Utah State's Next Terrell Vaughn
JuCo transfer Robert Freeman could be next up in Utah State's slot.
**NOTE: HC Blake Anderson has since left the program and is not expected to return. That’s what I get for holding onto this article for so long -_- the silver lining is that the OC, Kyle Cefalo, has been with Anderson back to Arkansas State and is a disciple of his system. So, while the sections pertaining to Anderson may not be as accurate as before, they still give some indication about the system here.**
If I'm lucky, I'll find a nice white woman with a flat booty who will listen to my problems.
- Robert Jebediah Freeman, The Boondocks
You can imagine what a luxury it would have been to have all four of Western Kentucky’s Jerreth Sterns, Ball State’s Justin Hall, Hawaii’s Calvin Turner, and Utah State’s Deven Thompkins rostered on one CFF squad back in 2021. Indeed, CFF wisemen still tell tales to this day about that legendary 2021 ‘Locker Room Lads Invitational’ roster and its WR room.
The first three were drafted by yours truly, the fourth, Thompkins, was a cheeky week one pick up. I still remember it—Thompkins was at 6% ownership at the time (get your fucking tits out mate). Yes, it was indeed quite the luxury to only have to hold four WRs all season long who were productive enough to smash the competition week-to-week.
What initially drew me to Thompkins wasn’t necessarily the player himself, but rather the system. My affinity for Utah State head coach Blake Anderson‘s system started the previous year in 2020, when I picked up his Arkansas State WR1: Jonathan “The Bully” Adams. Adams was extraterrestrial that season, and the Wolves fed him downfield early and often; despite not even having settled on who their starting QB was week-to-week (even shuffling guys quarter-to-quarter some games).
Adams’ numbers defied logic given the state of the passing attack. I didn’t ask any questions. Rather, I subsequently circled Blake Anderson as a coach to follow. If he could facilitate a steady level of production out of an offence with exceptionally pedestrian QB play, then I knew anything was possible #KevinGarnett.
When Anderson moved out West, I lacked the conviction to pull the trigger on any of his Utah State commodities that summer. However, after Thompkins broke out in week one vs. Washington State, I knew I had to capitalize while I still could.
A lean year in 2022 was not enough to deter me in 2023. In fact, last summer I published an article on Terrell “NBA Youngboy” Vaughn, which included a fairly rosy forecast for his output that fall. Vaughn did go on to have a successful season, but he has since moved on.
Once a system known for featuring its big boundary players, undersized playmakers have since become the theme of Anderson’s passing attacks. And of course—with Vaughn moving on—now everybody wants to know: who’s the next one up from Utah State?
Robert Freeman — 5’8, 155
ADP: 294.41
Robert Freeman—no, not grandad from the Boondocks—Utah State’s latest JuCo transfer, certainly fits the part from a physical perspective. An almost carbon copy of Deven Thompkins’ physical form, Freeman will likely be taking his snaps from the slot receiver position, which is—not so coincidentally—where Terrell Vaughn operated from last season.
Freeman is entering his third year of college football after spending the last two at American River College (JuCo). During those two years he had 90 receptions for 1329 yards and 14 touchdowns, and 3034 all-purpose yards, as he led the Big 8 League in all-purpose yards as both a freshman and sophomore. He also returned 39 kickoffs for 1113 yards and two touchdowns, and 32 punts for 499 yards and two touchdowns.
During his sophomore season in 2023, he had 55 receptions for 845 yards and 10 touchdowns, to go along with six rushes for 49 yards in 12 games played.
While his physical form is definitely a point of intrigue, and the JuCo production is encouraging, the reason why he has blown up amongst the CFF cognoscenti is due to the quotes from head coach Blake Anderson earlier this offseason. From a beat report:
The one major loss was wide receiver Terrell Vaughn, a top 2 receiver for the Aggies in each of the previous two seasons.
He was the safety valve often for Legas, and as sure-handed a pass catcher as the Aggies had, while controlling the slot receiver position.
Who will replace him is a major question entering spring ball, only because of the value of the slot receiver in Anderson’s offense.
And though there are multiple players that will vie for the role, junior college transfer Robert Freeman IV has a chance to lock down the position this spring.
Anderson noted that Freeman, a juco All-American wide receiver and kick returner, has the potential to be the next diminutive Aggie great (he is listed at 5-foot-8, 165 pounds).
“He fits the mold of what we’ve seen with DT (Deven Thompkins) and Terrell,” Anderson said. “... The guy literally did not come off the field (for American River College) except for defense. He played on basically every special teams and offensive snap. He was the most dynamic player in person, but also one of the most dynamic players on tape and a great dude.
“We absolutely loved his personality when he came in on his visit. And those guys (former American River College standouts turned Aggies Cian and Teeg Slone) just raved about how hard he worked, what kind of teammate he was and how much he loved the ball. It made a lot of sense to us.”
Spring practice will tell a lot about the role Freeman will play for Utah State, but Anderson has high expectations already.
“We’ve seen a lot of success with those really dynamic, maybe smaller guys and he fits the mold and can be just as good as the ones we’ve had,” he said.
Speaking of spring practice, we are fortunate that Andy Pham viewed the Aggies’ spring game in-person, and was kind enough to provide some notes for us in his writeup. The Robert Freeman-relevant sections are provided below:
On the sixth series for the second-team offense, we finally got to see Robert Freeman in the game at slot, he would be targeted on three of the first four plays and caught all three of those targets.
