2024 Bowling Green Falcons Football Preseason Preview: Offense

With a lot of the offensive production returning, can the Falcons overcome the hump of inconsistency and become explosive again?

As noted in the first preseason piece for 2024, Bowling Green returns a good amount of production from last year.

The Falcons saw a slight decrease in total offense and passing yards, but a big increase in rushing when comparing 2022 and 2023. Bowling Green has been inconsistent on the offensive side of the ball for all of Scot Loeffler’s tenure. This is the part of the game that needs to propel the Falcons toward the next step. Let’s take a look at what’s changing.

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Quarterbacks need to take a step forward

Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images

Returning:

• Connor Bazelak, senior
• Cam Orth, senior
• Lucian Anderson III, redshirt freshman

Incoming:

• Baron May (transferred from East Tennessee State)
• Jonny Sorenson, Freshman

The quarterbacks won’t see many changes as far as personnel goes, which is good news for a team looking to establish themselves as a contender. With both Bazelak and Orth returning, it’s safe to assume the Falcons will utilize them both again like last season.

Bazelak’s health will definitely be a point of focus in 2024. It was obvious that he was banged up for most, if not all, of 2023. When Bazelak is on it, the Falcons can are really good. Remember the first drive of the Quick Lane Bowl?

Bazelak, who finished the 2023 campaign with 1,935 passing yards for 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions over 13 contests, should take a step forward this year, but don’t sleep on Cam Orth either. When Bazelak isn’t on the field, Orth can make some magic happen, even when you think the play will stop.

As the “switch-up” signalcaller, Orth’s mobility helped keep the offense unpredictable, finishing with 486 passing yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions, while also posting five rushing TDs and 208 yards on the ground

The Falcons are more than capable of having success with the two-quarterback system, an increasing rarity in this day and age. The caveats, as always, will be consistency and health. If Bazelak stays healthy, and they both can keep it together, the Falcons will take more steps forward.

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Running back health is crucial for success

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The Falcon running backs accumulated 505 more rushing yards in 2023 than the entirety of the 2022 season, which was the biggest difference in helping them stay more competitive. That was in part due t5o the tandem of Terion Stewart and Ta’Ron Keith for most of the season.

2024 will see some changes for the group as a whole:

Returning

• Terion Stewart, junior
• Jaison Patterson, senior
• Jamal Johnson, senior
• PaSean Wimberly (special teams), senior

Departed

• Ta’Ron Keith (transferred out)

The first big thing to note is that Ta’Ron Keith is gone. He provided a nice spark for the Falcons in ‘22 and ‘23 when Stewart was out, finishing . The Falcons will need to rely on Patterson or Johnson to be that next spark.

The next important thing is that PaSean Wimberly returns. While he is more known for being a special teams demon (he’s still going to do that), we saw the spark he provided in the Quick Lane Bowl to give the Falcons life.

Here’s the most important question (continuing a common theme): Can Terion Stewart stay healthy? There are no questions to his ability. Remember the grown man stiff arm from the Ball State game? (Credit: @MACSports/X)

It was at the end of this game that Stewart went down with a leg injury that kept him out for the rest of the season. Stewart was on pace to be the first 1,000 yard rusher for Bowling Green since Fred Coppet (2016), but ultimately finished with 762 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns. If Terion Stewart stays healthy, and plays like he did last year, the Falcons will finally have a 1,000-yard rusher.

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Wide receivers: A bit of unknown

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Returning

• Jaylon Tillman, senior
• Finn Hogan, junior
• Harold Fannin Jr., junior (tight end)

Incoming

• Malcolm Johnson, Jr. (transferred from Auburn)
• RJ Garcia II (transferred from Kansas State)

Departed

• Odieu Hiliare (graduation)
• Abdul Fatai-Ibrahim (transferred to Louisiana Tech)

What can fans expect with the receiving corps this year? Well, for starters, there is just a fraction of production returning on the outside, so the Falcons will lean in on interior passing and the run game to make it through.

Because of this, the passcatching group will likely be lead once again by do-it-all H-back Harold Fannin Jr., who broke out in 2023 with 44 receptions for 623 yards and six touchdowns through the air and had an additional 41 rushing yards in mostly short-run situations. Fannin, a first-team all-MAC tight end, will have the eyes of pro scouts this season, as he is a true junior going into 2024.

The Falcons have seen glimpses of greatness from both Jaylon Tillman and Finn Hogan, who are the most experienced returning outside receivers on the roster. Tillman, who spent two seasons with D-II power Grand Valley State prior to his transfer to BGSU last year, will look to establish himself on the roster as a potential depth receiver after the ability to get behind the defense last year in limited playing time:

We also can’t forget the incredible day that Finn Hogan had in Atlanta against the Yellow Jackets, highlighted by one of the greatest plays last season. As former New York Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich once said: “Yo, we gotta see that again!”:

Hogan finished with 11 receptions for 163 yards and a touchdown as the sixth-best receiver for BGSU in 2023 a year removed from his time at Central Michigan.

But outside of those guys, who else is there?

Well, Loeffler brought in Malcolm Johnson, Jr. from Auburn, but he doesn’t seem to have much of a sample size to look from. It’s a good idea to start looking at RJ Garcia II (22 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns over two-year career), who transferred in during the offseason. As mentioned in a previous piece, Garcia was a mainstay in the Kansas State offense that finished 10th in total yardage.

The wide receivers have a good amount of talent, and if the quarterbacks step up another level, the receiving corps could be one of the best in the MAC for 2024.

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Offensive line brings the strength

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The offensive line is one of the big pieces for the Falcons in 2024. Let’s take a look at who’s coming back:

Departed

• Kam Stewart

Incumbents

• Alex Wollschlaeger
• Nate Pabst
• Jake Burns
• Alex Padgett
• Cade Zimmerly

Incoming

• Billie Roberts
• Nick Reimer

The only name that isn’t on the 2024 roster that saw significant playing time is Kam Stewart. Why is this great for the Falcons? Despite losing a mainstay, the o-line still has a majority of their veterans for 2024, including an All-MAC selection in Alex Wollschaleger.

Wollschlaeger, who is on the Outland Award Watchlist this season, will anchor the line in 2024 after helping lead a unit which saw the offense finish second in the MAC in scoring (26.2 points per game) and touchdowns (39), and finish sixth in the league in overall yards (4,242 yards), all significant upgrades from the prior season.

With the addition of Billie Roberts moving from the defense, the Falcons look to remain strong and keep getting stronger up front.