Chizik: WRs need to grow up, level of consistency ‘not acceptable’

With starting slot receiver Quan Bray suspended for Saturday’s game with Arkansas as a result of his arrest last Thursday, the Auburn wide receiver corps will have its depth tested and young and inexperienced players will need to deliver when called upon. Auburn coach Gene Chizik called out his receivers in Tuesday’s press conference.

“They’ve got to grow up, they’ve got to step up, they’ve got play better. It’s that simple,” Chizik said. “They’ve got to play better. If the ball hits them in the hands they got to catch the ball, we haven’t done that every time. When we ask the route to be at 15 yards it needs to be 15 and not 12, haven’t done that all the time. That whole group of receivers, from top to bottom – it doesn’t matter who’s playing in the game, they’ve got to improve their game. They’ve got to step it up and they’ve got to be productive.”

Trovon Reed will take the place of Bray in slot and is the leading candidate to return punts. Reed has just one reception for 17 yards this season.

Sammie Coates may also see more opportunities as well. Coates, who had a 33-yard touchdown catch on a Hail Mary before halftime against Louisiana-Monroe, did not have a reception against LSU but dropped a deep pass on the second play of the game.

“I should have caught that ball. That’s a big play,” Coates said. “That would have been a big turnaround in the game. It hurt me pretty bad. (…) I look at that catch like I probably could have won the game with that catch. It still kind of bothers me now.

“I’ve been working hard trying to get better and I’m going to make the big play the next time.”

Emory Blake remains as one bright spot among the receivers. Blake, a senior, leads Auburn with 12 receptions for 222 yards and one touchdown but has just two catches in each of the past two games with a greatly scaled back passing attack and opponents throwing double-teams at him.

Wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor has been complimentary of Blake’s leadership and Chizik gave him praise and used him as an example the rest of the Tigers receivers need to follow.

“He’s not afraid to compete and when the game is tight and on the line and we got to have a catch, if we put that ball somewhere around him he’s usually going to catch that,” Chizik said. “That’s just called delivering as a receiver. That’s what their job is. That’s why they’re on scholarship; they’ve got to be able to do that. The problem we have right now is we don’t have enough guys right now that are living the same life.”
“The younger guys right now that have to come on, we talked to them this whole week about the level of consistency of their play – it’s not acceptable. They got to look at Emory they got to see what it looks like and he’s been doing that for his career.”