From left: Bakari Bussey, Jerry Gross, LaVon Brazill, Terrence McCrae, Steven Goulet and Riley Dunlop. Photo by Lydia Deakin, Photo Editor

“I WANT A PLANT AND A 45-DEGREE ANGLE! DO IT AGAIN!”

Ohio wide receivers coach Dwayne Dixon doesn’t like the way one of his young receivers is getting out of his routes.

“I WANT A STICK! GIVE ME A STICK!”

Dixon knows the way a receiver should operate, and everyone within an earshot knows that Dixon knows receivers. He’s like a Rottweiler fenced in next to a crosswalk. He never stops barking. Rightfully so. He was a four-year letterman as a wide receiver at his alma mater, Florida, and a honorable mention All-American as a senior. Following a short NFL and AFL career, he was a receivers coach for the Gators for 15 years, mentoring 13 receivers who were drafted and another nine who earned NFL contracts. He coached 11 All-American wide receivers and ten All-SEC performers.

As Ohio runs one-on-ones, a drill in which a receiver runs routes against a cornerback playing man-to-man coverage, Dixon’s voice is omnipresent. It’s particularly biting when a receiver stops and waits for the quarterback’s pass to come to him, allowing the burned corner to get back into the play.

“STAY BETWEEN YOUR MAN AND THE BALL!”

The next receiver in line runs a perfectly-executed double move, leaving his defender five yards in his wake. As he cuts across the hash marks with not a soul near him, a well-thrown ball hits his hands, then the ground. Dixon watches, arms crossed. He shakes his head, then utters, “Son of a biscuit.”

Dixon is right to push his receivers as hard as he does: Ohio’s 2010 crop of receivers is the best top-to-bottom group in the program’s history.

“All of my guys, I want to give them all the information I can to make them the best they can be,” Dixon says. “A lot of them are very receptive to that information and they utilize it to the best. That helps our team.”

It may comes as a surprise Ohio has its best ever group considering it lost Taylor Price, the school’s best-ever receiver. So how can a team lose a first-day NFL Draft pick and get better? Simple: staggering depth.

“I’ve been here for three years, so we had Taylor Price. He obviously went to the Patriots, now we have a bunch of guys that can fill in his spot,” redshirt senior quarterback Boo Jackson said. “Since I’ve been here, it has to be the best receiving corps we’ve had.”

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August 25, 2010- The Jugs machine is roaring. The machine operates by someone placing a football between two spinning wheels, which fire the ball with a spiral. Today, the machine is set to “John Elway.” As the machine rockets footballs forward, senior receiver LaVon Brazill stands about eight yards in front of it. He carries on a conversation with his teammates, catching line drive after line drive with the ease it would take you or I to open a door. It’s simply second nature to him.

Brazill, a Lantana, Florida native with blazing speed, is clearly the leader of this group of receivers. He caught 53 passes and six touchdowns last season, and has been named to the Fred Biletnikoff Award (given to the nation’s top receiver) watch list for 2010, although he is most known for his punt returning prowess. He was the only FBS player to score three punt return touchdowns in 2009, and he was named Second Team All-American by The Sporting News.

Brazill isn’t practicing because of an injury, but he walks through warm-ups like a coach, talking to players, giving encouragement and lighting the mood. It’s tough to catch him without a smile on his face. Despite his accomplished status, he’s working even on days when he’s not healthy enough to practice. Even though he’s seen the glamor of scoring touchdowns, he’s never complacent. He’s not satisfied with his blocking and route running at the moment.

“I still need to work on all that stuff,” Brazill says, “And stay humble. You still got to eat.”

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October 28, 2008- It’s miserable in more ways than one at Peden Stadium. The temperature is in the 30s for most of the night, and a steady rain isn’t making the atmosphere any more enjoyable. On top of that, Ohio is playing its worst game of the season so far, and in front of a national television audience. They can’t stop Buffalo running back James Starks, who would finish the game with 186 yards. The Bobcats fumble the ball six times and end the game with four turnovers. Most aggravating, the defense can’t get off the field—Buffalo converts 11 of 16 third downs on the night.

Down 26-13 midway through the fourth quarter, the Bobcats face fourth and eight from the Buffalo 20. It’s very clearly Ohio’s last chance to get back in the game. Boo Jackson takes the snap, moves to his left and fires the ball to the back of the end zone, a gutsy gamble. The pass looks too high as he releases it. As the ball and the game appear to be sailing out-of-bounds, sophomore Riley Dunlop leaps and snares the pass one-handed with one, swooping motion of his right arm. He taps his toe on the turf and falls out-of-bounds. The stadium goes quiet for a millisecond. The back judge’s hands go up: touchdown. Peden explodes, and the play is number six on that night’s SportsCenter’s “Top 10 Plays.”

