Fifth-year senior Vinson Davis is the top returning receiver for Southern Illinois this fall. He caught 38 catches for 382 yards and two touchdowns in 2024. (Photo by SIUSalukis.com)
By Barry Bottino
The difference in Zach Grant’s position group is striking.
Southern Illinois’ wide receivers coach has six seniors in his group, including one seventh-year player and two sixth-year athletes. The other half of his 13 receivers are seven players – two sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and three true freshman – who have three combined catches as college players.
“We have a lot of seniors in the room, but we’re also a very young room,” Grant said. “They’re very hungry, a very competitive group.”
Been around the block
The most experienced receiver is seventh-year senior Fabian McCray, a Chicago native who spent four seasons at Northern Illinois and the last two at FCS Jackson State, where he lost most of last season due to injury.
In 2023 at JSU, he hauled in 41 catches and four touchdowns.
“The energy goes through him at practice, which is awesome,” Grant said. “He’s a relentless, fierce competitor.”
Sixth-year players Jackson Parker and Jay Jones took different paths to fall camp this season.
Jones arrived in Carbondale during the 2020 COVID season and has played in 16 career games. His 2024 was highlighted by the first two starts of his career and a touchdown catch against Murray State.
Parker, a transfer from Albany, has 94 career catches and five touchdowns to his credit with the Great Danes. “I’ve played in a lot of games,” Parker said, describing himself as “someone who will do whatever they need me to do. If I need to go long on the deep ball, I can do it. If I need to go block, I can do it. I’m trying to be a utility guy.”
“You can tell he’s had a lot of success at our level,” Grant said of Parker.
The fifth-year group is highlighted by returnee Vinson Davis III (38 catches last season), along with Tae Marrero Jr. and Cal Weidemann, who both played 10 games mainly on special teams a year ago.
The 5-foot-8, 175-pound Davis initially entered the transfer portal after last season but decided to return to SIU.
“He’s one of the most consistent players I’ve coached,” Grant said. “He practices hard every single day.”
New faces
Grant’s connection to sophomore transfer Kyle Thomas (Northern Illinois) goes back to 2017-2019 when the SIU coach was a graduate assistant at FBS Illinois.
Kyle’s older brother, Cam, was an Illini quarterback during Grant’s tenure. The younger Thomas, who caught three passes at NIU last season, has stood out in fall camp.
“Kyle has really impressed me,” Grant said. “He’s long. He can run. His ceiling is very high.”
Fellow sophomore Ty Wells (Oklahoma State) walked on for the FBS Cowboys and did not see game action the past two seasons. He caught 22 TD passes in high school, however.
Redshirt freshman Blayne Sisson has plenty of fans in Carbondale. He originally committed to SIU before his senior season at downstate Mount Carmel High School, but chose to play at Illinois. Sisson said he’s known SIU head coach Nick Hill since coming to camps in Carbondale at age 15.
A dynamic high school athlete, Sisson piled up more than 4,000 total yards as a senior and arrived in Champaign as a defensive back.
“That was the plan,” he said. “They saw me moving around. The first day I got there, the receivers coach wanted me to work with him and that’s where I ended up staying.”
Sisson returned to practice earlier this week fully healed from off-season shoulder surgery.
“Receiver fits me well because of my athleticism,” Sisson said. “There are scenarios where we have to run the ball, catch the ball, block, be physical. I think I check the box on all those things.”
Though he admits he has plenty to work on, Sisson has made an impression thus far.
“For a young guy, I definitely think you’ll see him develop into a pretty good player,” Grant said. “He’s getting a lot better. He’s a very good athlete.”
DuQuoin’s Gage Green redshirted last season at Missouri State.
The true freshmen group features Jacques Carter, Chris Potter and Tristen Payne, who hail from Ohio, Missouri and Arkansas, respectively.
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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