February 18, 2021 – Miami Gardens, FL–
Eugene Witherspoon is a recent transfer picked up by the Florida Memorial Lions. The move followed a scandal at Southeastern University that made Witherspoon decide to take his talents elsewhere. A short 3 and a half hour drive south to be exact. The decision was a bit of a shock to many due to the lack of productivity on the offensive side of the ball from the Lions, but this red shirt senior can really make a difference if the Lions continue to pick up more pieces around him.
Witherspoon was coming off a stellar year in 2019 where he played 8 games, but had 7 touchdowns and over 600 yards receiving. He even had multiple games where he had over 100 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns. In 2020, the season was obviously cut short due to Covid-19 to 4 games. Despite that, he still ended the year with 4 touchdowns and over 300 receiving yards with one of them being a 50 yard touchdown grab.
He is going to have his work cut out for him as the Lions were almost dead last in about every single offensive category. The Lions, in all 3 of their games, failed to score more than 7 points and they even were shut out in week 1 of the season against Keiser University. Lions fans were desperate for a receiver that could separate at the line and Witherspoon is someone that is very explosive at the snap and can separate due to his speed.
What the Lions need to do next in order to utilize his talents would be to get him an upgrade at quarterback from what they currently have. Sophomore quarterback Antoine Williams was their best quarterback this season and he finished with 1 touchdown pass, 3 interceptions, and only about 500 passing yards in 3 games. That simply is not going to get it done and Witherspoon will be a wasted talent there if the Lions just keep the status quo behind center. There are other quarterbacks on the team, but not much noise was created when they played in small stints in 2020.
This Lions team got a stud at receiver and it is definitely a piece that they needed. Current freshman receiver Corey Stanley will now be in his second season in 2021 and will now get to enjoy the perks of single coverage again since he will now no doubt be a WR2. This will help be able to get the ball spread around a bit more than what they were able to do in 2020. The only question Lions fans are asking is: are there any extra moves the program is going to make or are we going to see a similar team next year? Only time will tell, but they are already off to a good start by getting a star receiver.
