OXFORD — The Miami RedHawks are bringing back three wide receivers that played an extensive number of minutes on last year’s Mid-American Conference championship team.
But they lost three key components at the position that made the offense successful.
“Gage Larvadain was a big difference maker,” Miami coach Chuck Martin said. “That was tough to replace him and his ability. Joe Wilkins and Miles Marshall were really good players for us. They played tons of snaps and were huge in our success.”
Larvadain transferred to South Carolina — taking last season’s team-leading 42 catches, 679 yards and six touchdowns with him. Wilkins and Marshall graduated.
“So, you lose three good ones,” Martin said. “But like you always say, when you have a good team, you’re going to lose good players.”
Redshirt senior Cade McDonald, redshirt sophomore Javon Tracy and junior Reggie Virgil are the receivers coming back that logged playing time a season ago. Martin said to look for those three to be the go-to guys.
McDonald, a Second Team All-MAC punt returner, led the conference with 12.7 yards per punt return in 2023. He caught 28 passes for 355 yards and three scores.
“As the year went on, he made big plays at receiver,” Martin said of McDonald.
Tracy saw action in all 14 games and started in six last season. He had 22 catches for 348 yards and two touchdowns.
“Jovan Tracy just kept pushing his way into the lineup,” Martin said. “It wasn’t that anybody ahead of him was doing anything wrong, it’s just every little piece that we gave him, he made plays. It was obvious to everyone. So, as the year went on, Jovan kind of forced his way into the issue with all the older guys. So, he’s coming back as a sophomore, and we expect huge things from Javon.”
Virgil played a decent amount on special teams and caught his only pass a season ago for a 34-yard touchdown against Delaware State.
“He had a really good year last year,” Martin said of Virgil. “With Gage and Joe and some of the other guys, it was tough. Reggie is ready to take over a major role in this offense.”
Andre Johnson, a redshirt senior who transferred from Arizona State, had a productive spring workout with the RedHawks.
“He’s a bigger physical wide out who can do a lot of the big jobs,” Martin said of Johnson. “He’s already shown us some stuff this spring.”
Kam Perry, a smaller, quicker redshirt sophomore who transferred in from Indiana, recently saw his first action in fall camp.
Freshman Braylon Isom had a prolific high school career in Michigan, setting numerous state receiving records. Martin said he could work his way into the receiver rotation early on.
Martin said Lynel Billips-Williams (redshirt freshman), Ryan Sims (redshirt freshman) and Cole Weaver (redshirt freshman) “all have the ability and have stepped up in fall camp.”
Other receivers listed on the roster are Tommy Gallagher (redshirt freshman), Christian Schomer (redshirt sophomore), Jackson Izzard (redshirt junior) and Michael Parrish (freshman).
