[BostonCard]

On the wide receivers, it is easy to see why Whitfield's redshirt was burned last season, and Owusu's this year; there simply wasn't that much returning depth.

After the 2011 season, we graduated our top two receiving pass catchers: Griff Whalen and Chris Owusu, responsible for 101 catches for 1125 yards.  Our top returning wide receiver was Montgomery (then a true freshman), who caught 24 catches for 350 yards.  The next guy was Drew Terrell (8 catches for 81 yards).  That's not a whole lot of returning production.
After the 2012 season, we graduated Terrell, who was our top wide receiver and Jamal-Rashad Patterson (16 catches, 271 yards and a better season in terms of yards than Montgomery), and our only real returning treat was Montgomery, who had had a down season (26 catches, 213 yards).  Whitfield, unfortunately had 2 catches for 13 yards ad Young had 8 catches for 74 yards; Cajuste and Pratt each had one catch.  Whitfield's modest production was not because we had a stable of wide receivers that took balls away from him, but rather because we had a ton of pass catching tight ends.  Although he didn't wind up contributing much, it was easy to see how the staff might have thought that we need help at wide receiver.
And again, this year, we only really had Montgomery coming back, after a down season, so it was easy to see why the coaches thought Owusu would be needed.  Fortunately for the team, both Rector and Cajuste had break-out years, and we probably didn't need to play Owusu.  But that was hard to guess in advance.

My guess is that we don't play any true freshmen wide receivers next year (of course, we don't have any WR commits this year). 

BC

[BostonCard]

On the wide receivers, it is easy to see why Whitfield's redshirt was burned last season, and Owusu's this year; there simply wasn't that much returning depth.

After the 2011 season, we graduated our top two receiving pass catchers: Griff Whalen and Chris Owusu, responsible for 101 catches for 1125 yards.  Our top returning wide receiver was Montgomery (then a true freshman), who caught 24 catches for 350 yards.  The next guy was Drew Terrell (8 catches for 81 yards).  That's not a whole lot of returning production.
After the 2012 season, we graduated Terrell, who was our top wide receiver and Jamal-Rashad Patterson (16 catches, 271 yards and a better season in terms of yards than Montgomery), and our only real returning treat was Montgomery, who had had a down season (26 catches, 213 yards).  Whitfield, unfortunately had 2 catches for 13 yards ad Young had 8 catches for 74 yards; Cajuste and Pratt each had one catch.  Whitfield's modest production was not because we had a stable of wide receivers that took balls away from him, but rather because we had a ton of pass catching tight ends.  Although he didn't wind up contributing much, it was easy to see how the staff might have thought that we need help at wide receiver.
And again, this year, we only really had Montgomery coming back, after a down season, so it was easy to see why the coaches thought Owusu would be needed.  Fortunately for the team, both Rector and Cajuste had break-out years, and we probably didn't need to play Owusu.  But that was hard to guess in advance.

My guess is that we don't play any true freshmen wide receivers next year (of course, we don't have any WR commits this year). 

BC