Memphis Football: The Program of the Future
Memphis Football: The Program of the Future
You are daring to imagine that you could have a different life. Oh, I know it doesn't feel like that. You feel like a big fat failure now. But you're not. You are marching into the unknown armed with...
Birdie, You’ve Got Mail (1998)
Those of you out there who follow high school football recruiting might have had your eye brows raised this summer when high four-star QB recruit Antwan Hill chose Memphis with a verbal pledge over programs like Florida and Florida State. This is a prospect that should probably be playing in the SEC, so for an organization like Memphis to pull him out of the great state of Georgia, this is highly unusual, to say the least.
However, I would posit to you that Hill’s recruitment is probably not going to be an isolated incident. Not in the immediate future, at least. At the heart of the new era of college football are organizations known as ‘NIL Collectives’, which are very much apart of the recruiting process. Unfortunately, the discrepancy in resources and program support is yet another outlet for P4 teams to bully lowly G5s, a trend that has persisted since the dawn of CFB.
That being said, there are a few exceptions. Memphis is a program that has significant support due to its partnership with multinational company FedEX. Just like how Oregon has the mite of Phil Knight and Nike behind it—which undoubtedly aided in their efforts to pull a verbal pledge from the number one player in Texas this cycle—this financial backing means the program can punch well above it’s former upper-mid-tier sized weight.
But the fruits of these splendours won’t reveal themselves until a few years from now. As far as what the immediate future holds, Memphis is a program that is incredibly senior laden this year, starting with its QB Seth Henigan. If you’re a CFF diehard, you’re probably already familiar with the name, despite the fact that Henigan has yet to really be an elite CFF asset at any point in his career.
That could very well change this year though with the supporting cast around him. The sport of CFB is no stranger to future insurance salesmen turning on the jets in their senior (or super senior) seasons with an offence that returns a cast of experienced skill players.
But it’s not just Henigan that intrigues me this year. Roc Taylor and DeMeer Blankumsee form one of the better WR duos in the entire G5, and a potential star at TE Anthony Landphere appears to be going under the radar this offseason. Especially when you consider the track record of this staff at that position (more on this later). So without further ado, let’s get into this thing.
Coaching & System
Ryan Silverfield is the head coach of the Tigers and he’s been in that position since 2020, taking over for now FSU head coach Mike Norvell, who he served under as OL coach since 2016.
The Norvell era of the Tigers program was a special one for the RB position in particular, which makes it so puzzling that FSU has been a committee every season that he’s been there, but that’s an entirely different conversation.
Ditto for Norvell’s understudy Silverfield. It’s like these guys all woke up in 2020 and decided that all of a sudden they preferred committees. A disturbing thought indeed. The sole exception under Silverfield being ODU transfer Blake Watson last year, who went over 1000 yards.
The OC is a man named Tim Cramsey, who’s been the OC since 2018. Again, the tendency towards committees lately is puzzling, as Cramsey had Darrel Henderson rush for 1909 yards in 2018, and Kenneth Gainwell rush for just under 1500 yards in 2019. In fact, his pig farming antics extend back to his time with Nevada, where his lead back James Butler rushed for 1336 yards on 260 carries.
Prior to Memphis, Cramsey was the OC of Sam Houston (2017), Nevada (2016), Montana State (2013-15), and FIU (2012).
What is also noteworthy about this staff is the head coach’s QB1 and TE1 ppg averages. Averaging over 25 PPG as a QB in a four point passing TD format is excellent, and I dare say the same about a TE1 averaging over 8 PPG in a 0.5 PPR format.
Of course, the WR1 last year was also a valuable commodity in this offence. Roc Taylor was a pleasant surprise—I even picked him up off of waivers in many of my leagues. They also brought in UNT and Auburn transfer Jyaire Shorter this offseason, as well as return the aforementioned slot receiver Blankumsee.
The Memphis offence moved at about an average pace last season, checking in at 68th in the FBS with 26.1 seconds per play. Their three year average is slower though, with an average of 28.4 seconds per play, suggesting that last year might have been an outlier.
Personnel
This is a senior laden team headed into 2024, which may or may not be common knowledge by now. If you’re a reader of FranchiseKF’s excellent work, you might recognize this excerpt from his most recent CFB futures article:
I don’t think I’m sharing anything that is inconsistent with what the oddsmakers have implied, but Memphis is one of the four most likely G5 teams to make the playoff. I think their offense really could be a juggernaut this year.
