DIGGING DEEPER
There’s a strong assumption that throwing the football will be plentiful for the Greyhounds this fall. Three seasons in a row of more than 2,100 passing yards backs that expectation up.
Whether it’s a dropback in the pocket to pass or a quick flip for a screen pass to a skill-position player, Greyhound quarterbacks Judd Anderson and Devin Edmonds will have varied options to distribute the ball to.
The Greyhounds corps of receivers are some who are household names with others primed to take on bigger roles. Zion Ragins, courted by teams from across the country for the past three seasons prior to committing to Oklahoma over the summer, is well known, and close in on the radar are two others high on the list of FBS programs.
Tyler Stewart, coming off a team-best five receiving touchdowns last year, has committed to Temple, with Jaivon Solomon being offered by Pittsburgh. Stewart and Ragins have proven time and time again to have a penchant for breaking a big play. They were two of the three JCHS receivers with a catch of more than 50 yards last year, Stewart ripping one for 80 yards and Ragins going for 50. What’s more is that Ragins a season ago led the Greyhounds in receiving yards per game with Stewart being third.
“We have three or four receivers that we feel can do the job, but we really have five or six,” Greyhounds head coach Chastain said.
But a receiving group is only as good as its depth. Players may get banged up in the course of a season, or there may be a need to rotate players in and out when running a hurry-up offense, known in some offensive coaching circles as “tempo.”
Emerging to add depth during the summer for the Greyhounds have been KJ Johnson and Cohen Barfield. The latter of the two runs a 4.4 40-yard dash, according to Chastain, bringing more of a speed element to the table.
Kevin Patterson, the Greyhounds receivers coach, echoes those thoughts.
“A lot of people will know about Zion and Tyler, but Jaivon has been doing great job,” Patterson said. “Cohen and KJ Johnson, those guys give us a lot of depth, and we can sub each other out with them. They do some things different but also do a lot of things well.”
Patterson, one of multiple new assistant coaches on staff, says that multiple things make this group stand out. That also ties directly into a key part of the Greyhounds offense – screen passes.
“The first thing is they are fast. They can run and can stretch the field and pressure the defensive backs, but they can also do a good job of blocking first and foremost,” Patterson said.
“If you are going to run screens on the perimeter, that’s a big part of our offense. You’ve got to catch the ball well and then be able to get strong in the offseason to break tackles.”
For that reason, it’s critical not just for receivers to excel at catching but blocking as well.
“It’s definitely an extension of our run game,” Patterson said.
“If a guy can get in there and turn a one- or two-yard catch into 50 yards, you love that.”
