Speed kills. Always has, always will.
It’s a route Ohio is hoping to exploit this Fall on the gridiron after massive turnover in the Bobcats’ program has left the team to figure out its identity in the 2024 campaign. While littered with unknowns, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, Head Coach Tim Albin is excited to see the progression and development of those who usually steal the headlines on Saturdays.
“I’m certain of this, this will be the fastest group of receivers we’ve ever had and I’ve been here a long time,” Albin said in his season-opening press conference when asked about the development of the group of neophytes on the outside. “I’m excited about their ability to run and stretch the field.”
Albin confidently proclaims this group to be one of the swiftest he’s ever worked with, but that’s only one part of the equation. There’s a whole lot more this crop of receivers are going to have to prove after replacing almost an entire receiving core.
Change and turnover within a program is expected, but not necessarily this drastically in the wide receiver room. Each of the top seven leaders in receiving yards from a year prior are no longer with the program.
Only two receivers on the current roster caught a pass for Ohio last season. Chase Hendricks caught 11 balls in 13 games in 2023 while Rodney Harris brought in just one pass. The top two returning tight ends in Mason Williams and Bryce Butler combined for just six receptions on the year. Overall, the Bobcats are returning less than 230 receiving yards from the season prior.
Albin and his staff will surely expect to see massive improvement with the young crop of pass catchers. After waxing poetic regarding Hendricks and his potential all last season and adding veteran pieces through the portal, the fourth-year head coach and his staff should still look to be able to use the passing game as a viable weapon despite the lack of experience at the position.
It may be a learning process throughout the first few weeks of the season with Ohio trying to figure out the best ways to get their weapons the ball in space. It’ll take time but different gameplans come about during the season.
Luckily, the Bobcats shouldn’t be totally lost on the offensive side of the ball if it takes some time to work out the kinks in the passing game. Like any good football team, Ohio will have to rely heavily on success in the run game in order to open up passing lanes down the field. It’ll be even tougher with other programs loading up the box early in games.
The Bobcats obviously will and should be excited for the prospect of Rickey Hunt after his breakout performance in the Myrtle Beach Bowl to cap off the 2023 season. After appearing in just three games during the regular season, Hunt set an all-time record for touchdowns in a game by a non-quarterback for Ohio with a five-score performance in the bowl victory.
Coming into his redshirt freshman season, Hunt will presumably be the bell-cow of the backfield with a majority of the rushes but for what Ohio seemingly lacks in an air-threat, the Bobcats have some room to get funky with the run game.
The team will obviously lean heavily on the legs of Hunt but last year’s bowl game also gave the Bobcat faithful another glimpse of what this team is capable of. With Parker Navarro now the de facto starter at the quarterback spot going into the year, we may see a bit of quarterback runs and option plays.
Albeit having to step in late into the season and only being used in gimmicky situations along the way, Navarro had nearly a 50/50 split on his run:pass ratio. In six games, the former UCF transfer rushed the ball 25 times for 190 yards while throwing the ball only 26 times for just under a 70% completion rate.
“I think that’s ultimately yet to be determined,” Albin noted when asked about whether the team plans on being a run-heavy scheme or not. “On both sides of the ball it’s the best 11. We’ve got to find our best 11, that will be challenging… the running piece is going to be instrumental in play action passes and taking shots down the field.”
At this point there’s really no exact way to tell what Albin and his staff will decide to do with Navarro and the rest of the run game but what is known is that this staff is more than confident with the cast of characters on the offensive side of the ball.
“I don’t want the quarterback to carry the ball 20 times in a game,” Albin bluntly said. “There’s going to be 7-9 called runs in a game, you mix in a couple free scrambles and now you’re at about 12 carries in a game and that’s a pretty good number.”
Things will surely look different on the offensive side of the ball for the Bobcats in 2024. Luckily for them, not all offensives have to score the same way. With one of the fastest receiving cores Albin’s ever coached and an experienced, versatile backfield leading the way, Ohio should still be able to put some points on the board and make some noise in 2024.
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