Staffer Roundtable: Who Will Be Gunner Kiel’s Favorite Receiver In 2014?

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On paper, Cincinnati’s passing game in 2014 will be as explosive as ever. Brendon Kay has taken his 4,500 yards and 32 career touchdowns with him when he graduated and offensive coordinator Eddie Gran is turning the keys of his offense over to sophomore Gunner Kiel. Normally replacing a seasoned senior with an underclassmen who hasn’t played a live down in a college football game results in a rocky transition period.

But by all means Kiel has been set up to shine in his inaugural season at the helm. Firstly, the young quarterback actually took over half of Brendon Kay’s reps with the 1st team offense before last year’s Belk Bowl. So the players he will be guiding out on the field on September 12th have been familiar with his nuances for several months now. More recently, Kiel looked sharp in Cincinnati’s Spring Game, throwing for over 300 yards and three total touchdowns. Finally, Gran will continue with the spread offense we witnessed during the back two-thirds of the year. He won’t revert back to the disastrous pro-style schemes that scuttled his own players in the first month of the season. This will allow Kiel to continue refining his tools under the same system come camp in August.

Additionally, and most importantly for the sake of this piece, he has a wealth of talented wide outs at his disposal. Everybody in the wide receiver corps except Anthony McClung is back for UC next season. That includes Shaq Washington who paced Cincinnati in receptions last year and was effectively an automatic first down every time he caught a pass out of the slot. Then there’s outside threat Chris Moore who might have best hands in the unit and led all receivers with 9 touchdown receptions in 2014. Opposite him will be the 6’6″ Mekale McKay whose natural abilities allowed him to torch secondaries in a number of ways last season.

But who will be Gunner Kiel’s #1 target? Will he get into a rhythm with Shaq Washington more than the others? Will he and Chris Moore hook up with the regularity deep like Kay did? Or will a tight end emerge as his favorite pass catcher?

While it’s too early to tell, the answers to those questions we at Cincy on the Prowl will postulate about in a staffer roundtable, the best kind of roundtable.

Tommy Perry: Mekale McKay

While Kiel may target some of his other wideouts more often than McKay, no other UC receiver has the big play capabilities that McKay possesses. In his first season in the Red and Black, McKay torched many opposing cornerbacks and had a knack for finding the endzone. Look for Kiel and his big arm to dial up a lot of bombs to McKay after using some of his possession receivers, like Max Morrison, to lure the defense in. This should be a fun season with lots of offense, so I believe that all of the returning wideouts should put up good numbers.

Jesse Smith (@TeezyT): Chris Moore

It’s a tough choice between him and Shaq Washington. I’m picking Moore strictly on size and big play ability. Moore had a 45 catch, 9 touchdown campaign in 2013 and with possibility a better QB under center (no disrespect to Branden Kay) and the graduation of Anthony McClung, Moore is bound to become a Kiel favorite.

Ben Levin (@LevinMachine): Mekale McKay

When I look at the receiving corps for the coming season, I get pretty excited.  Kiel is going to have a ton of weapons, especially with RDA-IV’s move to receiver.  I think the favorite (and most important) target for Gunner will be Mekale McKay.  McKay has the size and speed to be a true #1 Wide Receiver.  Shaq Washington had a great, breakout season last year, but he is more of a slot receiver.  He can catch the ball reliably and run after the catch, but at 5’9″, Washington will never be a big time deep threat.  McKay, by contrast, is 6’6″.  He can go up and get any ball at any time, making him a big play threat without needing to run after the catch.  With Kiel’s arm strength, I think we will see a lot of deep balls go McKay’s way in 2014.  McKay’s size also makes him an ideal target in the red zone, where underneath routes tend to dry up.  He’s already proven that he has a knack for catching touchdowns, and his effortless gate and red zone ability remind me a lot of former Bearcat star Armon Binns.

Derek Mack (@damackattackkk): Mekale McKay

With Anthony McClung officially a Houston Texan, the Bearcats have a huge spot to fill on the wide receiver corps in the upcoming season. It’s a spot that accounted for almost 1000 yards in the Bearcats’ 2013 season. As crazy as it sounds, a huge part of me wanted to put RDA IV in the spot as one of Gunner’s favorite targets. With RDA officially appearing on the roster this spring as a wide receiver, and with Eddie Gran looking to utilize his quickness in the slot position, Abernathy could finally put up the numbers many have expected from him over the past few years this season.

However, I think Gunner Kiel’s favorite target and one of the Bearcats’ most prolific wide receivers this season will be MeKale McKay. Although he was 4th on the team in receiving yards with 485 which paled to the number’s put up by McClung, Shaq Washington, and Chris Moore, he tied for 2nd in crossing the pylon with 7 touchdowns. The only player to best him last season in number of touchdowns? Chris Moore, who is a kid who has the potential of being a great threat to opposing defenses. However, I’ll go on record to say that MeKale McKay will be Gunner’s favorite target this season on general routes as well as in the redzone for one reason: his size. He’s listed as 6’6″. He’s got elite size and is capable of making huge plays because of it. He’s going to be a problem for any defense, including the likes of Ohio State and Miami(FL) and, with a possible elite college quarterback in Gunner Kiel at the hlem, will hopefully be the key to taking down these two goliath programs as well as winning the AAC East outright.  

Mike Jorgensen (@SinceHeWillWin): Mekale McKay

There are a few great candidates here including but not limited to Shaq Washington, Alex Chisum, and Mekale McKay.  Any of those guys could easily grab the most catches but my money is on Mekale McKay.  We shouldn’t forget about the other receivers on the roster that we haven’t seen much out of.  There is always the element of surprise or rapid maturation in college football.  I chose McKay simply because of his size and speed.  A 6’6” receiver that can move quickly is a real weapon.  He has the height of a tight end (which will make him taller than any CB or safety that tries to cover him) but he has the speed to beat a host of defenders.

Other interesting options are RDA IV (Ralph Abernathy).  Cuatro (as Dan Hoard calls him) didn’t do well as a RB last year between the tackles but he never lost his starting job which must mean that TT likes him.  Hopefully they can come up with some more intelligent uses for his many talents.  I think he could be a flex back and runs screens or work out of a slot WR position.  I don’t think he’s going to the most catches this year but I think he has the potential for serious contribution to the passing game.

Either way, there should be plenty of options and if Gunner lives up to the hype then we should have a lot of fun watching the Bearcats this year.

Chris Bains: Shaq Washington

I’m going with Shaq Washington. He was a first down machine last season and a safety valve for Brendon Kay when other receivers were covered deeper downfield. Washington could always be relied upon to move the chains. The main reason he was so valuable was because Cincinnati’s rushing attack never picked up enough yards with enough consistency to put the offense in 3rd-and-short situations. They were constantly in 3rd-and-medium and 3rd-and-long situations.

Right now I can’t say if that running game has improved this offseason. Giving Ralph David Abernathy more roles at wide receiver helps. But because there’s so much uncertainty I have to assume that the status quo holds true. Thus, Shaq “Mr. First Down” Washington will need to be utilized as much as ever and become Gunner Kiel’s favorite target next season.