Top Three Opposing Players: Offensive Skill Groups

Now that I have spent most of the late spring and early summer researching the UWF football team, I wanted to shift focus from the team to the opponents the Argonauts will be facing this season. A good place to start seemed to be the best players that UWF is likely to face this fall, and there were a few ways to break this down. I decided to split it into four separate posts highlighting the top three opposing players UWF is going to face at every position: Offensive Skill (RB, WR, TE), Defensive Skill (LB, CB, S), Lines of Scrimmage (OL, DL), and Quarterbacks.

Note: I define explosive plays as 10+ yards rushing or 15+ yards receiving.

Running Back

Corey Watkins NGU

One of just three GSC running backs to eclipse 1000 yards in 2022. Watkins finished the season with over 1100 yards of offense and 6 TD, coming on the back of a 5.9/carry average. This is a true home run hitter, with 10 attempts over 20 yards and three 50+ yard runs on the season, and he can also catch the ball out of the backfield. In the always tough GSC, Watkins averaged over 100 yards per game, had four 1oo yard games, and another against UWG in the “non-conference” week 12 game. He was extremely consistent, only failing to gain 75 yards twice in conference play, 74 vs UWF and 51 vs West Alabama. After earning 2nd Team All-Conference nod last year Watkins profiles as one of if not the top back in the Gulf South.

Marcus Williams MC

Mississippi College’s triple option always produces eye popping rushing stats and in 2022 Williams was the primary beneficiary of the option attack. With over 1000 yards of total offense and 11 TD, Williams earned a 2nd Team All-GSC spot. He averaged a conference best 9.0 yards per carry and it showed against UWF where he averaged 8.0 per carry plus 2 TDs in the two contests. Some of this is systemic due to the triple option, but he was very good at getting positive yards, with only 5 attempts netting no gain or negative yardage. Williams also hit nine runs of over 20 yards, including four 40+ yard carries. Being hard to take down for a loss coupled with the ability to break of chunk yardage makes Williams a dangerous opponent in a difficult system to defend.

Bry Webb UWA

Webb was part of a crowded backfield in Livingston last season (3 backs with 80 carries and 400 yards), and the Sophomore still came out on top of the pile for the Tigers. Coming into the season he was slotted as the #2 to 2021 1st Team All-GSC back Demetrius Battle, but Webb outrushed the Senior 738-658 despite 17 fewer carries on the season. Most impressive about Bry’s season was that he got better when it counted in GSC play. He averaged just 7.5 carries and 24.8 yards and failed to score against Morehouse, Miles, Tuskegee, and the non-con season finale against Delta State, but went on a tear through the GSC putting up 91.3 yards per game in conference and scoring all 5 of his rushing TDs. He is a little bit more of a chain mover than Watkins and Williams, with only 14.1% of his rushing attempts going for 10+ yards (compared to 16.8 and 25.7% respectively), but he had a season long rush of 80 yards vs Shorter proving he can take it to the house. Webb will now get a chance to absorb some of Battle’s 152 rushing attempts, and I think he will flourish with the added workload.

Wide Receiver

Yogi Flager Jr Mckendree

Without question one of the top WR in all of D2 going into the fall, Flager is going to be a handful for opposing defenses. He is coming off a season featuring eight 100 yard games, and 1100 yards 10 TDs. These numbers placed him 10th in yards per game and t-15 in TD for all of D2 and good enough to earn a 1st Team All-GLVC nod. Only one Sophomore in all of D2 football had more receptions or yards than Flager, and he was 3rd among his class in receiving TDs. He also has a huge advantage going into 2023, the return of Turner Pullen, the 5th leading passer in D2 last fall. Flagler is a pre-season All-American candidate. The 5’10” rising Junior was a big play machine last fall, finishing every game of the season with at least one explosive reception (28 total), and accounting for more than one explosive play in 10 of 11 games. He also added a 95 yard kickoff return TD. Just an explosive playmaker who can hurt you from anywhere on the field.

BK Smith VSU

The Blazers top returning WR option had a great first year in Valdosta. He paced the team for receptions and yards finishing the season 42-726-6, a top five conference finish in each category. After garnering 2nd Team All-GSC honors last season, Smith might be the top returning conference WR in 2023, and should be a focal point of VSU’s offense. Like Flagler, Smith was a consistent big play maker with 17.3 YPC average and making an explosive play in all but one game this season. That same singular game, against UWA, was the only game in which he failed to gain at least 30 yards, a remarkably consistent season for the up and down Blazers. Almost 40% of his receptions went for 15+ yards and he averaged 30 yards per catch on his explosive receptions. Smith will be breaking in a new QB this fall, but should provide a primo outlet for whoever wins that competition.

Jah’Marae Sheread FAMU

FAMU lost one of the best WRs in the SWAC, Xavier Smith, and his 1021 yards and 11 TD, but Sheread will step right in to pick up the slack. A 6th year player, who originally played 3 seasons with Texas State before transferring to FAMU, is a blazer (sub 10.7 100 M PR). He has over 1800 career receiving yards and 15 TD, including 1207 and 12 TD in the last two seasons as a Rattler. Sheread was responsible for two games over 100 yards and 17 receptions of 15+ yards in 2022, showing that he was an explosive second option in the FAMU offense. Now in 2023 he could end up being the primary target for a good returning QB and stands poised to become one of the most valuable playmakers in the SWAC.

Tight End

Caeleb Bass UWA

Bass earned 2nd Team All-GSC honors in 2022 after a 28-375-1 season, and returns as a top 3 option for the Tigers this fall and arguably the top TE in the conference. He sports ideal TE size listed at 6’5” 220, and the Senior was a real chain mover last season. On just 28 receptions, he earned 22 1st Down+TD, and 35% of his catches went for explosive gains. On tape, he just eats up space in the middle of the field and down the seam. He isn’t going to make a bunch of YAC, but he moved the chains a lot.

AJ Tolbert NGU

After not starting for the first four weeks of the season, Tolbert became the primary TE for the Crusaders against UWF last fall and finished the season with 13-194-3 as a receiver, really coming in just 6 games. He had two explosive plays against the Argonauts, including a go ahead score, in a clutch 4th quarter drive that put NGU up 31-24 with just 5 minutes left, before the Argos came back to win. He also caught a 4th quarter TD against UWA that sparked a comeback victory. An impressive 9 of this 13 receptions went for more than 15 yards, primarily matched up against LBs down the seam.

John Dietl Shorter

The second TE in Shorter’s offense last year, Dietl is the second most productive returning player at the position in the GSC behind Bass. With FSU transfer Kyle Morlock now gone, there should be ample opportunity for Dietl to improve on a 25-318-3 season in 2022. Last fall, 19 of his 25 receptions went for 1st downs or TDs and he had 7 explosive receptions, including a season high 53 yarder against Delta State. He was voted the offensive player of spring practices after catching 5 balls for 87 yards and 1 TD during the spring game, and given Shorter’s TE heavy focus last year Dietl could put up big numbers this fall.