BEAUMONT, Texas – With the start of preseason camp in full swing, and Lamar University entering its second week of drills, LamarCardinals.com will be doing its annual position-by-position breakdown of the team heading into the season opener against No. 8 Idaho (Aug. 31, 2023).
 
Today LamarCardinals.com will breaking down the LU wide receivers.
 
WR Quick Facts:
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 6/3
Starters Returning/Lost: 2/1
Newcomers: 5
 
Stats: As a team, the Cardinals hauled in 154 passes for 1,898 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. Big Red averaged nearly 173 passing yards per game through the air in 2022 and this group has a preseason all-conference player within its midst – Sevonne Rhea (5-11, 195, So.). Probably the most important stat from this group is that they return six letterwinners from the position. Returning equals experience and that is valuable to a position group and a team.
 
The Storyline
The youngest of seven boys, Sevonne Rhea stepped on campus last season as a name that not many in the Golden Triangle knew too much about. Entering the 2023 season, he is a huge reason for the excitement surrounding the upcoming campaign.
 
The self-described "runt" of his family (as Rhea called himself during the Southland Conference Media Day), Rhea has Division I athletics in his blood. Four of his brothers played Division I football – including schools like Minnesota and Stephen F. Austin – while two others played Division I basketball. So it can be said that all Lamar's version of a Rhea brother is trying to do is simply write his own story. Well, if writing a story is all he is doing the first chapter got off to a strong start.
 
During his first season in Beaumont, the former Texas State transfer hauled in 24 passes for 448 yards and a touchdown. He kicked off his collegiate career by hauling in three passes for 113 yards and a touchdown (of 75 yards) in the season opener at Abilene Christian. Rhea proved during his first season that he has big play ability, and he's already started working on the second chapter of his story and it begins with "2023 Preseason All-Southland Conference." I'm sure Sevonne has had more play on words in relation to his name than he cares to recall, but I believe I'm justified in saying that Sevonne wants to be a "Rhea of Light" for the Red and White this season.
 
Similar to the Cardinals running backs, Rhea leads a healthy list of returning letterwinners at the position. LU returns six of its top seven pass catchers from a year ago (with one of those being running back Major Bowden). With the natural progression athletes normally take from their first year to their second in college athletics there is no reason why this squad won't be even stronger in 2023.
 
The list of returnees includes Andre Dennis (6-1, 190, So.), Devin Gibbs (tight end who we will discuss later during preseason camp), Kyndon Fuselier (5-10, 175, So.) and Izaha Jones (6-3, 200, So.-1L). All three bring good physical attributes to field and most importantly they have just three combined years of collegiate experience between them – meaning their names could be heard around campus for years to come.
 
The trio combined for 28 catches for 534 yards and four touchdowns last season. As a group, they combined for six starts last season. All three individuals recorded comparable receiving yard totals to former LU receiver and 2022 Cardinal Hall of Honor inductee Reggie Begelton during his rookie year. While I believe comparisons are unfair, especially at the collegiate level (and I probably should be reprimanded for bring it up) Begelton finished his rookie season with 172 receiving yards and just one score but he was targeted 21 times that season. At that time of Begelton's career, no one knew just how special of a player he was to become, so it's fair to say that we don't yet know just how special this group is going to be.
 
In addition to the names already listed, Rossomando and his staff went out and several talented players to the position group including New Mexico transfer Vontravious Hall (6-2, 188), Joe Bryant (6-4, 215, New Waverly HS), Carter Holmes (6-0, 185, Beaumont West Brook HS), Michael Everett (5-10, 170, transfer from Ouachita Baptist) and Michael Vasquez (6-3, 185, San Antonio Clark HS). Add to that Cameron George (5-10, 200, who transferred from Colorado prior to last season) and Jayden Boyd (6-2, 192) who is coming off a redshirt year, and the Cardinals have a ton of depth at receiver heading into the position.
 
As I close this brief preview on the wide outs, I recognize that most people assume that it will be Rhea who will be the team's leading receiver, but how great would it be for Rhea to live up to the preseason hype and at the same time have another one of the youngsters on the squad have that breakout season to lead the team in receiving. It's fun to think about, but I'll let that story play out as we work our way through the season.