Adam Drake finished his final season with the Eastern football team ranked in the top-10 of every wide receiver stat category in the entire FCS, but for the Panthers one playmaker was not enough.

Following a season-ending defeat at home against Tennessee-Martin, Eastern coach Kim Dameron levied criticism toward the Panthers’ wide receivers not named Drake.

Drake had a game-high 11 catches, 146 yards and a touchdown, while five other wide receivers combined for 11 catches for 127 yards.

“Andrew (Manley) or Jalen (Whitlow), whoever the quarterback is, trusts (Drake) the most,” Dameron said. “He’s gonna be where he’s supposed to be and he’s gonna play hard and he’s gonna fight for the ball.”

Drake ended the year with 93 receptions, 1,321 yards and 12 touchdowns, dwarfing the numbers of Eastern’s other wide receivers.

“You never go into a game knowing what is going to happen,” Drake said after the season finale. “If it get’s thrown to you, you just have to be ready for it.”

Dameron praised Drake, who was voted to the All Ohio Valley Conference first team. He noted the receiver’s physical traits, but said that was not why the Charleston native has been so successful.

“Yeah, he can run, he’s tall, he’s strong, but that’s not what sets Adam Drake apart,” Dameron said. “It’s his work ethic, it’s where he is, where he’s supposed to be and doing the little things the right way. That’s why quarterbacks trust him.”

Drake’s 93 receptions nearly tripled the second highest total from the Panthers’ receivers, as Stephen Bravo-Brown caught 38 passes in his first year with Eastern. Dameron wants the same intangibles from all the Eastern receivers that Drake displayed all season long.

“Now, if we can get the rest of the guys in that room to play like that we’re going to have a good receiving corps,” Dameron said.

Although Eastern had a run-first offense this season, Drake was still able to lead the OVC in catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.

The Panthers had seven other receivers, which includes two tight ends; make at least three receptions this season. Combined, those seven players had 129 catches. This also discounts receptions made by running backs. Other than Drake, only Anthony Taylor, Jeff LePak and Joe Powell had a receiving touchdown, with Taylor having the most from the trio with three.

Following a disappointing end to an up and down year, Dameron said he has to review everything from the season. He did not go into detail what moves need to be made to improve the team next year, but as for now he is analyzing every facet of the team.

“It’s too early for that, but I just know this, we have to go recruit, we have to get bigger, faster, stronger and then we have to look back at the season and figure out and make sure that we’re doing what we need to be doing, offensively, defensively, kicking game, you name it. We’ll look at everything from the season, from A-Z.”

Eastern went 5-7 overall in Dameron’s first season as head coach. Despite a 5-3 OVC record, Dameron said Eastern has to get back to the point where it beats the best teams in the conference.

“We won five games against five conference opponents that we should win,” he said. “What we have to do is be able to beat Jacksonville State, Eastern Kentucky and Martin. The three top teams – that’s who we have to be able to beat and we didn’t beat any of them this year.”

The Panthers finished in fourth place in the OVC, following two straight conference championships. Dameron heads into his first full offseason after being hired in early January of this year.

“We have to look at what we’re doing, who we’re doing it with and we have to go out on the road and recruit because we need to get some players in here,” Dameron said.

Aldo Soto can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].