It’s hard to replace a guy like former BG wide receiver Freddie Barnes. The wide receivers on the team this year will say the same thing.
As a senior last year, Barnes led the country with 155 receptions and 19 touchdowns for 1,770 receiving yards.
His 155 receptions established a new mark in NCAA history and his 1,770 receiving yards ranked second in the nation.
The Falcons relied a lot on the hands of No. 7 last season, and who could blame them?
But with Barnes out of the picture, BG will look to move on with its handful of wide outs in what will certainly be a more spread out offense.
Adrian Hodges returns to the Falcons as the top wide out from a year ago, hauling in 46 catches for 417 yards and two touchdowns.
Ray Hutson returns for a third season after catching 28 passes for 239 yards in 2009, joining Justus Jones and Tyrone Pronty as notable returners on the receiving end.
Pronty, a fifth-year senior, caught six passes in a win over Troy in the first game of the season last year, but suffered a season-ending foot injury the same game.
Pronty says he learned a lot by watching Barnes, but realizes neither himself nor the rest of the receivers have to emulate his stats.
“He [Barnes] raised the bar, but at the same time we don’t have to do it as an individual,” Pronty said. “We don’t have to have one person get 155 catches. We have a plethora of receivers that can get the job done.”
The surplus of wide outs expands to senior co-captain Calvin Wiley, who returns for his sixth year after sitting out the 2007 and 2009 seasons with an injury.
And although he’s played alongside some great BG receivers in the past, he said this year’s group has more speed which makes it more competitive among this year’s group.
“It’s good competition, but it’s healthy competition,” Wiley said. “We all drive each other to get better, but at the same time we know if we need a blow we can get somebody else in there and they can do the same thing as we can do. It’s pretty good to have depth like that.”
Kamar Jorden is another receiver adding to the competition this season.
In 2009 Jorden redshirted after playing two years at Hudson Valley Community College, where he had a school record 60 catches for 938 yards as a sophomore.
Jorden said having to sit out a year and watch Barnes helped him out a lot as he continues to grow as a player.
“I think me redshirting was the best opportunity for me because I got to sit back and actually watch somebody,” Jorden said. “Everything that Freddie did I was basically just doing that and adding my own little twist to it.”
For freshman Shaun Joplin, who also redshirted last season, he is grateful for the help he received from Barnes and the upperclassmen this year as he tries to work his way up the depth chart.
“Freddie helped me out a lot last year and now I got Calvin, Ray and Pronty and they’re all helping me out this year,” Joplin said. “Watching Kamar is just a big help to me this year. I’m just trying to work my way up and trying to play.”