A much-improved Bracey is giving FIU hope after losing top receiver to transfer portal
Statistics don’t always tell the whole story — just ask FIU wide receiver Jalen Bracey.
After starring at a Mississippi junior college, Bracey made his FIU debut last year, making 39 catches but averaging just 7.5 yards per reception.
Yet, when asked by the Herald on Tuesday to name FIU’s best receiver in terms of yards after catch, Panthers position coach Jay MacIntyre named Bracey.
“Jalen is our hardest guy to bring down,” said Jay MacIntyre, the son of head coach Mike MacIntyre. “He is now putting his foot in the ground and going up the field more instead of side to side.”
Bracey showed what he could do last year on a bubble screen that he turned into a 29-yard, go-ahead touchdown in a 21-7 win over New Mexico State.
“He made five guys miss,” Jay MacIntyre said. “He has extreme quickness, and we want to get the ball in his hands.”
MacIntyre said he believes FIU’s blocking has improved this year, which should free Bracey on more screens. Plus, Bracey, who struggled in the Miami humidity last year, according to MacIntyre, has gotten himself in better shape to be able to run more deep routes.
Bracey is a big part of FIU’s plan to replace star receiver Tyrese Chambers, who transferred to the University of Maryland. In two years at FIU, Chambers caught 96 passes for 1,618 yards and 13 touchdowns.
MacIntyre, though, believes he has a deeper receiver unit this year with nine players “who can play at a high level” in Conference USA.
Kris Mitchell, FIU’s fastest receiver, is the other player at the top of Jay MacIntyre’s depth chart.
Mitchell gained 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason, getting bigger to prepare for press coverage by cornerbacks.
“The first thing that pops out about Kris is his speed,” MacIntyre said of Mitchell, who had 23 catches for a 15.1-yard average last year. “He wants to be more than a deep threat. He wants to go from 23 catches to 50.”
FIU’s only other returning wide receiver with double-figure catches last year is Dean Patterson, a former walk-on who had 17 catches for a team-high 15.5-yard average.
Patterson, who had five catches for 100 yards in a breakout performance last year against Middle Tennessee, runs the best patterns among FIU’s receivers.
“If you say something to Dean in a meeting, by the next day, he masters it,” MacIntyre said. “He’s one of the most coachable guys I’ve ever been around, and he creates separation with his routes and his improved speed.
“Aside from that, he’s an unbelievable leader. Anyone who is around him walks away a better person.”
While FIU’s starting receivers figure to be Bracey in the slot flanked by Mitchell and Patterson, MacIntyre said depth is the unit’s strength.
Eric Rivers, a University of Memphis transfer, has consistently drawn raves for coaches this fall, and he could emerge as a starter.
“Absolute stud,” MacIntyre said.
Ross Fournet, a 5-9, 175-pound former walk-on, seems sure to find a role on expected run downs because he is the unit’s best blocker.
Against New Mexico State last year, Fournet threw the key block on two plays that helped spring running back Lexington Joseph for about 115 yards.
“We call him ‘Captain America,’ ” MacIntyre said of Fournet. “He’s so strong that he eats up guys. I show clips of his blocks to our group because he’s like a Tasmanian devil.”
Aside from Mitchell and Bracey, the other Panthers receivers with elite speed, according to MacIntyre, are Artez Hooker, Mike Jackson, junior-college transfer Ja’Coby Matthews and true freshman Shaborne “Semaj” Demps. All of them have under 4.5 speed, MacIntyre said.
Two other FIU receivers to watch are true freshman Luby Maurice Jr. and walkon Jett Law.
MacIntyre said Maurice will be in the nine-receiver rotation, primarily due to his ability to make contested catches.
Law, who has yet to catch a pass at FIU, has the best hands on the team.
“You don’t see him drop a ball,” MacIntyre said. “We run a drill with our receivers circled around me. I throw them [offtarget] balls between my legs or behind my back, and Jett always wins.”