The amazing part is Dunlop makes catches like that nearly every day in practice. Almost to a man, the first thing anyone associated with Ohio says of Dunlop is, “great hands.” Standing 6 feet 2 inches, he’s a match-up nightmare for opposing defenses. He’s usually the third or fourth option, and most nickel or dime backs can’t cover him.

“Riley,” fellow receiver Terrence McCrae says, “can catch anything one-handed.”

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Terrence McCrae catches a deep pass on corner Julian Posey. McCrae led the Bobcats with nine receiving touchdowns last season.

December 26, 2009- “Think they’ll score?”

Ohio running back Chris Garrett plunges to the Marshall seven yard line with a 15-yard run, setting up Ohio with a chance to cut Marshall’s 14-point lead in half. I brought my cousin, on leave from the Air Force, with me to the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl in Detroit. He’s never seen Ohio play before right now.

“Watch number 11,” I say.

“Why? Is he sweet?”

“Just watch.”

Three plays later, quarterback Theo Scott lofts a pass to number 11 himself, Terrence McCrae, who out-jumps his defender for his ninth receiving touchdown of the season.

“Good call.”

It’s difficult to take credit; McCrae catching a touchdown became a mere formality when the Bobcats were in the redzone. McCrae nearly accepted a basketball scholarship to Duquesne, and his God-given talent is always apparent. The 6-foot-4-inch McCrae is lethal with the ball in the air. His huge vertical leap and ultra powerful hands allow him to rip passes out of mid-air like the Jaws of Life rescuing a car accident victim.

McCrae spent the offseason doing beach workouts and says he’s noticed more quickness coming out of routes. He has the size and skill scouts look for, and he’ll likely get drafted. Not bad for someone who almost played another sport in college.

“As a quarterback, you always want to have that go to-go guy you can throw it up to and have him go get it,” Jackson said, “and we have that in Terrance McCrae.”

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November 27, 2009- They played themselves into this opportunity. After losing to Kent State, Ohio ripped off three consecutive wins to set up a showdown with Temple. The winner wins the MAC East, goes to Detroit and plays in the MAC Championship Game. The loser watches at home.

Temple is a physical, grind-it-out team that lives by running and playing defense. The Bobcats want to turn the game into a track meet, so the first few possessions will be crucial. As snowflakes fall on Athens, Ohio’s offense heats up from the minute it touches the ball. Ohio faces third and two on Temple’s nine yard line. Scott takes the shotgun snap, fakes a handoff and rolls right. He finds Steven Goulet wide open in the end zone to put the Bobcats ahead 6-0.

The touchdown was the quintessential Goulet play: he understood where he needed to be, ran a clean route and found the soft spot in Temple’s zone. Goulet is a solid all-around receiver whose best asset is his intelligence. He’s at his best when he can move through the defense and find a weakness. McCrae says Goulet “pretty much knows the whole offense,” a testament to his preparedness.

He’s a living extension of the scramble drill: when the quarterback is in trouble, Goulet finds ways to get open.

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The Bobcat receivers fight a sort of civil war. They’re competing against each other all the time, for practice touchdowns, yards and, most importantly, playing time.

“They know that the group of guys are all competing to get themselves an opportunity to be on the field and help this team be successful,” Dixon says. “They all have that initiative, or else I wouldn’t have them here as Ohio U wide receivers.”

Making the unit even better is the effect this competition has on the entire group. While the top four receivers understandably get a lot of attention, players further down on the depth chart are capable of stepping in, and the offense doesn’t miss a beat. Bakari Bussey, a tall, physical redshirt sophomore, has a lot of the same physical ability McCrae has. Redshirt junior Jerry Gross, a junior college transfer, hasn’t caught a pass for Ohio yet, but has shown promise of being a complete receiver in practice.

The ripple of this corps’ talent doesn’t just shows up on offense, though.

“Going against the best receivers in the MAC lets me know I’m one of the best DBs and our defensive unit (and) our defensive backs are some of the best in the league,” senior cornerback Julian Posey says. “We know that we can cover one-on-one and you can put us on island like we’ve always done. I love doing it. It gives you that confidence that you can do it in the game environment.”

Even though they play in a small-school conference, the Ohio receivers don’t play with a chip on their shoulder. They know they’re good enough to play with the big boys.

“I feel like our receivers now could pretty much play anywhere,” McCrae says. “Everyone brings their own set of skills to the table.”

Posey calls practicing against the Ohio receivers “a privilege,” but talent doesn’t necessarily equal productivity.

That’s where Dixon comes in.

“The productivity is what’s going to matter most. As an overall group, we really feel confident these guys can handle going out and performing at a high level,” Dixon says. “They believe it, that’s what’s expected of them and that’s what they’re going to do.”

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