McCants is versatile, tough wide receiver
TAMPA — Having spent 11 games watching Tyre McCants in the flesh — all 236 pounds of it — USF coach Charlie Strong seems convinced his team’s leading receiver down the stretch could be someone’s leading rusher down the road.
“I think he can do a whole lot [at the next level],” Strong said recently. “And he can play a lot of different positions, too. I think he’s a guy that can play running back.”
Niceville High coach John Hicks sure thought so, and his hunch helped the Eagles to a historic season in 2013.
Needing a victory against Tate High in a onequarter district shootout to earn a playoff berth, Hicks took his burly senior slot receiver and inserted him as a tailback in the I-formation. On the Eagles’ first scoring drive, McCants ran for 48 yards on four carries. Niceville won the shootout, 14-0, and ultimately advanced to the Class 7A state title game.
“Ran power every play and they could do nothing about it,” said Niceville running backs coach Adron Robinson, a close family friend whom McCants refers to as his uncle. “He told me in the locker room, ‘Feed me and we’ll get this win.’ After the first handoff, you could tell they were in trouble.”
Four autumns later, McCants was brandishing his dual threats — an ability to run downfield and downhill — to a national TV audience against UCF.
On the third play from scrimmage, he took a screen pass from Quinton Flowers at midfield, broke a tackle and raced up the right sideline for a 47-yard touchdown. The indelible image is McCants dragging 230-pound linebacker Chequan Burkett, who had a handful of McCants’ jersey, the last 15 yards.
“When he gets the ball and it’s one-on-one,” Strong said, “I’m gonna say he’s gonna win it most of the time.”
Meet the most physically distinctive offensive weapon you’re likely to see in the upcoming Birmingham Bowl. At 5-foot-11, 235 pounds, McCants — who will line up as a slot receiver — will be as big or bigger than three of the four linebackers on the two-deep Texas Tech depth chart.
Yet Hicks confirms McCants ran the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds as a high school junior.
“That’s where he gets you at, ’cause he’s got great speed,” Bulls senior nickelback Deatrick Nichols said.
He’s coming off the game of his life. In his nine-catch, 227-yard performance at UCF, McCants broke the Bulls’ single-game receiving yardage record in the first half (six receptions, 210 yards). Four of his catches went for 33 or more yards.
And while he had established himself as a viable downfield threat long before that game, he was more noted for being arguably the best blocker on a receiving unit that takes immense pride in it. In the season opener at San Jose State, McCants had two critical blocks on the same D’Ernest Johnson 50-yard touchdown run.
“A lot of times when you’re a little guy, you just run through ’em and you’re gonna knock them back,” Strong said. “But he’s got a base where can sit down, he can put his hands on you. If he gets his hands on you then he can move you out of the way because of his size.”