The Morning After: Argos Shut Down Panthers to Start Season 1-0
UWF started out the Kaleb Nobles era with a bang, completely controlling all four quarters against the Panthers of a Kentucky Wesleyan College, finishing with a 35-3 result that didn’t quite capture the one sidedness of the contest. Here were the key observations of the week 1 contest from my initial watch last night.
Peewee Jarrett sharp in return
Something I touched on this summer, and in the past, was the touch distribution in the pass game. Last season Peewee relied heavily on Durden and Leggett and not much on the remaining WR corps. Last night he totally flipped the script on tendency and hit a variety of different pass catchers, including throws to TEs and RBs. In total 10 pass catchers caught at least one ball, though some of those are credited to backup QBs Michael Rich Jr and Marcus Stokes, who combined for four completions in the 4th quarter.
As for Peewee himself, all he did was go 19-22 230 yards and 3 total TDs (2 rushing 1 passing). He looked totally in control of this new offense, which stressed a lot more spacing and timing and a lot fewer deep shots than what we are used to from UWF. Still, the methodical first team offense scored TDs on 5 of 7 drives and never seemed to be pressing very hard. Newcomer John Jiles lead all receivers with 4 receptions and 75 yards, scoring the only receiving TD, while Leggett had 4 for 34, Zac Offord, who showed out in the first half, finished with 3 for 48, looking quick on the edge and toughing out a catch with serious contact on one toss across the middle, and Nicholls State transfer KJ Franklin finished with 3 catches for 47 yards. All in all, the offense wasn’t tested but kept total control from the first snap.
Defensive debut strong, DL stifling
UWF just wouldn’t let up last night on defense. From the jump the new four man front was in the backfield, jamming running lanes and pressuring the QB. The Linebacker group was as strong as you’d expect, despite missing the injured Willie Jordan this week, Will Breland was always around the ball and Gael Laurent looked like the guy from late 2019, who’s going to be in the backfield whenever he wants. You saw plenty of returning faces in that DL unit throughout the night, Juice Williams, Aiden Swett, Kenny Martin, Georell Kidd, but that group was certainly highlighted by the new additions.
Straight out of the gate Jacob Dorn and John McMullen made their presence felt along the line, if not making a play directly constantly collapsing the pocket and affecting the blocker in front of them. McMullen tallied a strip sack on the first drive and finished with 3 total TFL, which lead all defenders. Meanwhile slippery JUCO transfer Byron Puryear had a slick outside pass rush that got home for a sack later in the game. Dorn didn’t stuff the stat sheet, 3 tackles 0.5 TFL, but he was a physical presence on the line and affected the timing of the option attack frequently.
Many new faces contribute
A lot of credit is due to the first year Argonauts, most of whom have only been on campus since early summer, because these new faces were all over the field on both sides of the ball. I spoke already about the contributions from the new DL, but offensively we saw scores from two new weapons, WR John Jiles caught a 50 yard bomb from Peewee and Jamontez Woods, former Troy RB, punched in a redzone TD. You also saw significant contributions from Cornerback and return man Virgil Lemons who had an INT, a nice punt return, and played well on defense and kick coverage. OL transfer Ben Freeman got reps at RT from early in the game and JUCOS transfer Elijah Wiliams got the start at CB alongside Lemons.
But it wasn’t just the deep class of transfers who showed up week one. Donovan Barnes, a True Freshman DB from Tallahassee played early and often, former Lakeland HS LB Robert Riley was in through long stretches of the second half, and Matthew McQueen came in at LT in the fourth quarter with Marcus Stokes at QB. With a team as deep as the Argos are, it was great to see some of these True Freshman get a crack in the rotation Friday night, in what will likely be one of the few chance we see them this fall.
This and That
The Argos now sport a downhill running component to the offense which has previously not been a fixture. They did the majority of all their offensive work out of the shotgun, and any play with CJ Wilson is a tough run to stop, but being able to move the pile and get tough yards would be a welcomed addition to this scheme in short yardage situations.
There was a lot of rotation last night, especially on defense, but a lot of WRs subbed in and out with the first team offense. Defensively I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the whole 2 deep played in the first half, the DL especially was platooning in and out. All in all, it seemed like everyone got good work last night.
The score was not indicative of the control UWF had on the game from the very beginning. Aside from maybe 4 or 5 big plays, the Panthers couldn’t really get any sustained offensive success going. The Argos should have had an additional TD in the last minute of the game, an impressive 30 yard scamper by Freshman Marcus Stokes, but had it called back on a hold somewhere off screen. Coach Nobles decided to kneel out the clock following that penalty.
Credit to KWC last night for doing something unexpected, last season this was a team that averaged 36 passing attempts per game. Last night they threw the ball just 12 times, instead coming out in a spread option look running the ball 38 times and tallying over 100 yards rushing, something the Panthers accomplished just 4 times last season.
