Starting From The Bottom | College Coaching Story

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The Story of the Coach
Aaron Ferguson has had an incredible career so far. As a high school athlete, he moved in the middle of his freshman year. Talk about tough, switching schools to the middle-of-nowhere at that. Aaron was recruited to play football and baseball out of college by several Division One programs. The multi-sport athlete settled on Tennessee.

In Knoxville, Aaron played Quarterback on the football team and also was a Starting Pitcher on the baseball team. Once he graduated, he decided to play professional baseball. He had a 14-year professional career and spent 11 of them as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. Aaron won 152 games and many awards throughout his career.

Aaron got a coaching offer for football and baseball at the high school he first attended in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. He couldn't resist returning to his hometown to coach the two sports he loved. Upon his return, he immediately assembled his playbooks and worked with his coaches to teach them his way of doing things.

As a strong runner and having a strong arm, Aaron was a balanced QB in high school. He decided that he would like to run a Spread Option in high school, and became very successful with it. The fast-paced offense allowed for a lot of scoring opportunities, with all of the athletes he had. The defense he chose was a 3-4 defense, which was built to stop the run. He played around with these playbooks each year to add different plays and even changed the style to match his players' skillsets.

After winning his second state title at Strongsville, he applied for several coaching positions in the college ranks. After several interviews at Army, Georgia State, Old Dominion, Idaho and New Mexico State, Aaron decided to accept an offer to become the first head coach of the Old Dominion Monarchs in the FBS division.

Upon signing a five-year contract with Old Dominion, he received word that he was expected to win five games per year. Aaron is excited to get started at the college level.

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Aaron Ferguson's History
Record: 2-1
Conference Record: 0-0
vs. Top 25: 0-0
vs. Rivals: 0-0
Teams Coached: Old Dominion (HC)

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Old Dominion Monarchs
2013-2014:

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Conference Realignment

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Rankings/Conference Standings

NCAA Football Rankings - AP Top 25 - Updated: Aug 31, 2013
RK	TEAM (VOTES)	W	L	POINTS
1	Alabama Crimson Tide
2	Ohio State Buckeyes
3	Stanford Cardinal
4	Texas A&M Aggies
5	Georgia Bulldogs
6	Oregon Ducks
7	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
8	South Carolina Gamecocks
9	Clemson Tigers
10	Florida Gators
11	Louisville Cardinals
12	LSU Tigers
13	Oklahoma Sooners
14	Florida State Seminoles
15	Texas Longhorns
16	Oklahoma State Cowboys
17	TCU Horned Frogs
18	Boise State Broncos
19	Michigan Wolverines
20	UCLA Bruins
21	Kansas State Wildcats
22	Nebraska Cornhuskers
23	Oregon State Beavers
24	Northern Illinois Huskies
25	Vanderbilt Commodores

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NCAA Awards

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BCS Through The Years

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Old Dominion Announces Schedule

Old Dominion has released their first FBS football schedule. The 2013 season will begin in Greenville, NC as the Monarchs will play East Carolina. In the third week of the season, they will travel to MetLife Stadium to play a neutral-site game against UMass. The Monarchs will host their first home game in week five as they invite South Alabama to play.

First-year coach, Aaron Ferguson gave a quick comment about his team's schedule this season. "I like our schedule this season," Ferguson said. "We get to travel a lot and play some pretty solid programs this year. It will be exciting to grow as a team and see how we stack up against good competition."

Here's a look at the Monarchs full schedule:

Week 1: @
Week 2: @
Week 3: @
Week 4: @
Week 5: vs.
Week 6: vs. FCS
Week 7: IDLE
Week 8: @
Week 9: @
Week 10: IDLE
Week 11: vs.
Week 12: @
Week 13: @
Week 14: @
Week 15: IDLE

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Recruiting List

Old Dominion Monarchs Recruiting - 2013
NAME	POS	CLASS	HOMETOWN	HT	WT	CALIBER
Mike Collier	G	HS	Palm Coast, FL	6'1"	307
Bruce Stephens	G	HS	East Detroit, MI	6'4"	308
Matt McGee	FB	HS	Vancleave, MS	6'0"	240
Cole Hobbs	FB	HS	Scranton, PA	6'2"	236
John Gatewood	CB	HS	Conneaut, OH	5'10"	174
Chris Gould	CB	HS	Franconia, VA	5'10"	185
Cory Johnson	CB	HS	Monticello, LA	6'3"	196
David Jackson	CB	HS	Portland, TN	5'11"	181
John Britt	CB	HS	Jefferson, LA	5'10"	168
Jonathan Wayne	CB	HS	Villa Rica, GA	6'1"	168
Stephen Jackson	CB	HS	Statesville, NC	6'1"	182
Barry Patterson	T	HS	Lake Ridge, VA	6'5"	318
Antoine Harvey	T	HS	Jersey City, NJ	6'5"	284

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Monarchs Announce Depth Chart

With the preseason camps coming to a close, it's finally game week. First-year head coach has announced his depth chart. There were no position battles that surprised anyone this year. Everyone is awaiting the start of the season now.

