We’ve already done the recaps of what was an unnecessarily close game on Saturday, so now its time to hand out some grades! Luckily I get to talk about the side of the ball that deservedly so gets rated high across the board thanks to their excellent performance.

Being that this is the first iteration of this for the season, I’ll give a quick summary of what these will look like! I will grade each position group (QBs, RB’s, WR’s, TE’s, OL) and then the offensive staff/play calling. Wednesday’s will consist of naming an Offensive Player of the Week and talking about a key to having success against the upcoming opponent.

Quarterbacks: A

This one was a pretty easy grade just like most this week. Behren Morton was nothing short of excellent and really didn’t have make any bad reads or plays. A 71% completion percentage is as good as it gets, with the incompletions being smart throw aways that last year were unnecessary hits.

One thing that I loved to see was that every RPO/Play action fake looked like the last one. That’s how you get wide open touchdowns like the second one that Coy Eakin had. Behren is a smart quarterback that takes what the defense gives him while also knowing when to take shots and risks. If he stays healthy then this offense will keep this momentum going.

Cameron Brown also came in for a few plays and while I liked the ideas, they were at a time where maybe we would’ve been better off keeping Behren out there and letting him convert the third down. I do like that he is being used in these packages because it gives us an extra weapon, just maybe should be used on smarter downs.

Running Backs: A+

Tahj Brooks was the only running that had multiple carries, and all he did was get 153 yards closer to the school record. That stat line alone is beautiful in itself, but after watching the game and seeing how much of that he had to do on his own at times makes it even better.

He was stopped a few times short of the line to gain but that was no fault of his own as he was hit immediately. All night he took what the defense gave him and followed whatever blocks he had, and of course made defenders miss in the process.

Being able to effectively run the RPO is going to help this offense be potentially one of the best in the nation. If this is the Tahj we are getting this season then it’ll be up to the defense to pick their poison.

Wide Receivers: A-

Even with the new additions to the receiving corps, this unit had a day for themselves to start the season. Eakin and Morton picked up where they left off at the bowl game last year and got it going with two first quarter touchdowns. It’s clear that Eakin is the guy Morton trusts with the 50/50 balls as he knows which spots to put it in.

Josh Kelly introduced himself to Red Raider Nation as he lead the team with 10 receptions for 156 yards and a touchdown on a well executed flea flicker. Outside of his false start, you could say that it was a solid debut!

Caleb Douglas and Jordan Brown were the other two receivers that saw action on Saturday as Caleb caught what would be the winning touchdown in overtime. The noteworthy absence from the group was True Freshman stud Micah Hudson, who Coach McGuire said wasn’t used as often as they would’ve liked because of how the other guys were playing and he didn’t want to stop their momentum which makes sense.

If this group can be 4-5 deep all season long and give defenses a headache trying to figure out who to guard, then that opens up everything for this offense.

Tight Ends: A

Going into the year it was expected that this could be a deep group with each guy being able to contribute, and that was certainly the case as it seemed like the splits were fairly even throughout the night with each guy getting play time.

Jalin Conyers was the biggest contributor through the air with five catches for 63 yards, including an amazing 36 yard touchdown on fourth down that was both a well placed ball and impressive catch. He also ran in a two point conversion.

Johncarlos MIller II transferred in from Elon and seemed to be getting a lot of run as an H-Back/inline tight end as he was blocking a good amount. Mason Tharp contributed as well but both he and Miller only managed one catch each.

Conyers seems to be the main contributor as a play maker which makes sense as he’s the most versatile, but the other two have useful skill sets and the coaching staff seems intent on using them.

Offensive Line: B+

Compared to what this group would look like last year, this is an improvement to say the least. There was a rotation at certain positions throughout the game which hopefully won’t be the case this upcoming Saturday as you would like to have your starting five solidified sooner rather than later.

Run blocking was pretty ugly at times, which makes Brooks’ performance look that much better. Too many times we saw the defense penetrating without having to send the blitz and controlling the line of scrimmage. This is something that won’t bite us against an FCS opponent but will doom us if it continues as the schedule gets tougher.

Pass blocking was excellent as Morton was only sacked once and besides that had plenty of time to get through his reads if he wasn’t getting the ball out right away. It was nice to see this unit come away with some positives instead of letting both aspects of the offense suffer from a bad performance.

Coaching/Play Calling: B+

At least on this side of the ball I thought that the game plan and coaching were solid for the most part.

My biggest gripe was the play calling on certain downs that were clearly passing downs but instead we tried to sneak in a run and it didn’t work in our favor. Obviously Tahj’s first touchdown came from an 18 yard run on 3rd and 13 so it did work but I think they let that convince them that it would be open all the time and really that was the only case of us converting a first down with a run play when we had a ways to go. This could also be Behren’s decision as I know he has a good amount of command at the line of scrimmage.

The flea flicker came at the perfect time and completely fooled the defense, and the two point conversion was a nicely designed play as well. You can tell that this offense has a lot of potential when their key guys are healthy, and I am looking forward to seeing the different tricks they have up their sleeves as the season goes on.