Kerry Joseph lists them with ease.
“Terrence Davis,” he begins, “Donnie Ashley.”
Joseph continues, listing the receivers the former McNeese State quarterback targeted during a mid-90s career that cast him a hero in his home state. He coaches the Cowboys receivers now and insists he wouldn’t trade his talented group of yesteryear for his current crop.
“But, man,” he says, a wide smile creeping across his face, “I wish I had this system.”
McNeese (4-4, 3-3 SLC) will play its 73rd homecoming game at 6 p.m. today. Alumni and fans who return to Cowboy Stadium will view a team with a far-departed offensive philosophy than that of Joseph’s — or any other former Cowboy, for that matter — time in the Hole.
It is a team sold on offensive coordinator Landon Hoefer’s system, slinging the football around the field to whomever happens to be open. There is no one go-to receiver and no onus on one person to carry the offense on his shoulders. Quarterback James Tabary’s task remains rudimentary: throw with accuracy and find the open receiver.
“It’s really all I know,” Hoefer says. “I’m not smart enough. I watch (Alabama offensive coordinator Lane) Kiffin and he’s really good at having one guy and finding a bunch of different ways to use him. I don’t know that I’m smart enough to sit in the film room and do that. We just kind of developed a scheme that gets it to everybody.”
Twenty players — including Tabary — have caught a pass. Five of those have each caught 20 or more passes, tying a school record. Six others have 10 or more catches.
Wide receivers are hardly singled out. Ryan Ross, the team’s preseason all-Southland Conference running back, has 25 catches. His brother, Lawayne, has eight. Justin Pratt has seven. Both are freshmen who played their first collegiate game nine weeks ago.
Last season, with the oft-inaccurate but easily mobile Daniel Sams, the team attempted 291. It attempted 301 in 2014 — Hoefer’s first season at the school.
Tabary has 299 pass attempts this season, Hoefer’s first as offensive coordinator.
“I wasn’t locked in to necessarily a pocket (quarterback), but I was locked in on a leader and a guy who cared a lot and a guy who wanted to bring energy,” Hoefer said. “Accuracy was a requirement. But sometimes guys that can run fast and are accurate are hard to find.”
Joseph threw for 2,485 yards in his senior season. Tabary will pass him for third on the school’s single-season passing list if he throws for 317 yards today against an Abilene Christian (1-7, 1-5) zone defense that will remain with four down linemen and three linebackers, even against the most pass-happy teams.
It is why head coach Lance Guidry prefers man-to-man defense. Good cornerbacks take away deep throws and, in turn, teams are unable to run the football or complete short throws against the front.
“When people play zone, they give you a lot of open area and receivers just run to spots,” Guidry said. “James is able to get to them. A lot depends on what the defense is giving us … (Man defense) forces everything down the field toward the outside of the defense. And when you’re good out there, people have problems. But when you sit back in zones, it’s hard to play the run and cover all those areas. I like to see zone defenses to tell you the truth.”
It is Guidry’s first homecoming as the head coach of his alma mater. He’s assembled a staff of five other alumni, including Joseph, who has an ironic task today.
Mixing and matching the receivers who will, likely, aid in his records falling.
“When do I get them in the game?” Joseph asked rhetorically. “Because I don’t want a guy sitting on the sidelines for a whole half before he gets in. That’s the tough spot for me as a coach, when you have that much talent, how do you plug them in?”
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