Depth of Grizzly receivers give offense multiple weapons
8/1/2019 4:27:00 PM | Football
Note: In the seven days before Montana's first fall camp practice, GoGriz.com will bring you seven stories previewing seven different position groups. Next up: the receivers.
Returners (2018 Statistics)
Samuel Akem (59 catches, 879 yards, 13 TDs, 79.9 YPG)
Danny Burton (NA)
Malik Flowers (22 kick returns, 607 yards, 27.6 YPR, 1 TD)
Nick Germer (NA)
Jackson Groff (NA)
Jerry Louie-McGee (42 catches, 451 yards, 2 TDs, 41 YPG)
Mitch Roberts (1 catch, 6 yards)
Gabe Sulser (9 catches, 114 yards, 3 TDs, 12.7 YPG)
Samori Toure (37 catches, 440 yards, 2 TDs, 40 YPG)
Additions
Jesse Owens
Ryan Simpson
Losses
Keenan Curran
We've already established that Montana's gutsy incumbent starting quarterback Dalton Sneed will once again be a dual-threat danger to opposing defenses in 2019, and a big reason for that is going to be the talent he has at his disposal.
Nowhere on the Grizzly roster is that talent deeper and more dangerous than UM's corps of receivers, which returns two of the top ball hawks in program history supported by an explosive group of youngsters capable of breaking any game wide open.
You don't have to look much further than the rangy and athletic Samuel Akem and "Mr. Electricity" himself Jerry Louie-McGee to know the Griz will have plenty of over-the-top playmaking ability, and will be just as dangerous underneath.
Akem, a 6-foot-4 native of Broken Arrow, Okla., with size 4x gloves caught a Big Sky-best 13 touchdown passes as a sophomore to earn second-team All-Big Sky honors, a place on the HERO Sports Sophomore All-America team, and the Grizzlies' Terry Dillon Award for outstanding receiver.
He'll enter the 2019 season with a place on the all-conference preseason team under his belt, a far cry from a year ago when he opened the 2018 year as a relative unknown. But as the season progressed, Akem came into his own, catching at least one touchdown pass in eight different games and a pair in four of the last five games.
Now with 15 career TD catches and two seasons left to play, the junior is only just starting to write his name in the UM history books, currently tied at No. 16 on the all-time touchdown reception list with Mike Ferriter and Bill Cockhill. If he repeats his dominant 13-TD performance of a year ago, he'll enter his senior season as the No. 2 receiver in Grizzly history, one behind Marc Mariani's career 29 TD grabs.
"Sammy has become kind of beast out there. He makes a lot of plays and is hard to handle. He is a good blocker in the run game. He is just an energetic, playmaking guy and good to have. A big physical receiver that can take the top of it as well," said head coach Bobby Hauck.
"A year ago he wasn't the first guy we talked about and coming out of spring ball, I thought he had a chance to be really good and have a big year, as did coach (Brent) Pease. It was fun to see that play out and carry on. He is motivated to get better and has had a great offseason. It will be fun to watch him this fall."
Also set to etch his name atop the Grizzly record books is Louie-McGee, who enters the season needing just 18 catches to become Montana's all-time leader in pass receptions. With 175 career grabs, "JLM" will be chasing Raul Pacheco's career mark of 192 to top the list, and could pass legends like Matt Wells (189), Jamaal Jones (184), Shalon Baker (182) and John Talmage (176) en route.
He's also working his way up Montana's all-time receiving yards list (currently at 1,809). Thanks to his quick-strike ability as a punt returner, he is also in the mix to set all-purpose career yards and average yards per-punt return records.
But after exploding on the scene with a school-record 21 catches at Cal Poly in 2016, Louie-McGee hasn't seen the ball come his way as often as it did before Hauck's return in 2017. That hasn't bothered him one bit, however, as the new father continues to do keep his eyes looking forward and focus on his all-around receiver play.
"Jerry has embraced doing whatever it is to help the team. We are looking for a good year on his return game, he is good with the ball in his hands, so we are going to keep trying to get it to him," said Hauck.
