Western tight end Brandon Lanier (87), shown last season, has a career-high 24 receptions this season for the Leathernecks, who host Gardner-Webb in their season finale. (Photo by GoLeathernecks.com)
By Barry Bottino
When Joe Davis was hired as the Western Illinois head football coach in December, one player in Macomb had a head start.
“We were already familiar with each other,” tight end Brandon Lanier said.
When Lanier was in the transfer portal after the 2022 season at Austin Peay, he met Davis, who was then serving as the offensive coordinator at Eastern Illinois.
“I was dealing with some knee injuries at the time,” Lanier said. Thus, an EIU offer didn’t happen.
Instead, he chose Western Illinois, where he played last fall.
When Lanier had the chance to reconnect with Davis, the decision to stay at WIU was an easy one.
“I just felt the belief in the system, and I bought in to everything he was talking about,” he said. “Honestly, as a student-athlete, you don’t hear the words ‘I want you’ a lot from a head coach.”
Davis wanted the tight end to stay put and has made him part of the Big South-Ohio Valley Conference Football Association’s most productive offense, which averages a league-high 419.9 yards a game.
Lanier has a career-high 24 catches for 189 yards and a touchdown. Six of his catches have been for third-down conversions, including four in the past three games.
“Brandon is a very talented player,” Davis said. “His production has been solid. He’s a physical blocker, a very intelligent player in terms of leverage and angles, where he needs to be and when he needs to be there. He learned our offense very quickly.”
Lanier and the Leathernecks (3-8 overall, 2-5 Big South-OVC) finish the regular season Saturday, Nov. 23 at home against Gardner-Webb. (1 p.m., ESPN-Plus)
Fall camp is when Lanier said he first noticed the Leathernecks’ offensive potential.
“We would have some days where we were just electric,” he said.
It took three games, but that potential showed consistently against Illinois State in Week 3, a 51-34 loss in Normal that featured WIU piling up 31 first downs and 503 total yards. Lanier had five receptions for 27 yards.
“That was the first game we were driving at will, executing,” Lanier said. “We figured it out. We started from there stacking good days in practice. Eventually things got rolling for us.
“That was the first time in my college career when I had five catches in a game,” he said. “I’ve never been in an offense where I’m part of the run game and the pass game.”
Lanier credited WIU quarterback Nate Lamb for setting an example for others.
“He’s the kind of guy you always want to have in the locker room,” Lanier said. “You feel that leadership gravitate around him. Nate’s a warrior. I think that’s part of the reason our offense is what it is, because we see our quarterback every day go out there and put it all on the line for us.”
This week’s opponent
Senior defensive end Antonio O’Berry, a 6-foot-6 transfer from Division II Tiffin, leads Gardner-Webb with six sacks despite starting only four games. O’Berry has helped the Bulldogs (4-7, 3-4) post 36 sacks, which is tied for the national lead in FCS. … G-W has leaned on a three-man rotation at running back this season with graduate student Edward Saydee, senior Quasean Holmes and sophomore Carson Gresock. The trio has combined for 1,425 yards and 18 touchdowns. Gresock leads the team with nine rush TDs. … Five different players have at least 20 receptions this season, led by tight end Cameron Overton (37) and wide receiver Anthony Lowe (35). … Illinois State transfer Jeff Bowens has started every game at one cornerback spot.
Kickoff: 1 p.m.; TV: ESPN-Plus; Radio: Q981fm.com
Key matchup to watch
WIU offensive line vs. Gardner-Webb pass rush: The Bulldogs lead the Big South-OVC with 36 sacks this season, which is tied with Mercer and South Carolina State for most in the nation. Western has allowed 24 sacks this season, less than half of last season’s total of 50. Fourteen different players have at least one sack for Gardner-Webb.
What’s at stake?
Western is attempting to snap a four-game losing streak.
Quick hits
Davis said Tuesday on the Big South-OVC conference call that Lamb should get some league player of the year consideration. “Nate has had an excellent season. He’s made the guys around him better.” Lamb needs only 20 yards to reach 3,000 this season. He would be only the fifth WIU player in school history to reach that mark. Davis praised his QB for working through changes at various positions on offense early in the season. “Nate had patience with that and grew with those guys.” … WIU receivers Matthew Henry (88.1), Eli Aragon (68.5) and Demari Davis (43.5) rank first, seventh and 15th in the Big South-OVC in yards per game. Henry needs only 31 yards against Gardner-Webb to reach 1,000 for the season. … Kicker Antonio Chadha has the second-highest scoring total (79 points) in the conference this season. He has connected on 14 of 17 field goals and is 37-for-39 on PATs. … Running back Cameren Smith has the third-most all-purpose yards per game (100.1) this season. He surpassed 1,100 yards for the season last week at SEMO. … Western remains this week as the most productive offense in the Big South-OVC with 419.9 yards a game, but the lowest-ranked defense with 505.9 yards allowed. The Leathernecks rank 21st nationally in total offense, according to NCAASports.com, and 121st in total defense.
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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