I believe it’s public knowledge, not sure, but their QB Henigan reportedly turned down close to a million bucks to play QB for NC State this year. He’s a high-quality and experienced option for an AAC club, and he’s in a friendly scheme and surrounded by excellent skill talent. Several depth charts I’ve looked at project a starting 22 that are entirely juniors and seniors, with the majority being seniors. I think it sometimes takes that for a David to break through against Goliaths.
I could not agree more regarding his optimism about Memphis’ offence this year. Similar to the article I did on Georgia Tech, it’s these senior laden teams that only come around once and awhile that often provide special seasons for the mid-tier programs of CFB (see TCU in 2022, Michigan in 2023). The one area where they do not return a massive amount of snaps is the offensive line. The Tigers return only about 39% of snaps from a year ago.
QB Seth Henigan is really where it all starts. He’s been the starter at Memphis for what feels like forever now, but he’s actually only entering his fourth year of CFB. It’s perhaps a testament to how different post-pandemic CFB is that the words ‘only’ and ‘fourth year’ could be used in the same sentence like that. Nonetheless, while Henigan’s been a consistent player throughout his tenure, he has yet to show us the requisite upside to dominate in CFF. But, I’m not ruling it out in the year of 2024.
I would not describe Henigan as a dual threat QB, but he does occasionally score on the ground (five scores in 13 games in 2023). However, what will probably surprise the reader is that Henigan passed over 40 times on five different occasions last season. So, while I wouldn't necessarily describe Memphis as an air-raid offence, they are passing the ball a lot. Enough to warrant our attention anyway.
In fact, both coach’s play calling tendencies over the last five seasons both hover around a 50/50 run/pass split. During this same time span, the QB1 has averaged 35 attempts per game.
RB Mario Anderson is a senior player, but he’s not a returning commodity in the offence. He comes over by way of South Carolina of the SEC, where he spent one season after transferring from (division two?) program Newberry.
He’s probably looking for more carries, which is saying something if true because he already averaged around 12 per game with USCe. He’s replacing an extremely productive player from a year ago in Blake Watson, but a big part of that production was the pass catching profile. Anderson has shown an ability to catch the football from his time at South Carolina and should fill a similar role to Watson this year. Keep in mind, however, that the RB coach for Watson last year is now at Cincinnati.
WRs Roc Thomas, Demear Blankumsee, Jyaire Shorter are the presumed starters at WR. All three have been productive at times, with Taylor probably putting together the best complete season of each. Taylor averaged around 15 PPG last year and will probably reprise his role on the boundary.
Blankumsee is the expected starter at slot after holding that role in 2023. He comes off a season average of approximately 13-14 PPG, which is also pretty solid.
And then there is the UNT/Auburn transfer Shorter, who barely saw the field on the planes, but was productive at times with the Mean Green from 2018 to 2022.
A wildcard name to remember is Keonde Henry, who is a true freshman and as one of the highest rated prospects in Memphis’ class last year. The Tigers staff have shown a willingness to rotate WRs quite a bit, so Henry could find is way onto the field in the latter stages of the season.
TE Anthony Landphere appears locked in as the TE1, and it perplexes me that there is not more optimism around him in the CFF sphere. Even yours truly is probably guilty of overlooking the Tiger TE. I mentioned in the previous section that there is a history here of strong TE usage under Silverfield (think of names like Cade Preiskorn and Sean Dykes), so it would behoove us as CFF players to consider their upcoming TE1, who actually already had some strong games last year against UAB, USF, UNCC and Iowa State.
He’s another veteran CFB player who returns with significant playing experience, as he originally began his career in the JuCo ranks of California.
Closing
By all accounts this should be a good team this year. They will compete for the championship in their conference, and will also likely be in the conversation to get into the expanded playoff as the G5 entrant. The offence as a whole returns a lot of production, and likely fields a set of athletes at each skill position that are a cut above the norm in their conference.
As far as the individual CFF values of each player, you generally are required to pay the price to obtain the services of the QB, RB1 or WR1 in drafts right now. Landphere, surprisingly, has no such ADP as of writing this article.
We’ve been holding our breaths for a true nuclear breakout from Henigan for what seems like multiple offseasons now. As he enters his fourth year of CFB, there is a lot of optimism that 2024 will be that year. ◾
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