Preview Week 4: West Georgia
University of West Georgia, GSC (D2)
Broadcast: Saturday 9/23 FloSports 6 PM CST/7 PM EST
When We Last Saw TEAM NAME
2023 Record 2-1 (1-0)
West Georgia is off to a tight start to the 2023 season with a 2-1 (1-0 GSC), and every game decided by three points or less. They opened the year with a squeaker against a game Limestone squad winning 21-19, in a characteristically sloppy game for the opening week of the season. In week two, they hit the road against Midwestern State where they fell 20-17 in Wichita Falls. Then last week the Wolves opened up GSC play with a quality win on the road against Mississippi College 38-35, coming back from two scores down in the fourth quarter and successfully icing the kicker with 15 seconds left to salt away a win. The Wolves are always one of the more talented teams in the GSC, and this year is no different. Offensively, they’ve played two quarterbacks, but have looked the most dangerous with RS Freshman Cameran Brown running the offense for them. The 6’2” 225 pounder is a true dual threat, and really showed his wheels against MC, with 11 rushes for 100 yards and 3 scoring TDs (38, 6, and 14 yards), he added another 111 yards through the air but did throw a pick. He started that game against the Choctaws but seemingly due to injury did not finish the game, giving way to Ben Whitlock, a Sophomore who started the first two games of the season at QB for the wolves. West Georgia has a strong running attack, with RBs who have already rushed for at least 150 yards, Rajaez Mosley (42 carries 265 yards 2 TD) and Wesley Kennedy (10 carries 169 yards 1 TD), but Kennedy, like Brown, may be injured as he hasn’t played since the week 1 win against Limestone. The Wolves Offensive Line is strong, something that I discussed in he preseason, and they brought back three WR who had at least 300 yards and 2 TD last season (Terrill Cole, Zay Britt, and LePerion Perry) who have combined for almost 400 yards and 3 TD so far this season. Their defense has a bunch of talent, lead by All-GSC Safety Deonte Overstreet (16 tackles 1 PBU) and a couple of talented front seven players pass rusher Xavier Robinson (19 tackles 3.5 TFL 1 sack) and LB Keondre Williams (23 tackles 3.5 TFL 2 sacks). They haven’t yet hit their stride defensively, ranking in the bottom half of the table in the GSC in yards (340 per game) and TDs (9) allowed through their first three games.
Three Players to Know
Junior Rajaez Mosley, RB 5’7” 193
Stats: 42 carries 265 yards 2 TD
Mosley started out the season as part of a two RB pair with Wesley Kennedy kind of being the lead back. Scoring twice on 14 carries in week one, he only got nine attempts week two against TAMU Kingsville before exploding last weekend in the running game shootout with Mississippi College. He finished that game with 19 carries and 175 yards.
Mosley is a good back, tough to tackle with his low center of gravity. He isn’t a home run hitter, his career long during four seasons at UWG is just 31 yards, but he is averaging 6.3 yards per carry this year so he can just chunk you to death. UWF appears to be without starting MLB Will Breland again this week, after losing him to injury against McKendree, so Gael Laurent and Onelio Rios will have to step up.
Senior Deontae Overstreet, S 5’9” 200
Stats: 16 tackles 1 PBU
Overstreet has been one of the better safeties in the conference for the last three seasons. He’s appeared in 36 games with the Wolves and had over 150 tackles for his career. A good tackler and an effective pass defender, he’s gonna be one to watch tonight.
Peewee has been pretty clean this season so far, Overstreet is going to try and challenge him. I think we are looking to air it out, so this will be a matchup to watch.
Junior Keondre Williams, LB 6’2” 214
Stats: 23 tackles 3 TFL 2 sacks
Williams has been the biggest weapon on defense so far for the Wolves. He has had at least 5 tackles each game this season, and he really showed out against Limestone with 8 tackles 3 TFL 2 sacks.
We need to establish the run, Williams is going to be the biggest road block. I’m excited to see how Wilson, Woods, and Bussey fair against him. This could be the best individual matchup of the game.
Matchup of the Week
UWF Offensive Line vs UWG Front 7
Its no secret that the Argonauts OL struggled last week against FAMU. They gave up an unprecedented 14 hurries and allowed two sacks on Peewee. On top of that the Argos just couldn’t get the run game going either, mustering just 109 yards (minus sacks) on 24 attempts. We knew going into that one that UWF was in for a battle against a salty Rattler defensive line, and FAMU was able to win the day, which played a big part in their overall win. UWG, thus far, has not been a really successful in the pass rush, they only have three sacks and three hurries in three games, but they have a lot of talent. They also played against MC’s triple option last week, which means minimal chances to rush the passer. LB Keondre Williams and DE Xavier Robinson are leading the team in TFL and sacks, and the Wolves have some good interior DL play as well as Bryan Rice, who hasn’t done much this year but was the leading pass rusher for Shorter last season. I think UWF needs to come out and establish the run early, and that will be primarily on the starting five to set the tone. If they can get back on track up front, I think we will see the offense return to form in this one.
Prediction
This is one of those games you always circle on the GSC calendar, because you know it is going to have conference championship implications more often than not. It has also been a bizarre series over the course of the young rivalry, the visiting team has won every matchup (7-0) between these two GSC powers. West Georgia has a couple of crucial offensive injuries, with QB Cameran Brown and RB Wesley Kennedy III are missing from the UWG depth chart, Kennedy hasn’t played since week 1, while Brown went out with injury last weekend. They have not looked as good with Ben Whitlock running the offense and Brown brings a really dynamic presence, so his absence will be a big hurdle for the Wolves. At RB, Mosley has been great, but they have been without the 1-2 punch they’d probably like to have. I’ll be curious to see what they come out and try to do, UWF’s DL is tough to run against and that’s been UWG’s bread and butter this season. On the other side of the ball, I think Peewee Jarrett and Company are going to come out hot and show that last weekend wasn’t indicative of who they are or what they can do. A big game out of Peewee would be huge for the Argos on opening night of GSC play. My guess is UWF’s DL and efficient passing game show back up this weekend and U Dubb pulls their first home win against the Wolves in the last game they’ll play as conference foes. Argos 38 Wolves 19.
