Western Illinois quarterback Nate Lamb threw for a school-record 564 yards Saturday in the Leathernecks’ loss to Lindenwood. (Photo by GoLeathernecks.com)
By Barry Bottino
With a first-year starting quarterback and 14 new wide receivers, the Western Illinois passing game could have been considered a question mark entering the 2024 season.
Consider those questions answered.
Exhibit A was Saturday’s 49-38 loss at Lindenwood, which featured senior quarterback Nate Lamb setting single-game school records with 42 completions and 564 yards.
It’s now the only 500-yard passing game in WIU history.
His favorite target, junior Matt Henry, piled up 15 catches and 226 receiving yards.
“Nate Lamb and Matt Henry had record-setting, career days and national player of the week-type days,” WIU first-year head coach Joe Davis said. “Those guys were very much in unison.”
Not only did Lamb break Western records, he now owns the top marks for most completions and yards in a single game in Big South-Ohio Valley Conference Football Association history, the most completions in an FCS game this season and the second-most yards in a 2024 FCS game. His five TD passes Saturday is the second-most in a WIU game ever.
With so many new faces, the Leathernecks have gained plenty of comfort in each other with time.
“As a receiver group, our confidence with Nate is off the charts,” Eli Aragon, the team’s second-leading receiver, told Prairie State Pigskin. “Wherever we are on the field, no matter the route, he’s going to get the ball to us.
“Nate has always talked to us individually during the game and during practice to give us insight on how he sees things from a quarterback’s point of view,” said Aragon, who had nine catches and a season-high 132 yards at Lindenwood. “As a receiver group, that helps us out a lot because we can adjust on the fly and create that connection. It showed Saturday.”
Lamb’s achievements aren’t a one-week success story. He ranks 12th nationally in passing yards (1,954) this season, 19th in completion percentage (66.9%) and 24th in passing efficiency (147.82) with 12 TD passes and four interceptions.
“We’ve been practicing our technique, working every day on ball skills and everything, (building) the connection with Nate,” added Henry, whose 15 catches are the second-most in a game in WIU history. The 226 yards are sixth-best all time.
Spreading it around
Lamb connected with seven different receivers Saturday, which has been a hallmark of the offense under Davis, a veteran offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Twelve different players have caught at least one pass for the Leathernecks (3-5 overall, 2-2 Big South-OVC), led by Henry (41 catches, 689 yards, three TDs), a transfer from Division II Livingstone College. Aragon, a junior college transfer from Ventura (Calif.) College, has 37 receptions for 444 yards and a team-best five TDs.
Against Lindenwood, Aragon caught a pair of touchdowns from Lamb.
“Aragon made a lot of plays, and we had contributions from tight ends and third and fourth receivers and the backs,” Davis said. “A very big positive for us.”
With 24 receptions in his last four games, Aragon is grateful to play in Davis’ offense.
“When I took my visit to WIU, Coach Davis told me he loved to throw the rock and he’s going to give his playmakers the ball in space,” Aragon said. “Being here and being in this offense actually exceeded my expectations because what he told me on my visit was just the tip of the iceberg.”
Aragon also offered plenty of praise for wide receivers coach Vincent Jefferies Jr., a former quarterback at Florida A&M who was a University of Illinois graduate assistant before coming to Macomb.
“He has taught us what he learned at Illinois, and it’s definitely helped us as a receiver group,” he said. “All the success we have as a group is a huge thanks to Coach Jefferies. Though we still have to keep raising the bar.”
Numbers game
In its final four games, Western has an opportunity to pile up more records.
The schedule includes two teams who rank among the top 40 nationally in passing yards allowed, along with two who sit in the bottom 40 against the pass.
On Saturday, WIU travels to Eastern Illinois (1-7, 0-4), which ranks 115th against the pass (268.2 yards per game) among the 123 FCS teams nationally. Western’s remaining schedule includes a home game Nov. 9 against Tennessee State (12th, 169.6), a Nov. 16 trip to Southeast Missouri (39th, 195.6) and a season-ending Nov. 23 home game against Gardner-Webb (84th, 228.1).
On his current pace, Lamb would finish with 2,931 yards, the sixth-most in WIU history. Only five players have thrown for more than 3,000 yards at Western, with the last being Connor Sampson (3,183) in 2021.
Henry’s current pace would give him 62 catches (ninth all time) and 1,034 yards (eighth best). Surpassing 1,000 yards would make Henry only the second player in the past seven seasons to do so. The last was Dennis Houston (1,015) in 2021.
“Coach Davis does a phenomenal job, and you can see how everything has unfolded and bloomed from the beginning of the season until now,” Aragon said.
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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