns in 2015. The pair had the ability to stretch the defense, which created big plays down the field, as well as opened up the middle for slot receivers Yedidiah Louis and Davion Davis by forcing safeties to take away the deep ball.
Now, receivers Tyler Scott and Grant Finney, among others, will have to use their abilities to make up for Brown and Thomas' production.
“Tyler Scott is a guy who is going to have to step up, so that gives us a chance to move Davion Davis to the outside,” Keeler said. “Grant Finney has to move to a new level. I think he has a good spring. He has to take over a starting role. As long as our tight ends can play like we believe they can, that will give us the opportunity to put one less wide receiver on the field.”
Keeler wants to utilize less four-receiver sets in 2016 and get athletic tight ends such as Collin Rison and Ragan Henderson more involved as pass targets in order to move Davis out wide. After catching most of his passes out of the slot as a freshman in 2015, Davis is poised for a much bigger role out on the perimeter in the fall.
“My coaches moved me inside and outside throughout high school. I'm completely comfortable with it,” Davis said. “I think it's easier. It's a lot more one-on-one competition instead of having the linebackers and safeties covering you.”
Louis' role won't change much in 2016. Keeler simply said, “Yedi is going to have to be Yedi."
Louis made several jaw-dropping plays when the Bearkats needed them most in 2015, including taking a 53-yard punt return back to the house to give Sam Houston the lead for good against its archrival Stephen F. Austin and turning a short screen pass into the game-winning 55-yard touchdown with less than four minutes to go in the first round of the playoffs against Southern Utah.
As a sophomore, Louis was named All-Southland Conference at two positions – both wide receiver and all-purpose back.
Louis is confident that he will continue to come up big when the lights are shining brightest, but he said he wants to improve in areas of the game that aren't quite as flashy.
“Whatever I have to do to make my team better, that is what I want to do,” Louis said. “One of the big things is being a better blocker. I have to worry more about blocking this year. The coach knows everybody knows how to catch.”
Sam Houston's 2016 spring training will come to a close Friday night with the annual Orange-White scrimmage beginning at 7:30 p.m. at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium.
