2018 Preview - WR's
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 4:07 pm
Sorry everyone, things have been a bit off for me this summer and I haven't gotten my usual stuff posted when I was hoping to. Hopefully you'll forgive me. I'll try to get things caught up over the next week and get back to the regularly scheduled position previews. On the plus side, the roster has been updated now with the new freshmen added in and everything.
To start moving towards getting caught up...here's our WRs...
Seniors
#2 Isaiah LeSure
#21 Izaiah Fuller
Juniors
#1 Tony Tate
#10 Brandon Gaston
#12 Darron Wheeler
#85 Spencer Beatty
Sophomores
#14 Eli Watson
#15 Cameron Clemons
Freshmen
#6 Vick Akinyemi
#13 Broc Thompson
#15 John Brunner
#80 Aaron Morrison
#81 Cam Taylor
#82 Matt Clark
#84 Nolan Bielskis
Last Year's Stats
Jaelon Acklin obviously blew up (in a good way) last year, hauling in 1,369 yards and 10 TDs on 84 catches.
Brandon Gaston had 297 yards and 2 TDs on 23 catches. Isaiah LeSure had 231 yards and 2 TDs on 15 catches.
Jarid Brown brought down 5 catches for 67 yards, and Darron Wheeler had 3 catches for 14 yards and 1 TD. Acklin and Brown were seniors last year.
My guesses for 2018
Last year at this time, I said that I thought WR would be a bit of a question mark, having lost two of the best receivers in WIU history (Lance Lenoir and Joey Borsellino). Out of practically nowhere came Jaelon Acklin (after having put in a TON of work during the offseason) and destroyed school receiving records for a season (and one or two conference records).
Will we have a surprise Acklin again this year? It's obviously hard to say at this point. We still have a very experienced QB who can get the ball where it needs to be, so that'll help. Isaiah LeSure (who I thought would be the "big man" last year didn't do too much to impress me, so I think at this point, it's anyone's guess who might end up being our top couple of receivers.
Going strictly off of who put up numbers last year, Brandon Gaston, Isaiah LeSure, and Darron Wheeler will be the ones to look to first. Spencer Beatty had a couple of catches for a total of 42 yards in this year's spring game, so he's a player to watch. Eli Watson had offers from a few FBS programs before he signed with us last year. Now that he's had a redshirt year, he could also find himself solidly in the mix. It seems like we have a lot of freshmen on the list as well, and I remember that Broc Thompson had at least one FBS offer, plus a couple of solid high-level FCS offers, as well as quite a bit of "hype" surrounding him. If there's any true freshman who ends up getting playing time this year, my guess would be Thompson.
One other thing that is nice is that for any players who have been here longer than a year, Acklin pretty much laid out the blueprint for working hard and being successful. He was obviously very talented as well, but if he was anywhere near as good as he was last year in years past, we would have seen a lot more out of him before last year. He put in the work on the practice field and in the weight room and he showed the guys what you have to do to take that next step up. Hopefully a couple of our younger guys were paying close attention.
To start moving towards getting caught up...here's our WRs...
Seniors
#2 Isaiah LeSure
#21 Izaiah Fuller
Juniors
#1 Tony Tate
#10 Brandon Gaston
#12 Darron Wheeler
#85 Spencer Beatty
Sophomores
#14 Eli Watson
#15 Cameron Clemons
Freshmen
#6 Vick Akinyemi
#13 Broc Thompson
#15 John Brunner
#80 Aaron Morrison
#81 Cam Taylor
#82 Matt Clark
#84 Nolan Bielskis
Last Year's Stats
Jaelon Acklin obviously blew up (in a good way) last year, hauling in 1,369 yards and 10 TDs on 84 catches.
Brandon Gaston had 297 yards and 2 TDs on 23 catches. Isaiah LeSure had 231 yards and 2 TDs on 15 catches.
Jarid Brown brought down 5 catches for 67 yards, and Darron Wheeler had 3 catches for 14 yards and 1 TD. Acklin and Brown were seniors last year.
My guesses for 2018
Last year at this time, I said that I thought WR would be a bit of a question mark, having lost two of the best receivers in WIU history (Lance Lenoir and Joey Borsellino). Out of practically nowhere came Jaelon Acklin (after having put in a TON of work during the offseason) and destroyed school receiving records for a season (and one or two conference records).
Will we have a surprise Acklin again this year? It's obviously hard to say at this point. We still have a very experienced QB who can get the ball where it needs to be, so that'll help. Isaiah LeSure (who I thought would be the "big man" last year didn't do too much to impress me, so I think at this point, it's anyone's guess who might end up being our top couple of receivers.
Going strictly off of who put up numbers last year, Brandon Gaston, Isaiah LeSure, and Darron Wheeler will be the ones to look to first. Spencer Beatty had a couple of catches for a total of 42 yards in this year's spring game, so he's a player to watch. Eli Watson had offers from a few FBS programs before he signed with us last year. Now that he's had a redshirt year, he could also find himself solidly in the mix. It seems like we have a lot of freshmen on the list as well, and I remember that Broc Thompson had at least one FBS offer, plus a couple of solid high-level FCS offers, as well as quite a bit of "hype" surrounding him. If there's any true freshman who ends up getting playing time this year, my guess would be Thompson.
One other thing that is nice is that for any players who have been here longer than a year, Acklin pretty much laid out the blueprint for working hard and being successful. He was obviously very talented as well, but if he was anywhere near as good as he was last year in years past, we would have seen a lot more out of him before last year. He put in the work on the practice field and in the weight room and he showed the guys what you have to do to take that next step up. Hopefully a couple of our younger guys were paying close attention.