replacing production at wide receiver

[aubiefifty 18,231]

Auburn Football

Auburn looks to replace majority of production at wide receiver this spring

Updated Mar 03, 2021; Posted Mar 03, 2021

 

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

We’re taking a look at each position group as Auburn prepares to open spring practice on March 16. The third of a 10-part series looks at the wide receivers.

Auburn’s wide receiver corps is undergoing a makeover this season thanks to a new-look offense and the departure of the team’s top-three receivers from last fall.

Seth Williams, Anthony Schwartz and Eli Stove all declared for the NFL Draft, leaving a sizeable void to fill in Auburn’s offense for first-year head coach Bryan Harsin and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. That trio combined to account for 145 catches, 1,755 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns in 2020 — or 67 percent of the team’s receptions, 72.4 percent of its receiving yards and 83.3 percent of its receiving touchdowns.

It’s a lot to replace, with Auburn’s current group of receivers — eight of them entering spring practices, with two more set to arrive by the fall — accounting for just 23 catches, 311 yards and a pair of touchdowns last season. In other words, Auburn is returning just 10.6 percent of its passing game production, in terms of receptions, at the wide receiver position this year and just 12.8 percent of its production in terms of receiving yards.

While that’s a considerable amount of production needing to be replaced, it’s also quite an opportunity for some of Auburn’s other receivers to step into the spotlight that Williams, Schwartz and Stove shared for the last few seasons.

Projected depth chart:

X-receiver

Ze’Vian Capers, sophomore, seven receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown.

Elijah Canion, redshirt freshman, three receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown.

J.J. Evans, redshirt freshman, did not see the field in 2020.

H-receiver

Shedrick Jackson, senior, six catches for 84 yards.

Caylin Newton, senior, played in 10 games but did not record a reception in 2020.

Z-receiver

Kobe Hudson, sophomore, seven receptions for 70 yards.

Malcolm Johnson Jr., redshirt freshman, appeared in one game last season.

Ja’varrius Johnson, redshirt sophomore, appeared in one game last season.

Departed: Seth Williams, 47 receptions for 760 yards and four touchdowns; Anthony Schwartz, 54 receptions for 636 yards and three touchdowns; Eli Stove, 44 receptions for 359 yards and three touchdowns.

Due to arrive in the fall: Hal Presley, three-star signee; Tar’Varish Dawson, three-star signee.

Outlook:

Auburn’s offense will have a new look and feel this season with Harsin and Bobo at the helm of it, with a new system set to be installed this spring. Based on what Harsin ran at Boise State and the Broncos’ depth chart listings, we’ve broken down the above depth chart into three wide receiver positions — the X-receiver (split end), Z-receiver (flanker) and H-receiver (typically a smaller slot receiver) — though we’ll learn more about how Harsin and Bobo plan to blend their offensive philosophies as the offseason progresses.

Let’s start at the X receiver, where Auburn should be returning its most production this spring thanks to a pair of 2020 signees who had their respective moments last season: Ze’Vian Capers and Elijah Canion.

Capers, a former four-star recruit, earned a spot on the Tigers’ two-deep last fall and saw substantial playing time throughout his freshman season. He appeared in 10 games, making three starts — including the season opener against Kentucky — and finished with seven receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown. The volume wasn’t there for Capers last season thanks to the previously mentioned top trio of receivers, but the playing time was, and that should be a promising sign for the 6-foot-4, 194-pound sophomore heading into Year 2. His status for the spring is unclear at this time, as he underwent surgery on his left foot after the Citrus Bowl and no timetable has been provided yet for his expected return.

Behind him will likely be Canion, the 6-foot-4, 213-pounder who only appeared in two games last fall but made the most of Auburn’s bowl game against Northwestern. The former three-star signee had all three of his receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown in the Citrus Bowl, leading the Tigers in receiving for the day. Another option at the position is fellow 2020 signee J.J. Evans, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound former four-star prospect who did not see the field in any capacity last season.

All three of them are big-bodied receivers who have the potential to be field-stretching candidates in Auburn’s offense this year.

While the X-receiver spot may return the most production from last fall, the H-receiver role packs arguably the most experience among Auburn’s receiving corps, with seniors Shedrick Jackson and Caylin Newton likely to split time at the position.

Jackson has been a fixture in Auburn’s offense for the last three seasons, even if he hasn’t been much of a factor in the passing game. The Hoover product cut his teeth as a valuable blocking receiver while appearing in 28 games over the last three years — starting seven of the eight games he appeared in last season — but he has just 10 career receptions for 130 yards. Still, playing experience in the SEC is invaluable, and there’s no receiver on Auburn’s roster who touts more of it than Jackson.

Then there’s Newton, the former Howard star quarterback who came to Auburn as a grad transfer last season and moved to receiver. Newton was praised often for his physicality and the tenacity he brought to the position, but it didn’t translate to many opportunities — with most of his playing time coming on special team despite appearing in 10 of Auburn’s 11 games. Some of that could have been because of the unorthodox offseason paired with transferring to a new school and playing a new position, so it will be curious to see how Newton continues to develop at receiver, and whether it results in a larger role within Harsin and Bobo’s offense.

As for the Z-receiver role, Auburn has three options there this spring in Kobe Hudson, Malcolm Johnson Jr. and Ja’Varrius Johnson. Hudson saw the most playing time of that group last season, appearing in all 11 of Auburn’s games as a true freshman. The former four-star receiver who was rated as the nation’s No. 111 overall player in the 2020 class, Hudson finished with seven catches for 77 yards last season while being listed behind Williams on the depth chart.

