Editor’s Note: This is the third part in an eight-part series previewing each position heading into 2012.
Junior quarterback Zach Mettenberger’s strong arm and a commitment to be more aggressive in throwing the football has LSU’s wide receivers excited for the 2012 season.
A season ago, the LSU passing attack finished 106 out of 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in passing yards. Since last season, coaches and players have said they want to improve the Tigers’ vertical passing game with Mettenberger at the helm.
“Zach is a very talented quarterback,” said junior wide receiver James Wright. “Because of his talent, we need to keep the balance this season.”
Sophomore Odell Beckham Jr. is the team’s leading returning receiver. As a freshman in the 2011 season, he caught 41 passes for 475 yards and two touchdowns. Despite last season’s success, Beckham doesn’t consider himself a stand-out among the receiving corps.
“Obviously everyone here can make big plays,” Beckham said. “We are not looking for a go-to guy. We just want everybody to play their role.”
Senior Russell Shepard is the most experienced of the Tigers’ receivers. The five-star recruit caught 14 balls for 190 yards and four touchdowns last season.
Offensive coordinator Greg Studrawa said he has adjusted practice to spend more time working on the vertical passing game. The biggest hurdle for the receiving corps will be replacing Rueben Randle, who skipped his senior season to enter the NFL draft in April. Randle led the team last season with 53 catches, 917 yards and eight touchdowns. Randle was also the team’s greatest downfield threat, averaging 17.3 yards per catch.
“We have to come together as a group to replace him,” Shepard said. “We feel that if we can come together and do our part as a receiving corps, we can make up for losing a great weapon like Randle.”
Other returning receivers include Wright, junior Kadron Boone and sophomore Jarvis Landry. Each caught fewer than ten passes a year ago, but said they expect to step up and help fill in for the loss of Randle.
The freshman class boasts two speedsters in Kavahra Holmes and Travin Dural. Coach Les Miles said Holmes brings great speed to the corps and might make an impact as early as this season, but Dural will miss all of this season because of a surgery-requiring knee injury.
With Deangelo Peterson gone, senior tight end Chase Clement finds himself atop the depth chart for the first time in his career. Clement is on the watch list for the 2012 Mackey Award, given to the top tight end in college football. Last season, he caught seven passes for 96 yards with one touchdown.
Studrawa said Clement and sophomore Nic Jacobs will be more involved in the passing game than tight ends were last season. As a group, LSU’s tight ends caught only 28 passes total last season.
“The more we show the coaches that we can make catches and make big plays, the more chances we will get,” Jacobs said.
Other returning tight ends include sophomore Travis Dickson and senior Tyler Edwards. Both were used primarily as blockers last year.
