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Looking Back At The Wide Receivers Apple Cup Performance

Wait, what is this? A football post not about Mike Leach? While it is true this post doesn't have anything to do with Leach, it does have a lot to do with Marquess Wilson and that is a pretty good consolation prize. This will also be the first of many wide receiver posts in the next couple of weeks. I'm currently compiling data to break down Leach's wide receivers at Texas Tech, what to expect from the WSU receivers next year and Wilson's potential in Leach's offense.

Before we get to all of that, we first have to wrap up the 2011 season. The wide receiver group finished the season on a high note posting their third highest yards per target average of the season. Once again, Wilson led the way catching seven of nine targets. Before the season, I thought Wilson's numbers might actually decline as teams started to gameplan for him more. Clearly I forgot he has super powers.

Player Targets Catches Yards Drops 1st Downs YPT Catch% Drop% 1st Down%
Isiah Barton 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Bennett Bontemps 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Henry Eaddy 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Jared Karstetter 13 9 82 0 4 6.31 69.23 0.00 30.77
Isiah Myers 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Bobby Ratliff 3 3 38 0 1 12.67 100.00 0.00 33.33
Gino Simone 1 1 32 0 1 32.00 100.00 0.00 100.00
Kristoff Williams 3 2 21 0 1 7.00 66.67 0.00 33.33
Marquess Wilson 9 7 108 0 5 12.00 77.78 0.00 55.56
WR Totals 29 22 281 0 12 9.69 75.86 0.00 41.38

Five receivers were targeted although Simone's catch and run came in garbage time. Karstetter led the way with 13 targets and posted his highest catch rate since the fourth game of the season.

Ratliff continued his season trend of catching practically every pass thrown his way. Three targets, three catches. It was the fifth time this season Ratliff posted a double digit YPT. Wilson was the only receiver with more double digit YPT games, doing it seven times.

Wilson's 77.78 catch rate was the seventh time he topped 70 percent this season. His 55.56 first down percentage was the fifth time this season he's topped 50 percent. Think about those numbers for a second. He catches 70 percent of passes thrown at him and converts them into a first down 50 percent of the time.

Williams and Simone were essentially one catch wonders with 47 of their 53 combined yards coming on two catches. Simone's 32-yard catch came on the final WSU drive and did a very nice job of inflating his season numbers as you will see after the jump.

Player Targets Catches Yards Drops 1st Downs YPT Catch% Drop% 1st Down%
Isiah Barton 83 49 638 10 27 7.69 59.04 12.05 32.53
Bennett Bontemps 8 3 24 2 2 3.00 37.50 25.00 25.00
Henry Eaddy 10 4 35 1 1 3.50 40.00 10.00 10.00
Jared Karstetter 105 60 700 9 39 6.67 57.14 8.57 37.14
Isiah Myers 13 7 76 0 3 5.85 53.85 0.00 23.08
Bobby Ratliff 41 28 348 1 18 8.49 68.29 2.44 43.90
Gino Simone 9 4 69 1 3 7.67 44.44 11.11 33.33
Kristoff Williams 16 9 134 1 5 8.38 56.25 6.25 31.25
Marquess Wilson 123 82 1388 9 51 11.28 66.67 7.32 41.46
WR Totals 408 246 3412 34 149 8.36 60.29 8.33 36.52

As I mentioned in this post last week, Barton capped his WSU career with a terrific season. His YPT and catch rate numbers are just slightly below NCAA averages, which is one heck of a feat for a junior college transfer who really struggled in his first season.

Karstetter's season is tough to explain, especially his catch rate. Last season, Karstetter caught nearly 66 percent of his targets. Why the almost nine percent decline? I really have no idea. One thing I do know, those of you who are fans of stats and symmetry will love this.

Karstetter from Tuel: 7 targets, 4 catches, 57.14 catch rate

Karstetter from Lobbestael: 77 targets, 44 catches, 57.14 catch rate

Karstetter from Halliday: 21 targets, 12 catches, 57.14 catch rate

Ratliff had an up and down season, but finished as the second most effective receiver behind Wilson. He was targeted at least once in 10 of the 12 games, posting five double digit YPT games. On the downside, he also had a YPT under 4.0 three times. Maybe he should have been given more consistent opportunities, but regardless it was a nice redshirt freshman campaign. I have a feeling we won't be questioning his lack of targets next season, I expect him to be involved early and often playing the role of Robin to Wilson's batman.

Speaking of Wilson, what a fantastic season. I'm working on a couple of posts just about Wilson and what he accomplished this season, but here is an example of how good he was this season. In 2010, only three players posted at least 11.0 YPT and a 66.0 catch rate while being targeted at least 100 times. He played himself into an elite group.