Old Dominion Monarchs Depth Chart - 2013
Regular Offense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
WR	Antonio Vaughn	Larry Pinkard	Jakwail Bailey
TE	Connor Martin	Gerard Shillow
LT	Jack Lowney	Mike Justice
LG	David Born	Perry Owens	Jai Franklin
C	Josh Mann	Troy Butler
RG	DJ Morrell	Davis Farmer
RT	Ely Anderson	Kyle Bottoms	Tyler Compton
WR	Blair Roberts	Keyshawn Henderson	Marquel Thomas
QB	Taylor Heinicke	David Washington	Colin McElroy
FB	Garard Johnson	John Darr	Keyshawn Henderson
HB	Tyree Lee	Colby Goodwyn	Harvey Taylor	CJ Bradshaw
Base 3-4 Defense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LDE	Gary Scruggs	Jude Brenya
NT	Nate Barnes	Preston Smith	Galen Evans	Chris Smith
RDE	Andrew Everett	Scott Wiggins	Alex Johnson
LOLB	Larry Alston	TJ Ricks	Rodney Hunter
LILB	DJ Simon	TJ Armstrong
RILB	Caleb Taylor
ROLB	John Darr	Rob Mahan	Anthony Wilson
CB	Eriq Lewis	Jevon Neal	Keenen Terry
SS	Paul Morant	Brandon Bacchus	Fellonte Misher
FS	Malique Johnson	Andre Simmons	Aaron Young
CB	Reggie Owens	Aaron Evans
Special Teams
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
K	Jarod Brown
P	Ricky Segers
H	David Washington
PR	Blair Roberts	Antonio Vaughn	Aaron Evans
KR	Blair Roberts	Antonio Vaughn	Aaron Evans
LS	Josh Mann

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Matchup Preview *|* August 31, 2013
	@
Old Dominion Monarchs (0-0, 0-0 Away)		East Carolina Pirates (0-0, 0-0 Home)
Game Notes Old Dominion is playing in their first FBS game. Old Dominion is coached by a first-year coach, Aaron Ferguson. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 ET. The game will be covered on local TV networks. This may be a "try-out" for Old Dominion in a chance at an invitation from the Confrence-USA.

Ferguson Answers Questions
Press: What do you expect from your team in your first game?

AF: I expect our team to execute properly and compete in this game from the first whistle, to the last.

Press: Does Taylor Heinicke feel comfortable handling your offense?

AF: I believe so. We've worked hard with him to make sure that he understands what we want from him and that he understands the playbook.

Press: ECU runs a similar style offense as you, does that give your defense an edge?

AF: I think it gives both our defenses an edge, but we both have our differences too. The biggest factor is our playmakers aren't the same as their playmakers, so it'll come down to execution on both sides of the ball.

Press: Are you nervous about coaching in your first college game?

AF: I'm not nervous at all. I feel prepared and I trust my coaching staff and our players to execute like we have in all of our practices. It should be a fun time.

Press: Are there any strategies you have as you recruit?

AF: We like players who are interested in our school. They're going to be the guys that work hard every day because they love their school and their teammates. That's one factor we look out, but there a lot more that we could get into.

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Old Dominion Falls Short

Post-Game Press Conference
Press: Coach, how do you feel about today's game?

AF: I think we played very well. We hung with them for the majority of the game and unfortunately things didn't go our way. We know where we're at now and we have an opportunity to improve our game.

Press: How do you feel your run game was today?

AF: I thought we executed our runs well. We could get some more yardage, but I'm happy with how we ran the ball.

Press: Your defense was atrocious in the pass game, how do you plan to fix it?

AF: I think we just need to do a better job of staying fresh. It's hard to substitute against an up-tempo team. I don't think we were aggressive enough with our defensive backs. There are a lot of improvements that need to be made on defense.

