2017 FB Preview: Wide Receivers
8/18/2017 4:31:00 PM | Football
The 2017 Sam Houston State Bearkat football season is nearly upon us, and leading up to the August 27 kickoff vs Richmond, Bearkat Athletics will be taking a look at this year's Sam Houston roster.
This is the seventh of an nine-part preview, position-by-position of this year's squad. The Kats were selected as unanimous favorites to reclaim the SLC crown and boast five preseason all-Americans on the roster.
WIDE RECEIVER NOTABLES
Returning: Yedidiah Louis, Davion Davis, Nathan Stewart, Tyler Scott, Coree Compton, Grant Finney, Jaylen Harris, Marquis Bates
Newcomers: Caleb Jolivette, Quan Ardoin, Tevyn Stevenson
HUNTSVILLE – The Bearkat offense has the luxury of sporting weapons all over the field, but there's no group more dangerous than the deep group of wide receivers that quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe will have to choose from this season.
Last year Bearkat quarterbacks doled out receptions to 18 different names, while 13 different players hauled in at least one touchdown pass. Of those 18 players to haul in at least one catch, nine were wide receivers, and each one is back this year.
Headlining the receiver corps is the three-headed monster of Yedidiah Louis, Davion Davis and Nathan Stewart who combined for 184 catches, over 3,100 yards and 36 touchdowns between them a year ago. All three earned postseason accolades and the trio enters this year taking up all three slots on the preseason all-Southland Conference first team.
Both Louis and Stewart reached the 1,000-yard mark with Davis right behind them with 960 yards. Before last season only two other teams in the history of the FCS ever boasting three 1,000-yard receivers on the same roster, and this year they will try to become the fourth, joining Eastern Washington from last year and the Fordham squads from both 2013 and 2014.
Louis has been a huge component of the Bearkat offensive attack for the past three seasons and will enter his senior season on the cusp of multiple school and conference records. The New Orleans native, whose coaches and teammates routinely refer to as the top slot receiver in the nation, put together his best season to date in 2016 when he was named the Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Year.
“Obviously Yedi has had a great career for us and is going to break a bunch of records this year,” Bearkat wide receivers coach Terence Archer said. “We are excited about everything we can do with him. We'll move him all over the place and he is just a mismatch regardless of where we put him. There are not going to be many who will have someone who can just lock him down one-on-one.”
He had career highs in receptions (76), receiving yards (1,152) and receiving touchdowns (14) last season and now just 51 yards shy of becoming the third SLC player and second Bearkat to accumulate 3,000 receiving yards for a career. Louis has nearly 3,800 all-purpose yards in his career not only in the slot, but also as an explosive punt returner and occasionally out of the backfield.
His impact is not only felt on the field, but also in the locker room and on the practice field as one of two seniors in the receiving corps. According to Archer, he's embraced that leadership role and has had an effect on the younger group of receivers who are the next wave of talent in the upcoming years.
“Yedi has always been a lead-by-example type of guy,” Archer said. “It's really helped the younger guys because he practices as hard as anyone on every snap. He's got one speed and I think the younger guys see that. That's the effect he's had on our room. He's not a real vocal guy, but the kids see that he's an all-American and this is how he does it, so this is how I'm going to do it.”
Meanwhile, Davis and Stewart are coming off of big seasons of their own. The outside receiving tandem gave the Bearkats big-play threats from the game's opening snap, combining for 29 plays that went for 20 or more yards.
Davis shifted from slot receiver to the edge and flourished on the outside as a sophomore. He showed off his repertoire to the tune of 56 catches for 960 yards and 10 scores on his way to all-SLC second team honors, turning in four 100-yard games while hauling in at least one score in seven separate games.
“In a lot of ways Davion may be the best overall receiver we have with the combination of size, speed and route running, hands and blocking that he has,” Archer said. “He just does everything well and knows the whole offense. He knows the pass game and the run game in and out.”
On the other side of the ball, Stewart turned in one of the best freshman seasons in school history. He finished third in the voting for the Jerry Rice Award, given to the nation's top freshman, and his 1,004 yards receiving made him the first Bearkat to ever surpass the 1,000-yard mark.