Freeman is an exciting player who simply stands out from an athletic perspective. Freeman is twitchy with great lateral quickness, can sink his hips and is constantly open. It appears he just doesn’t have a grasp of the playbook yet and that’s why he’s at the bottom of the depth chart.
There was a play where he was to be motioned in from the slot to run a short crosser and Barnes had to tell him to motion in before he realized what his play was. In the first two series where Freeman was in the game for the second team, he was targeted six times and each time he beat his defender clean and was open. Barnes passes were either deflected, off-target, or caught by Freeman.
Robert Freeman is an electric player, who will not be kept off the field as he is arguably the fourth-best weapon on this offense (once Micah Davis is fully healthy). Freeman is everything you want in a Blake Anderson slot wideout. He plays frantically at his pace, using an array of moves to get off the line of scrimmage. Freeman has great hands and is extremely twitchy with a lateral quickness to get open underneath and create after the catch.
I had a hard time tracking down Freeman’s Instagram page. Eventually I found it under the nickname ‘Run it back Rob’, which I thought was cool. On his page, he has a post with Devontae Smith’s Heisman trophy speech. In that acceptance speech, Smith famously gave a shoutout to undersized football players.
I don’t know if Freeman’s going to be winning any Heisman trophy awards, but he’s certainly in the right system to utilize his talents.
Coaching & System
WR1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 17 — OC: 182 (half PPR, sample size 2018-2023)
One of the remarkable things about coach Anderson’s system is that his WR1 averages about a 28% target share, which accounts for around 9.6 targets, 6.4 receptions, 96 yards and 0.82 TDs per game. Over a 12 game season, that average produces 76.8 catches, 1152 yards, and 9.84 TDs.
However, with this year’s Utah State squad, we know (or at least feel pretty strongly) that Jalen Royals is going to be the WR1, and he is drafted accordingly according to Campus2Canton’s ADP. The next guy in the offence—potentially Micah Davis or Robert Freeman—may also still be valuable though. Indeed, we saw this very phenomenon play out last season with Vaughn and Royals each averaging over 20 PPG on the year.
By the numbers, Anderson’s WR2 averages 7.68 targets per game, around 5 receptions, 60.8 yards and 0.67 scores (or two TDs every three games). Those numbers have produced a WR2 average of 12.77 PPG in half PPR formats, or 15.1 in full PPR formats between the years 2018 and 2023.
Anderson’s offences also have a tendency to move fast. The Aggies were fifth in the FBS last season in seconds per play with 21.4, and they return about 77% of the OL snaps from a year ago.
For the historical context of Anderson and his OC, Kyle Cefalo, I have copy-pasted the text from last summer’s article here:
Head coach/co-offensive coordinator Blake Anderson is a known commodity within the realm of CFF. He joined the Utah State program in 2021 after spending seven seasons (2014-2020) at Arkansas State. I’ve already mentioned Thompkins’ standout performance from 2021, but Anderson’s track record of elite WR usage actually started with the Red Wolves.
In 2020, Anderson’s lead receiver was a jumbo-sized player in Jonathan Adams Jr. Adams caught 79 passes for 1111 yards and 12 TDs in 10 games (~26.1 FPG in 1-ppr).
In 2019, it was Omar Bayless, who topped Adams’ production with 93 receptions for 1653 yards and 17 TDs in 13 games (~27.71 FPG).
The 2018 season had Kirk Merrit top the Wolves in receiving with 83 catches, 1005 yards and 7 TDs in 12 games (18.79 FPG). Curiously, in the four seasons prior that, Anderson’s squad did not have a single 1000-yard receiver. His time as OC with UNC (2012-13) also did not produce a 1000-yard receiver.
The new OC—Kyle Cefalo was promoted from pass-game coordinator and WRs coach (2021-22). Prior to that he served as the WRs coach with Anderson at Arkansas State (2017-2020).
Closing
It should be noted that Micah Davis sat out of the spring game due to injury, but he’s expected to be fully ready for the season.
Nonetheless, Freeman appears to be heavily in the mix to eventually lock down Vaughn’s old slot receiver role (once he grasps the playbook), which likely means he’ll have the inside track to the WR2 role in the offence. I also take it as a good sign that Freeman was granted Vaughn’s #0 jersey number immediately on arrival.
Of course, it could also be a year where the top two receivers are the boundary players, in which case Davis would occupy the WR2 role. It could also turn out that Freeman never grasps the playbook, and remains at the bottom of the depth chart.
One of the macro concerns with the Aggie WR profiles this year is that of the QB play; it would appear that Iowa transfer Spencer Petras will be leading the effort on that front (or recent BSU transfer CJ Tiller). Petras has been described in the past as a good game-manager, but he might not necessarily be the guy who can unlock the potency of this offence when it really counts. Tiller is more of a question mark as we just don’t know as much about him.
QB is a concern, however I will fall back on Anderson’s 2020 season with the Red Wolves. As mentioned above, the WR output of Adams Jr. remained strong, despite subpar QB play that season, so I know that Anderson can work some magic. Now, can a shoddy QB under Anderson support two WRs? That’s a more difficult question to answer. Only time will tell. ◾
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According to Campus2Canton’s ADP calculator.
These numbers are derived from a subscriber’s model and are half-ppr.