Press: Were you happy with how Taylor Heinicke threw the football?

AF: I was, we tried to establish the run game early to set him up. Once we got down, we threw the ball a little more and found some success doing so. I think he'll be just fine.

Press: Turning the page to Maryland next week, what do you have to do?

AF: We have to execute our gameplan better than they execute their gameplan. Maryland is a good program and we are going to really test ourselves this week.

Old Dominion Monarchs at East Carolina Pirates
Aug 31, 2013	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Old Dominion Monarchs (0-0)	7	10	7	8	32
East Carolina Pirates (0-0)	21	0	14	14	49

Team Stats Comparison
	OD	ECU
Total Offense	514	541
Rushing Yards	165	50
Passing Yards	349	491
First Downs	22	21
Punt Return Yards	12	22
Kick Return Yards	259	142
Total Yards	785	705
Turnovers	0	0
3rd Down Converstion	9-19	7-13
4th Down Conversion	2-5	1-1
2-Point Conversion	1-1	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	6-3-1	5-5-0
Penalties	3-35	1-5
Posession Time	19:30	12:30

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		OD	ECU
6:25	(ECU) Carden, 10-yard pass to Ray	0	7
4:12	(ECU) Carden, 11-yard pass to Ray	0	14
3:21	(OD) Heinicke, 8-yard run	7	14
1:56	(ECU) Carden, 9-yard pass to Hardy	7	21
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		OD	ECU
7:52	(OD) Heinicke, 22-yard run	14	21
1:46	(OD) Brown, 20-yard field goal	17	21
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		OD	ECU
6:30	(ECU) Carden, 64-yard pass to Wiggins	17	28
3:35	(ECU) Dobson, 3-yard run	17	35
0:48	(OD) Heinicke, 1-yard pass to Johnson	24	35
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		OD	ECU
3:46	(ECU) Carden, 27-yard pass to Hardy	24	42
2:56	(OD) Heinicke, 2-yard pass to Henderson (2 pt good)	32	42
1:11	(ECU) Dobson, 5-yard run	32	49

Old Dominion Monarchs PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Taylor Heinicke 27-46 341 2 0 David Washington 1-2 8 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Taylor Heinicke 14 55 3.9 2 Tyree Lee 10 73 7.3 0 Colby Goodwyn 6 25 4.1 0 Antonio Vaughan 2 9 4.5 0 Larry Pinkard 1 2 2.0 0 Garard Johnson 1 1 1.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Larry Pinkard 7 101 14.4 0 Blair Roberts 5 108 21.6 0 Garard Johnson 5 22 4.4 1 Keyshan Henderson 4 26 6.5 1 Tyree Lee 3 37 12.3 0 Marquel Thomas 2 29 14.5 0 Antonio Vaughan 2 26 13.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK David Born 1 0 Tyler Compton 0 1 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Malique Johnson 7 0.0 0 0 Jevon Neal 6 0.0 0 0 Larry Alston 5 1.0 0 0 John Darr 4 0.0 0 0 DJ Simon 3 0.0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Jarod Brown 1-1 3-3 10 29 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Ricky Segers 3 106 35.3 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Blair Roberts 7 239 34.1 0 Aaron Evans 1 20 20.0 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Blair Roberts 1 12 12.0 0

East Carolina Pirates PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Shane Carden 32-50 491 5 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Michael Dobson 15 61 4.0 2 Shane Carden 2 -16 -8.0 0 Zico Pasut 1 5 5.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Justin Hardy 8 201 25.1 2 Reese Wiggins 6 116 19.3 1 Danny Webster 6 55 9.1 0 Justin Jones 4 54 13.5 0 Lance Ray 4 41 10.2 2 Michael Dobson 2 13 6.5 0 Darren Dowdell 2 11 5.5 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Jordan Davis 5 0 Will Simmons 1 0 Taylor Hudson 1 0 Marquis Wallace 0 2 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Damon Magazu 10 0.0 0 0 Jeremy Grove 9 0.0 0 0 Derrel Johnson 7 0.0 0 0 Chip Thompson 7 0.0 0 0 Matt Milner 6 1.0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Warren Harvey 0-0 7-7 7 0 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Trent Tignor 4 118 29.5 1 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Vintavious Cooper 3 100 33.3 0 Danny Webster 1 23 23.0 0 Lance Ray 1 15 15.0 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Vintavious Cooper 2 22 11.0 0