His breakout game came at NRG Stadium when he exploded for 183 yards and a pair of scores in a blowout win over Stephen F. Austin and two weeks later he turned in a 129-yard, 2-touchdown performance against Abilene Christian. Three weeks later Stewart etched his name in the Southland Conference record book when he set a new league record with 268 yards receiving against McNeese, doing so on 12 catches with three scores.
“We knew in the preseason last year that out of the guys we brought in, Nathan was probably the most ready to play, but we didn't know exactly what that meant,” Archer said. “Did we think he'd come in third for the Jerry Rice Award? No, we thought he would have a chance to play as a freshman. But the impact he made was unbelievable and I think he could be even better this year with the work he's put in and the strides he's made.”
In addition to their three all-conference selections, the Kats also got a breakout season from Tyler Scott who returns for his junior season after going for 42 catches for 489 yards and five scores. That came in addition to making contributions on the Bearkat kickoff unit for the second straight season. He caught at least two passes in every game and went for career-best 130 yards and a score in the win over ACU.
“We made it very clear to Tyler after last season how important he was to our offense,” Archer said. “Playing basically with three all-conference guys, he can often get overshadowed. But he just does everything right. He does the dirty work. He blocks, makes tough catches on third downs. He does everything a coach wants and is super unselfish.
Grant Finney and Coree Compton are also each back for their senior and sophomore seasons, respectively, and bring more dangerous and viable options to a deep receiver group. A former track star with speed to burn, Finney provides the Kats a legitimate deep threat at any moment and averaged 18 yards per catch as a junior while hauling in 25 passes, a mark that was fifth on the team.
Meanwhile, Compton picked up a touchdown in his first collegiate game in last season's opener against Oklahoma Panhandle State, but spent the majority of the season making an impact on special teams; however, he could have a big impact offensively this season after taking advantage of extended playing time in the spring. He also took advantage in the weight room, adding weight to a legitimate 6-3 frame. According to Archer, he possesses good hands, he has the ability to high-point the ball as well as anyone on the Bearkat roster.
Add in 6-5 Marquis Bates the speedy Jaylen Harris and the Bearkats sport eight viable options at receiver heading into the August 27 opener. Bates spent most of his true freshman season as a key piece of the Kats' special teams units, but has the size and potential to turn into a premier weapon for the Kats. Meanwhile Harris, the sophomore kick returner came on late in the season to make an impact in the passing game.
“We felt good about putting Jaylen in late in the year in spots to get a one-on-one matchup,” Archer said. “He's another great speed guy and made some big plays for us against Central Arkansas and Chattanooga. We hope to just build on that and get him out there more and more. We'd love to have him be less of a situational guy, and more of a guy who can play 20-25 snaps for us.”
The Bearkats also made hay on the recruiting trail in the spring and brought in a trio of receivers from the high school ranks. One of those freshman is Caleb Jolivette, a burner from Manvel High School who played all over the field for the Mavericks. He showed off his speed in the offseason when he was named the Nike Camp Fastest man, and ran a 4.35 40-yard dash at The Opening Regional Camp. He had over 900 all-purpose yards as a senior and his speed also translates to the track where he was ranked No. 1 in Texas and No. 2 in the nation last year in the indoor 60-meter dash.
“Caleb did a little bit of everything in high school as far as playing running back and receiver,” Archer said. He's a track guy who has great speed and has been really good in camp. Whether it's on special teams or on offense, he's someone I think will make an impact this year.”
Sam Houston also added Quan Ardoin and Tevyn Stevenson, with Ardoin likely profiling to the slot while Stevenson will likely make his way to the outside. Ardoin was a receiver as a junior at Baytown Sterling High School before playing quarterback as a senior where he earned first team all-district honors.
Meanwhile, Stevenson was part of one of the state's most storied programs at Allen High School, helping the Eagles win the Class 6A Division I state title as a sophomore and two more berths in the state semifinals. Archer points to his size and route running ability as two of his biggest assets, skills should each continue to improve in his time in the program.
