As many people assume, the most important player on the football field is the quarterback. Seemingly all the top teams have somewhere between good and great quarterbacks at their helm. Cincinnati is certainly no exception. However, what if I was to tell you that I don’t think that the most important returning player to the ‘Cats this season is Gunner Kiel?
I’m sure many people would scoff at me and tell me how ridiculous I am for saying that the best player isn’t the most important player to the team. However, I have found that great quarterbacks don’t usually catch the passes they throw. Someone has to be at the other end of that pass, and without a doubt the Bearcats have a loaded group of receivers coming back this year.
At the top of the group are three senior wideouts: Shaq Washington, who led the team in yards and receptions last season; Mekale McKay, who was tied for the team lead in touchdown receptions; and Chris Moore, who was tied for the team lead in touchdown receptions and had the highest yards per reception. Obviously there are others, but those were certainly the top of the list for Cincinnati and will need to be boasting high numbers next year in order for the team to continue to succeed. It’s only one of those three that I consider to be the biggest returning factor for the ‘Cats next season. That player is Chris Moore.
I know Moore’s stats don’t line up with him being the most important receiver on the team but his abilities line up with him being an underrated receiver. Moore is a speed option for Kiel who catches most of his passes deep down the field. In space Moore is difficult to bring down and once he’s off to the races, very few players can catch up with him. His speed is the reason he has such a high yards per reception. Most receivers have the ability to go across the middle whether they like it or not. Very few receivers can stretch the field like Moore can. Moore only had 30 catches last season, but he was able to take eight of those in for touchdowns, an extremely high touchdown rate of 26.7%.
Moore’s importance goes beyond simple numbers. His ability to stretch the field doesn’t always end in a catch. Obviously it doesn’t or he’d have more of them. However, he has the ability to move corners and safeties away from the other receivers so that Kiel can utilize the short and medium throws to guys like Washington and McKay, hence why they had more receptions this past season than Moore.
Now one could argue that in order to make the passing game so dangerous, a solid rushing game is important. The two leading rushers for Cincinnati both finished with between 600 and 700 yards last season, which doesn’t make for a potent running attack. In an offense with nearly double the amount of passing yards than rushing yards, to me there isn’t much of an argument in my mind for us to really say that the rushing game is the key to next year. Most team try to utilize the rushing game in order to open up their passing game through play-action, but that doesn’t appear to be the Bearcats’ forte. Putting the ball in Kiel’s hands and the hands of his weapons out wide will yield much better results.
Of course, Kiel is extremely important to the 2015 season. I can’t completely write off Kiel and what he brings to this team. I just know that the receivers make a lot of the plays for this offense, especially once they get out in space. In the end, I have no reason not to think that Moore is the glue to this offense, as teams will have to scheme against him and keep the ball out of his hands.
If Tommy Tuberville is smart, he’ll take advantage of every opportunity he has to put the ball in Moore’s hands.
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