Big-play threat Larenzo Fenner unlocks explosive element to Coyote offense

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Dec. 1—VERMILLION — Within an offense centered heavily around the power run game, a high volume of targets is rarely available to the receiving corps for the University of South Dakota football team.

Even so, Larenzo Fenner is making the most of limited looks.

And in turn, the Coyotes' breakout star has helped the offense find a new gear as USD looks to make an extended run in the FCS playoffs.

Though USD had an idle week ahead of the playoffs, Fenner picked up the postseason where he left off in the regular season.

Helping the Coyotes lock up a playoff berth with a 53-51 five-overtime thriller at Southern Illinois on Nov. 15, the 6-foot redshirt sophomore out of Independence, Missouri, established career highs with six receptions, 130 yards and three touchdowns.

Then, as the Coyotes dispatched Drake 38-17 on Saturday at the DakotaDome, Fenner grabbed five receptions for 115 yards and three more scores. Fenner's third touchdown against Drake pushed his total to 14 for the season, giving him the outright FCS lead. It also tied a two-decade-old program single-season record set by Derek Gearman in 2005, when USD was still in Division II.

"It's just the preparation from the coaches and the players," Fenner said of his recent string of performances. "We put in a lot of hard work, and it's just showing out on the field."

In the third quarter alone, Fenner reeled in receptions of 27, 25 and 18 yards, the first and last finishing in the endzone. All five of Fenner's catches covered between 18 and 27 yards.

"Starting explosively in the third quarter was obviously critical to getting us going," USD head coach Travis Johansen said of the offense's performance as a whole.

Across their first nine games, the Coyotes scored 20 points in regulation just twice. Those performances came against non-scholarship Drake and MVFC bottom-dweller Murray State.

Those scoring struggles persisted even while the Coyotes boast one of the top running games in the FCS. Another breakout star for the Coyotes, running back L.J. Phillips Jr., has 1,688 yards on the ground on the year, which ranks third nationally.

However, it wasn't a fast start for Fenner or anyone involved with the Coyotes' passing attack.

Through five games, Fenner was the leading receiver, but his season totals stood at eight catches for 189 yards and three scores. Of that, 101 yards and two scores came during the first matchup against Drake. During the same stretch, redshirt senior quarterback Aidan Bouman failed to eclipse 230 passing yards in any game. He had five touchdowns, just as many interceptions and a completion percentage barely above 50%.

Since the calendar turned to October, it's been a different story for the quarterback-receiver tandem.

Bouman has thrown just one interception in the past eight games, and his confidence in pushing the ball downfield to Fenner is clear. Fenner has paid off his signal-caller's trust handsomely, catching 14 of the 22 scoring strikes delivered by Bouman's left arm this fall. Fenner has multiple receptions in all eight games and has scored in six of them.

"He's executing really soundly," Johansen said of Fenner's breakout. "Early in the year, there were some technique things that were a little bit inconsistent, so I didn't give him the opportunity to do what he is doing so well right now."

Contributing to Fenner's big-time production, Bouman has nine touchdowns and 561 yards while completing 72% of his passes in the past two games.

As the passing game has gotten up to speed in recent weeks, it's elevated the entire offensive operation.

Over the Coyotes' past four games, including a second meeting with Drake in the FCS playoffs first round on Saturday, USD has scored at least 24 points in every game, all victories.

It hardly feels like a coincidence that Fenner has contributed at least one touchdown in all four contests.

"His confidence has grown so much, and he's showing some mastery in what we're doing," Johansen said. "When he goes out there with a high level of confidence, he's a tough player at the reception area to beat. That's been a big part of how we've gotten ourselves out of some holes offensively."

When it comes to establishing oneself as a downfield receiving threat, Fenner is as good as it gets in the FCS.

For the season, Fenner has 883 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns on just 39 receptions. It's a stat line that fully illustrates a receiver producing more, with less, for a Coyote squad that rushes the football on more than 61% of its offensive snaps.

For context, Fenner's receiving yardage ranks 24th nationally in the FCS. Of the top 150 FCS pass catchers by yardage, Fenner is tied for 121st in receptions. His 22.6 yards per catch leads the MVFC and ranks third nationally. The only other MVFC player even upward of 20 yards per catch is North Dakota State's Bryce Lance, a bona fide NFL prospect.

Fenner's 14 receiving touchdowns pace the entire FCS, finding the endzone at a rate better than one out of every three catches. Among the 14 players with at least 10 touchdown receptions, the next-lowest reception total is 52, and 10 of the 14 are at 60 catches or well beyond.

As it stands, Fenner already has the fifth-most yards in a single season in USD program history. He's third among players in the Coyotes' Division I era, and with 51 yards against Mercer in the second round, Fenner would pass Carter Bell (2023) and Will Powell (2010) for the best season since USD moved to the FCS. For what it's worth, he's still 12 receptions (nearly one-third of his season total to date) away from cracking the program top-10 for a single season.

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