"We have a lot of good players, so it doesn't just go to one guy, but to Jerry's credit he has embraced that and he is not just catching underneath routes, hitches, or swings. He is catching routes down-field and has learned a lot about recognizing coverages and those sorts of things. I am excited for him, he has worked really hard and is poised to have a big senior year."
Fans will remember Gabe Sulser from the very first touch of his college career in 2018 when he took a hand-off 53 yards untouched to the house. And if you saw that, you know Montana has yet another dynamic weapon with speed to burn.
"Gabe almost seemed like he scored every time he got the ball in his hands last year. He and Jerry, I would say are very similar, so those two will do their thing and help us a lot," said Hauck.
Another lengthy receiver who burst onto the scene as a freshman was Samori Toure, a 6-3 speedster who hauled in five TDs in 2017, two in 2018, and who now totals nearly 1,000 career yards. The native of Portland looked to be on point in the spring game, with five grabs for 99 yards and a touchdown – a 64-yard bomb from Wheeler Harris.
But also in the mix at the same receiver slot is Mitch Roberts who had a solid spring that was also capped off with a touchdown in the spring game – an eight-yard strike from Cam Humphrey.
Both are expected to see plenty of playing time as the season rolls around.
"Samori and Mitch will be battling for playing time, and they are pushing each other, which makes them both better. It has been a great competition, I think they both have the ability to make plays. That's going to be a productive position for us," said Hauck.
As a freshman, Malik Flowers introduced himself to Griz Nation at Western Illinois when he took a kick return back 95 yards for a touchdown. He then proceeded to rack up a league-leading 27.6 yards per-return on special teams, always seemingly on the verge of breaking loose. He was rewarded for his work with the Hauck Family Special Teams Player of the Year award at the team banquet in November.
Even with a resume like that, the receiving corps is so deep, Flowers will be working from the bottom up when camp rolls around.
"Malik and some of the other guys are pushing to get on the field as best they can. It's a deep position, it's what I think is a very talented position, and those guys are all working hard to compete to try to get on the field.
Montana opens fall camp on Sunday, with the first practice of the year set for Tuesday, Aug. 6.
Returners (2018 Statistics)
Samuel Akem (59 catches, 879 yards, 13 TDs, 79.9 YPG)
Danny Burton (NA)
Malik Flowers (22 kick returns, 607 yards, 27.6 YPR, 1 TD)
Nick Germer (NA)
Jackson Groff (NA)
Jerry Louie-McGee (42 catches, 451 yards, 2 TDs, 41 YPG)
Mitch Roberts (1 catch, 6 yards)
Gabe Sulser (9 catches, 114 yards, 3 TDs, 12.7 YPG)
Samori Toure (37 catches, 440 yards, 2 TDs, 40 YPG)
Additions
Jesse Owens
Ryan Simpson
Losses
Keenan Curran
We've already established that Montana's gutsy incumbent starting quarterback Dalton Sneed will once again be a dual-threat danger to opposing defenses in 2019, and a big reason for that is going to be the talent he has at his disposal.
Nowhere on the Grizzly roster is that talent deeper and more dangerous than UM's corps of receivers, which returns two of the top ball hawks in program history supported by an explosive group of youngsters capable of breaking any game wide open.
You don't have to look much further than the rangy and athletic Samuel Akem and "Mr. Electricity" himself Jerry Louie-McGee to know the Griz will have plenty of over-the-top playmaking ability, and will be just as dangerous underneath.
Akem, a 6-foot-4 native of Broken Arrow, Okla., with size 4x gloves caught a Big Sky-best 13 touchdown passes as a sophomore to earn second-team All-Big Sky honors, a place on the HERO Sports Sophomore All-America team, and the Grizzlies' Terry Dillon Award for outstanding receiver.
He'll enter the 2019 season with a place on the all-conference preseason team under his belt, a far cry from a year ago when he opened the 2018 year as a relative unknown. But as the season progressed, Akem came into his own, catching at least one touchdown pass in eight different games and a pair in four of the last five games.