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Week 1 Recap

Week 1 - Major Top 25 Results

Results

South Carolina 20, UNC 7

Ole Miss 26, Vanderbilt 19

Oklahoma State 42, Mississippi State 20

Oklahoma 35, UL-Monroe 28

Notre Dame 10, Temple 7

Ohio 31, Louisville 30

Alabama 41, Virginia Tech 14

Boise State 35, Washington 21

Georgia 30, Clemson 13

LSU 41, TCU 17

UCLA 27, Nevada 6

Pittsburgh 23, Florida State 16

NCAA Football Rankings - Coaches Poll - Updated: Sep 3, 2013
RK	LW	TEAM (VOTES)	W	L	POINTS
1	1	Alabama Crimson Tide	1	0	1496
2	2	Ohio State Buckeyes	1	0	1436
3	5	Georgia Bulldogs	1	0	1406
4	3	Stanford Cardinal	0	0	1377
5	4	Texas A&M Aggies	1	0	1318
6	6	Oregon Ducks	1	0	1204
7	7	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	1	0	1148
8	8	South Carolina Gamecocks	1	0	1093
9	10	Florida Gators	1	0	985
10	12	LSU Tigers	1	0	916
11	13	Oklahoma Sooners	1	0	829
12	15	Texas Longhorns	1	0	728
13	9	Clemson Tigers	0	1	684
14	16	Oklahoma State Cowboys	1	0	679
15	18	Boise State Broncos	1	0	600
16	19	Michigan Wolverines	1	0	537
17	20	UCLA Bruins	1	0	492
18	21	Kansas State Wildcats	1	0	446
19	22	Nebraska Cornhuskers	1	0	402
20	23	Oregon State	1	0	359
21	17	TCU Horned Frogs	0	1	315
22	11	Louisville Cardinals	0	1	297
23	14	Florida State Seminoles	0	1	268
24	NR	Ole Miss Rebels	1	0	251
25	NR	Arizona State Sun Devils	0	0	233

Heisman Watch - Updated: Sep 3, 2013
NAME	POS	SCHOOL		SEASON STATS
Johnny Manziel	QB	Texas A&M		20-35 321 yds 6 TD, 17 car 104 yds
AJ McCarron	QB	Alabama		13-28 239 yds TD, 9 car 18 yds
Braxton Miller	QB	Ohio State		14-23 174 yds 2 TD, 13 car 85 yds
Teddy Bridgewater	QB	Louisville		23-37 332 yds 2 TD, 14 car 42 yds
Carlos Hyde	HB	Ohio State		20 car 115 yds 4 TD, 3 rec 49 yds TD

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Matchup Preview *|* September 7, 2013
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Old Dominion Monarchs (0-1, 0-1 Away)		Maryland Terrapins (1-0, 1-0 Home)
Offensive Stats Comparison 514.0 Total Offensive Yards 433.0 349.0 Passing Yards 168.0 165.0 Rushing Yards 231.0 32.0 Points Per Game 38.0 Defensive Stats Comparison 541.0 Total Yards Allowed 231.0 491.0 Passing Yards Allowed 119.0 50.0 Rushing Yards Allowed 112.0 49.0 Points Allowed 0.0 Game Notes -Old Dominion tries to avenge a 49-32 loss against ECU. -Maryland is coming off of a 38-0 win against FIU. -Old Dominion is looking for their first FBS win. -Old Dominion hopes to apply more defensive pressure this game. -Maryland is in it's last year as an ACC program.

Mid-Week Press Conference
Press: Coach, what are you keying in on most with Maryland?

AF: We're looking to get our defense going. We want to apply pressure and disguise our defenses better.

Press: What's your biggest fear going into an ACC atmosphere?

AF: The crowd and atmosphere don't bother me, if anything it fuels me. Our players have played on the road before and we'll have to execute even better.

Press: What's your relationship with Randy Edsall like?

AF: I think we have a good relationship, I met him over the summer at a coaches workshop and we enjoyed each other's company. It'll be fun to coach against him.

Press: Do you plan to improve the running game this week?

AF: I was happy with how well we ran the ball last week. I'd love to build off that performance this week.

Press: What do you make of their uniforms?

AF: I'm a fan of the symbolism with the state flag. It'll be neat to see which jerseys they select. I like the jerseys we have picked out too. I hope to see you all out there.

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Monarchs Earn First FBS Win

Post-Game Press Conference
Press: How big is this first win for the program?

