We cannot fix our passing attack by solely focusing on the quarterbacks as the WR Corp and Tight End Corps are very weak in terms of talent. Receivers lack ball skills, the ability to make contested catches, speed, and tenacity. You look at someone like Miami’s Xavier Restrepo and he catches pretty much everything thrown to him, even when the throws are much less than perfect. Which is why he ended up with 99 yards receiving in the Pinstripe Bowl. We are missing similar talent in our WR Corp, and it shows in our receiving results.
Some are acting like changing the quarterback makes this a 2.5K to 3K passing attack. Hard to see that happening unless some of our receiving unknowns step up, and someone becomes a 1K yard receiver, which I frankly don’t see right now.
Let’s look at our receiving corps of the past, and what we need today, to move our passing attack forward.
In 2008, we had our best passing attack ever, and these were the final results.
As you can see, Kenny Britt absolutely killed it, putting up 1,371 receiving yards, and ultimately was drafted in the first round by the Tennessee Titans. He had a 93 yard TD play vs South Florida. And he had nearly triple our 2023 #1 receivers production. And was almost as productive as our Top 4 receivers from this year! This is the caliber of receiver we are missing.
Tim Brown was our very strong #2 receiver from the slot, and brought legit 4.3 - 4.4 speed to the table, and big play ability, with the playmaking skills to score from anywhere on the field. His longest play was 74 yards. He was better than any receiver that played this year.
Even our #3 receiver that year, Tiquan Underwood, got drafted, and was also better than any receiver that played this year. He had close to 500 yards receiving, more than our #1 Receiver this year!
Plus we had kids like TE Kevin Brock, who chipped in with a respectable 300 yards receiving and had a good stint in the NFL, catching on as a UDFA.
When you compare with what we have these days, you can appreciate the paucity of talent. Kevin Brock, our #4 receiver in 2008, was almost as productive as our #3 receiver in 2023.
When I look at our receiving results for 2023, what strikes me is how few the receiving yards and touchdowns we scored were. There were 10 receiving touchdowns total for the year, with the touchdown leader only having 3.
These days Ohio State is our baseline for what we need our passing attack to be to compete with the Big Tens best.
We don’t have a Marvin Harrison on the roster yet, but incoming WR/Flex TE Korey Duff might one day grow into the role. He will probably spend the next year acclimating to Big Ten Football. If he can match Ian Strongs 230 yard production, I would sign up for that right now.
For now, it looks like incoming WR Dymere Miller, who is a Monmouth transfer, will likely be WR1. He had 1,295 yards receiving last year for Monmouth, playing the likes of Elon and Sacred Heart. But as we’ve seen with Jacque Jackson, not all that lower division productivity is likely to transfer.
Nevertheless, If he can be at least half as productive, with 650 receiving yards, it would be great. I would sign up for that right now. But Reaching the stretch goal of 1K receiving yards would be tremendous for us.
If Christian Dremel as the projected #2 receiver this year, can reach 600 yards receiving, a significant bump from his 463 receiving yards this year.
We need Ian Strong to roughly double his production, and become the #3 receiver. His goal is 400 yards.
The rest like Famah Toure, Dylan Braithwaite, Chris Long, Ofurie, Fuse, Ben Black, and others should be able to contribute something, but not sure what that is, yet. The passing yardage goal for 2024 should be 2.2K yards, up 20% from this year. Stretch goal Would be 2,500 passing yards.
Some are acting like changing the quarterback makes this a 2.5K to 3K passing attack. Hard to see that happening unless some of our receiving unknowns step up, and someone becomes a 1K yard receiver, which I frankly don’t see right now.
Let’s look at our receiving corps of the past, and what we need today, to move our passing attack forward.
In 2008, we had our best passing attack ever, and these were the final results.
As you can see, Kenny Britt absolutely killed it, putting up 1,371 receiving yards, and ultimately was drafted in the first round by the Tennessee Titans. He had a 93 yard TD play vs South Florida. And he had nearly triple our 2023 #1 receivers production. And was almost as productive as our Top 4 receivers from this year! This is the caliber of receiver we are missing.
Tim Brown was our very strong #2 receiver from the slot, and brought legit 4.3 - 4.4 speed to the table, and big play ability, with the playmaking skills to score from anywhere on the field. His longest play was 74 yards. He was better than any receiver that played this year.
Even our #3 receiver that year, Tiquan Underwood, got drafted, and was also better than any receiver that played this year. He had close to 500 yards receiving, more than our #1 Receiver this year!
Plus we had kids like TE Kevin Brock, who chipped in with a respectable 300 yards receiving and had a good stint in the NFL, catching on as a UDFA.
When you compare with what we have these days, you can appreciate the paucity of talent. Kevin Brock, our #4 receiver in 2008, was almost as productive as our #3 receiver in 2023.
When I look at our receiving results for 2023, what strikes me is how few the receiving yards and touchdowns we scored were. There were 10 receiving touchdowns total for the year, with the touchdown leader only having 3.
These days Ohio State is our baseline for what we need our passing attack to be to compete with the Big Tens best.
We don’t have a Marvin Harrison on the roster yet, but incoming WR/Flex TE Korey Duff might one day grow into the role. He will probably spend the next year acclimating to Big Ten Football. If he can match Ian Strongs 230 yard production, I would sign up for that right now.
For now, it looks like incoming WR Dymere Miller, who is a Monmouth transfer, will likely be WR1. He had 1,295 yards receiving last year for Monmouth, playing the likes of Elon and Sacred Heart. But as we’ve seen with Jacque Jackson, not all that lower division productivity is likely to transfer.
Nevertheless, If he can be at least half as productive, with 650 receiving yards, it would be great. I would sign up for that right now. But Reaching the stretch goal of 1K receiving yards would be tremendous for us.
If Christian Dremel as the projected #2 receiver this year, can reach 600 yards receiving, a significant bump from his 463 receiving yards this year.
We need Ian Strong to roughly double his production, and become the #3 receiver. His goal is 400 yards.
The rest like Famah Toure, Dylan Braithwaite, Chris Long, Ofurie, Fuse, Ben Black, and others should be able to contribute something, but not sure what that is, yet. The passing yardage goal for 2024 should be 2.2K yards, up 20% from this year. Stretch goal Would be 2,500 passing yards.