At 6-foot-1 and 196 pounds, Hudson has some versatility at the position — one he is still acclimating himself to after playing a lot of quarterback in high school — and can fit into a similar mold as Stove during his Auburn career.

Then there’s Malcolm Johnson Jr., who could emerge as the Tigers’ replacement for Schwartz. Like Schwartz, Johnson has elite top-end speed as a former track star and presents a lot of upside at the position. He only appeared in one game last season after forgoing his senior season of high school to reclassify from the 2021 class to the 2020 class and join Auburn last fall. Though he didn’t see the field much, the early arrival on campus was valuable for Johnson — who would have otherwise spent the fall without football, as Virginia pushed its fall sports seasons to the spring due to the pandemic.

Rounding out Auburn’s receiving corps this spring is Ja’Varrius Johnson, a redshirt sophomore who has appeared in just one game over his first two seasons. The former four-star prospect has a skillset similar to former Auburn standout Ryan Davis—the Tigers’ career leader in receptions—but his development has been hindered his first two years due to injuries. If he can stay healthy, it’ll be curious to see if he can showcase the same ability that made him such an explosive playmaker at Hewitt-Trussville coming out of high school.

It’s an intriguing group at receiver this spring, to be sure, and while there isn’t much production returning to the position for Auburn, there is no shortage of talent. Five of the eight receivers on the roster this spring are former blue-chip recruits, leaving plenty for Harsin, Bobo and first-year receivers coach Cornelius Williams to work with heading into the 2021 season.

Up next: Tight ends.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[bigbird 60,939]

There is a lot of talent and potential in that group,  I expect big things from them.

[W.E.D 11,071]

Man I love our WRs except for experience.  There's really none of it.  Jackson has been a glorified lineman his entire career.  Blocking is critical, but looking forward to an offense that has more than 1 WR utilized.

We need a grad transfer for this group.  We've got talent, but not sure we have elite talent that can outplay experience.

[GTNupe11 2,077]

55 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Man I love our WRs except for experience.  There's really none of it.  Jackson has been a glorified lineman his entire career.  Blocking is critical, but looking forward to an offense that has more than 1 WR utilized.

We need a grad transfer for this group.  We've got talent, but not sure we have elite talent that can outplay experience.

We get grad transfers at WR then never use them.

[AUApostle 7,759]

IMO, Hudson was most impressive last year.  Came in and made plays...made some difficult catches when the rest of the team seemed flat.  I've never heard him speak and couldn't spot him if I saw him outside of the stadium, but I think he's a future leader of the O.

[W.E.D 11,071]

18 minutes ago, GTNupe11 said:

We get grad transfers at WR then never use them.

I don't think you can look at the last regime and project it out forward. 

 

I don't even know the last grad transfer we took at WR. Cams brother was just a normal transfer

[steeleagle 2,945]

2 hours ago, W.E.D said:

Man I love our WRs except for experience.  There's really none of it.  Jackson has been a glorified lineman his entire career.  Blocking is critical, but looking forward to an offense that has more than 1 WR utilized.

We need a grad transfer for this group.  We've got talent, but not sure we have elite talent that can outplay experience.

I think there is elite talent in this group, but it's hard to let it show, when you had such experience and skilled WRs like Seth, Schwarz, and Stone playing. 

Experienced ? No. I can see a WR transfer coming in, if they were a veteran and saw a lot of PT with his prior team. But, if not I can see someone emerging from our current group that will be 'go to' type of WRs...

[W.E.D 11,071]

27 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

I think there is elite talent in this group, but it's hard to let it show, when you had such experience and skilled WRs like Seth, Schwarz, and Stone playing. 

Experienced ? No. I can see a WR transfer coming in, if they were a veteran and saw a lot of PT with his prior team. But, if not I can see someone emerging from our current group that will be 'go to' type of WRs...

Yeah agree.  It'll be a Vet with a lot of catches/playing time.  There might not be one out there.

I think all of our talent will be Sophomores/RS Freshman too.  Maybe Jackson will be a guy as a Sr and was misused by our last staff, but I'm not sure I really see it.  Possibly b/c he's never had a true opportunity besides blocking.  I can't ever remember much talk about him from various spring/fall camps.

[Hank2020 3,355]

9 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Yeah agree.  It'll be a Vet with a lot of catches/playing time.  There might not be one out there.

I think all of our talent will be Sophomores/RS Freshman too.  Maybe Jackson will be a guy as a Sr and was misused by our last staff, but I'm not sure I really see it.  Possibly b/c he's never had a true opportunity besides blocking.  I can't ever remember much talk about him from various spring/fall camps.

I can’t remember that  far back either.

[McLoofus 35,182]

Jackson was spoken of as a playmaker heading into last season but of course that meant nothing under the prior regime. I think he will bring an attitude and a presence that will help the receiver room overall, but I don't know how he will factor into game plans. 

Capers and Hudson look like playmakers but that is based off of extremely limited film. They may or may not be dependable route runners and pass catchers. Really no way to know. But I think that the physical tools are there.

It will be good to see the tight ends factor in more. I think that might open things up for the receivers in a way that we haven't seen in a long time. And they might line up in some of the same spots in run some of the same routes.

Very anxious to see potential weapons like Jet Johnson and Javy Johnson.

I think the overall combination of talent and scheme will enable this group to be the most productive in years. Whether or not that translates to true upper echelon production, who knows. It's a big jump from what we're used to to good enough.