AF: It's huge for our boys, huge for our fan base and huge for our program. Earning a road win at an AQ's home field is great.

Press: Taylor Heinicke played a great game, how do you think he looked passing?

AF: He looked a little hesitant early. He was aggressive on the two picks he threw also. It wasn't his best game, but he's the reason we won.

Press: Coach, Heinicke got hurt late in the game. What's his status?

AF: We sat him out for the rest of the game, especially when we just needed to run the clock out. We will make sure he's healthy before he plays.

Press: Your defense really stepped up today, what did you see?

AF: Our defense played great. I think they won us the game after we gave them the ball three times. Alston set a team-record for sacks in a game and that was huge. Our defense did a great job all week and I'm really proud of them.

Press: You have a game scheduled at the Meadowlands against UMass, why a neutral-site game?

AF: I love Massachusetts and Boston. I wanted to give these boys an opportunity to play in the New York market and get to sightsee some great places. We have a fun week planned for them, but we'll be working hard towards our goal.

Press: They struggle offensively and defensively, what do you have planned for the week?

AF: We need to sharpen up our defensive backfield. Opponents are completing too many passes against us. We had a good balance offensively, we just need to execute in the red zone and hang onto the football.

Old Dominion Monarchs at Maryland Terrapins
Sep 7, 2013	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Old Dominion Monarchs (0-1)	0	13	3	3	19
Maryland Terrapins (1-0)	7	0	0	7	14

Team Stats Comparison
	OD	MD
Total Offense	385	172
Rushing Yards	175	19
Passing Yards	210	153
First Downs	24	7
Punt Return Yards	26	0
Kick Return Yards	65	134
Total Yards	476	306
Turnovers	3	1
3rd Down Converstion	9-17	3-8
4th Down Conversion	2-2	0-1
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	5-1-3	1-1-0
Penalties	2-10	2-10
Posession Time	23:06	8:54

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		OD	MD
5:18	(MD) Brown, 25-yard pass to Diggs	0	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		OD	MD
7:15	(OD) Heinicke, 7-yard pass to Roberts	7	7
3:07	(OD) Brown, 20-yard field goal	10	7
0:07	(OD) Brown, 26-yard field goal	13	7
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		OD	MD
3:49	(OD) Brown, 42-yard field goal	16	7
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		OD	MD
5:19	(MD) Brown, 8-yard pass to Etta	16	14
0:00	(OD) Brown, 27-yard field goal	19	14

Old Dominion Monarchs PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Taylor Heinicke 19/30 199 1 2 David Washington 1/1 11 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Tyree Lee 23 79 3.4 0 Taylor Heinicke 18 65 3.6 0 Colby Goodwyn 5 25 5.0 0 Larry Pinkard 1 6 6.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Blair Roberts 7 84 11.9 1 Tyree Lee 7 62 8.8 0 Antonio Vaughan 2 31 15.5 0 Larry Pinkard 2 6 3.0 0 Colby Goodwyn 1 15 15.0 0 Connor Martin 1 12 12.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Jevon Neal 6 0.0 0 0 Larry Alston 4 3.0 0 0 Eriq Lewis 4 0.0 0 0 Paul Morant 3 0.0 0 0 Nate Barnes 2 0.0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Jarod Brown 4/4 1/1 10 42 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Ricky Segers 1 35 35.0 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Blair Roberts 3 65 21.6 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Blair Roberts 2 26 13.0 0

Maryland Terrapins PASSING C/A YDS TD INT CJ Brown 16/21 153 2 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD CJ Brown 8 1 0.1 0 Wes Brown 5 18 3.6 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Wes Brown 6 24 4.0 0 Stefon Diggs 4 54 13.5 1 Deon Long 2 0 0.0 0 Andrew Isaacs 1 38 38.0 0 Nigel King 1 25 25.0 0 Amba Etta 1 8 8.0 1 Daniel Adams 1 4 4.0 0 BLOCKING PANCAKE SACK Andrew Isaacs 0 1 Mike Madaras 0 1 Nick Klemm 0 2 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Marcus Whitfield 10 0.0 0 0 Anthony Nixon 9 0.0 0 0 Sean Davis 8 0.0 0 0 Keith Bowers 4 1.0 0 0 Tony Perry 1 0.0 2 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Brad Craddock 0/0 2/2 2 0 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 Nathan Renfro 4 142 35.5 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Isaac Goins 4 119 29.7 0 Kenneth Goins Jr 1 15 15.0 0