When it rains it pours...

Grayson, a true freshman starting at OWR, had 17 catches for 168 yards and 4 TDs on the season before leaving the Tulane game with a knee injury.

This is now 5 WRs we have lost from our fall depth chart.

So that only leaves ECU with about 16 wide receivers now.

That is terrible news. Any word on what caused it?

In the pre-Katrina era the Superdome was notorious for having one of the worst turf-surfaces in the NFL. I've heard that since 2007 or so, they use one of the most advanced, "grass-like" surfaces available. Don't know if that's true, or what good it would do if it is true.

(10-14-2013 04:04 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  So that only leaves ECU with about 16 wide receivers now.

Your point? We are going to see a huge drop off in talent IMO.

Jabril
Justin jones
Webster
Zico
Smyre
Jimmy
Cannon
Grayson

That is a lot of depth to lose halfway through a season

But are all of those guys gone for the rest of the year?

(10-14-2013 04:10 PM)TheBigEastSucks Wrote:  

(10-14-2013 04:04 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  So that only leaves ECU with about 16 wide receivers now.

Your point? We are going to see a huge drop off in talent IMO.

Jabril
Justin jones
Webster
Zico
Smyre
Jimmy
Cannon
Grayson

That is a lot of depth to lose halfway through a season

The point is that they still have a lot of wide receivers. They had a guy like Wiggins riding the pine up until the Tulane game; and they still had guys coming in that I had not seen before.

(10-14-2013 04:15 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  But are all of those guys gone for the rest of the year?

Most likely. The hits just keep on coming.

(10-14-2013 04:27 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(10-14-2013 04:10 PM)TheBigEastSucks Wrote:  

(10-14-2013 04:04 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  So that only leaves ECU with about 16 wide receivers now.

Your point? We are going to see a huge drop off in talent IMO.

Jabril
Justin jones
Webster
Zico
Smyre
Jimmy
Cannon
Grayson

That is a lot of depth to lose halfway through a season

The point is that they still have a lot of wide receivers. They had a guy like Wiggins riding the pine up until the Tulane game; and they still had guys coming in that I had not seen before.

I guess we will see but most are young with no experience, these guys are on the scout team. Our starters should still be ok but if you run 100 plays you need depth.

(10-14-2013 04:04 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  So that only leaves ECU with about 16 wide receivers now.

With all due respect to our next 4 opponents, I don't think this has an impact on those games as we should win anyway.

For Marshall, NC State, possible CCG, and/or bowl game this isn't going to help. We saw how slim our margin for error is against MTSU and Tulane. For those games against good we are going to need all hands on deck. Are we going to lose because these players are out? Maybe, maybe not.

We have some receivers left and even several with experience, but the guys who were starter were starting for a reason. WR will still be a strength of this team but it is getting decimated slowly.

The idea that we can go on losing receivers every week and be fine indefinitely is false. Hell since the MTSU game (9 days ago) we have lost 5 receivers with significant playing time.



Here are the 2013 stats of the players we have lost
47 catches 455 yards and 5 TDs

That's...
23.4% of receptions
22.4% of receiving yards
38.5% of receiving TDs


Add in the 2012 stats of the 2 WRs who started last year and were academically ineligible right before the start of the season...

42 catches 756 yards and 4 TDs


That totals 89 receptions 1,200 yards and 9 TDs worth of receivers that could be playing and are not.

It will frankly speak wonders of our WR depth, and Justin Hardy as an individual, if we continue forward putting up anywhere near the same numbers in the passing game.

(10-14-2013 04:27 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(10-14-2013 04:10 PM)TheBigEastSucks Wrote:  

(10-14-2013 04:04 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  So that only leaves ECU with about 16 wide receivers now.

Your point? We are going to see a huge drop off in talent IMO.

Jabril
Justin jones
Webster
Zico
Smyre
Jimmy
Cannon
Grayson

That is a lot of depth to lose halfway through a season

The point is that they still have a lot of wide receivers. They had a guy like Wiggins riding the pine up until the Tulane game; and they still had guys coming in that I had not seen before.

And there's probably a good reason for that.

Grayson had a monster game against us to open the season, and was a great compliment to Hardy.

I really liked his size and nose for the goal line.

(10-14-2013 08:58 PM)ODUsmitty Wrote:  Grayson had a monster game against us to open the season, and was a great compliment to Hardy.

I really liked his size and nose for the goal line.

Good kid too. Here's a nice piece that was done on him for the Ruffin McNeill Show. Skip to 1:50 if you don't want to hear Ruff and Jeff Charles talking at the beginning.

(10-14-2013 08:43 PM)blunderbuss Wrote:  

(10-14-2013 04:27 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(10-14-2013 04:10 PM)TheBigEastSucks Wrote:  

(10-14-2013 04:04 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  So that only leaves ECU with about 16 wide receivers now.

Your point? We are going to see a huge drop off in talent IMO.

Jabril
Justin jones
Webster
Zico
Smyre
Jimmy
Cannon
Grayson

That is a lot of depth to lose halfway through a season

The point is that they still have a lot of wide receivers. They had a guy like Wiggins riding the pine up until the Tulane game; and they still had guys coming in that I had not seen before.

And there's probably a good reason for that.

The reason that I am not concerned is because I have seen Texas Tech bring in a bunch of guys time and time again; and those guys all make plays. IMO it is this system. Guys can seemingly be plugged in at quarterback, running back and wide receiver over and over and they still produce. At some point it is pretty obvious that the suspended receivers are going to be back, because they are reaching to far into the depth now; but it shows you how deep the team really is when so many guys on offense and defense can go down to grades, suspension and injuries and ECU still continues do so well.

(10-14-2013 09:36 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  At some point it is pretty obvious that the suspended receivers are going to be back....

I wouldn't count my chickens before they hatch.

So, here's our official 2-deep for this weekend's game vs Southern Mississippi. The name in brackets at the end is the opening Saturday starter for that position:

OR (X) Reese Wiggins (SR - 12 rec, 135 yds, 1 TD) / Cam Worthy (JR - 5 rec, 70 yds, 0 TD) [Davon Grayson]
IR (H) Isaiah Jones (FR - 16 rec, 143 yds, 1 TD) / Cedric Thompson (SO - no stats) [Danny Webster]
IR (Y) Justin Hardy (JR - 57 rec, 639 yds, 3 TD) / Bryce Williams (SO - 7 rec, 83 yds, 1 TD) [Justin Hardy]
OR (Z) Lance Ray (SR - 18 rec, 155 yds, 2 TD) / DaQuan Barnes (RS FR - no stats) [Reese Wiggins]

So, the good news is that 2 of the 4 starters from the opener are still healthy/active, although Wiggins (who had been beaten out by Ray by the 4th game) is now starting at a different position. The bad news is there are two player in the two-deep that have not caught a pass yet this season, so we REALLY cannot afford any more injuries here.

Hopefully Webster and Smyre are doing all that is asked of them and more to get back in Ruff's good graces.

(10-14-2013 09:40 PM)blunderbuss Wrote:  

(10-14-2013 09:36 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  At some point it is pretty obvious that the suspended receivers are going to be back....

I wouldn't count my chickens before they hatch.

I would assume that they would be back since they are indefinitely suspended rather than dismissed from the team, but I don't know any details about the situation so it could be more dire than I would guess.