Now with 15 career TD catches and two seasons left to play, the junior is only just starting to write his name in the UM history books, currently tied at No. 16 on the all-time touchdown reception list with Mike Ferriter and Bill Cockhill. If he repeats his dominant 13-TD performance of a year ago, he'll enter his senior season as the No. 2 receiver in Grizzly history, one behind Marc Mariani's career 29 TD grabs.
"Sammy has become kind of beast out there. He makes a lot of plays and is hard to handle. He is a good blocker in the run game. He is just an energetic, playmaking guy and good to have. A big physical receiver that can take the top of it as well," said head coach Bobby Hauck.
"A year ago he wasn't the first guy we talked about and coming out of spring ball, I thought he had a chance to be really good and have a big year, as did coach (Brent) Pease. It was fun to see that play out and carry on. He is motivated to get better and has had a great offseason. It will be fun to watch him this fall."
Also set to etch his name atop the Grizzly record books is Louie-McGee, who enters the season needing just 18 catches to become Montana's all-time leader in pass receptions. With 175 career grabs, "JLM" will be chasing Raul Pacheco's career mark of 192 to top the list, and could pass legends like Matt Wells (189), Jamaal Jones (184), Shalon Baker (182) and John Talmage (176) en route.
He's also working his way up Montana's all-time receiving yards list (currently at 1,809). Thanks to his quick-strike ability as a punt returner, he is also in the mix to set all-purpose career yards and average yards per-punt return records.
But after exploding on the scene with a school-record 21 catches at Cal Poly in 2016, Louie-McGee hasn't seen the ball come his way as often as it did before Hauck's return in 2017. That hasn't bothered him one bit, however, as the new father continues to do keep his eyes looking forward and focus on his all-around receiver play.
"Jerry has embraced doing whatever it is to help the team. We are looking for a good year on his return game, he is good with the ball in his hands, so we are going to keep trying to get it to him," said Hauck.
"We have a lot of good players, so it doesn't just go to one guy, but to Jerry's credit he has embraced that and he is not just catching underneath routes, hitches, or swings. He is catching routes down-field and has learned a lot about recognizing coverages and those sorts of things. I am excited for him, he has worked really hard and is poised to have a big senior year."
Fans will remember Gabe Sulser from the very first touch of his college career in 2018 when he took a hand-off 53 yards untouched to the house. And if you saw that, you know Montana has yet another dynamic weapon with speed to burn.
"Gabe almost seemed like he scored every time he got the ball in his hands last year. He and Jerry, I would say are very similar, so those two will do their thing and help us a lot," said Hauck.
Another lengthy receiver who burst onto the scene as a freshman was Samori Toure, a 6-3 speedster who hauled in five TDs in 2017, two in 2018, and who now totals nearly 1,000 career yards. The native of Portland looked to be on point in the spring game, with five grabs for 99 yards and a touchdown – a 64-yard bomb from Wheeler Harris.
But also in the mix at the same receiver slot is Mitch Roberts who had a solid spring that was also capped off with a touchdown in the spring game – an eight-yard strike from Cam Humphrey.
Both are expected to see plenty of playing time as the season rolls around.
"Samori and Mitch will be battling for playing time, and they are pushing each other, which makes them both better. It has been a great competition, I think they both have the ability to make plays. That's going to be a productive position for us," said Hauck.
As a freshman, Malik Flowers introduced himself to Griz Nation at Western Illinois when he took a kick return back 95 yards for a touchdown. He then proceeded to rack up a league-leading 27.6 yards per-return on special teams, always seemingly on the verge of breaking loose. He was rewarded for his work with the Hauck Family Special Teams Player of the Year award at the team banquet in November.
Even with a resume like that, the receiving corps is so deep, Flowers will be working from the bottom up when camp rolls around.
"Malik and some of the other guys are pushing to get on the field as best they can. It's a deep position, it's what I think is a very talented position, and those guys are all working hard to compete to try to get on the field.
Montana opens fall camp on Sunday, with the first practice of the year set for Tuesday, Aug. 6.
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