{"id":73695,"date":"2023-08-17T08:40:47","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T13:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=73695"},"modified":"2023-08-17T08:40:49","modified_gmt":"2023-08-17T13:40:49","slug":"receivers-looking-to-step-up-this-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=73695","title":{"rendered":"Receivers looking to step up this fall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By CAYDEN SANDERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wide receivers on the Fort Hays State University football team are coming into the season expecting to perform well, with upperclassmen leading the charge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al McCray, assistant head coach and receivers coach, is excited about this year\u2019s talent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a lot of talent that could see some time on the field this season,\u201d said McCray, now in his 15th year with the Tigers. \u201cWhat we have to do in the position we are in is to find the most consistent in practice leading into the season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Trevor Watts is one of the players who will headline the position. The former De Soto High School standout transferred from Washburn University before the 2022 season. Last year, he played in five games, finishing with 14 receptions for 107 yards. In the season opener, Watts had 10 catches for 88 yards and returned three kicks for 64 yards against Northwest Missouri State University. He finished the season with 151 all-purpose yards.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Watts<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

This season, the senior will have to lead the 10 redshirt freshmen and true freshmen.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStepping into a leadership role is weird because I used to be the guy that looked up to the older players (and) now I am one,\u201d Watts said<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCray and the Tigers will also rely on Ryan Allen this fall. Coming into his sophomore season, Allen is ready for the challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Allen<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cLast year, I did not get on the field a lot last season, but I have been working really hard in the weight room, and I can\u2019t wait for the season,\u201d Allen said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his freshman campaign, the Highlands Ranch, Colo., native saw the field 10 times and had three catches for 32 yards. In the season finale against Pitt State, Allen had two of those receptions for 24 yards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year he looks to increase his production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had an excellent game finish to the season, which became a springboard for me to be ready for the offseason,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another receiver the Tigers look to see production from is junior transfer Jayden Horace. He makes the change from Allen University and is excited to play for Fort Hays and in the MIAA.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I got recruited, I heard that the MIAA is one of the best leagues in Division II. So when I was offered to come here, I had to commit and see the hype,\u201d Horace said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horace, from Tampa, Fla., had 83 receptions for 1,268 yards in his two seasons at DII Allen University, located in Columbia, S.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said his connection with McCray is what brought him to Fort Hays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMcCray \u2026 is my coach. I love playing for him so far,\u201d Horace said. \u201cHe has been nothing but a great coach ever since he recruited me to come here and play. Since then, it has carried on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tigers are getting set to finalize the last week of fall camp with a scrimmage at 9 a.m. Saturday at Lewis Field Stadium. The scrimmage is open for fans. FHSU starts the season Aug. 31 on the road against Northeastern State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By CAYDEN SANDERS The wide receivers on the Fort Hays State University football team are coming into the season expecting to perform well, with upperclassmen… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3387,7349],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/WR-Main-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73695"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73703,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73695\/revisions\/73703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/73702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}