Wide receivers Montaurius Smith, Terrance Pride and Reshaad DeJarnett, all redshirt freshmen, came up with their share of big plays that helped the Bulldogs reach the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game.

Smith had a team-high 49 catches for 649 yards. Pride had 17 catches for 191 yards and three touchdowns and also ran for a score. DeJarnett had 15 catches for 233 yards and a memorable 70-yard catch and run against Texas Southern that helped the Bulldogs outlast the Tigers.

Despite all that, they want more.

"We've got to make more big plays," Smith said. "We didn't make enough last year and we put that on our shoulders. We've got to come back and make more."

Don't put it past them.

Despite being without G'Alonzo Milton, who finished second on the team in catches and yards and first with eight touchdown catches, and Demario Ross, who will likely miss a month after undergoing surgery for a broken clavicle, DeJarnett believes the Bulldogs can be just as good or better than they were a year ago.

"We're going to be a very exciting group," he said. "We've got a lot of playmakers. We've got a combination of experience and talent and we've got some new guys that are going to be really good.

"We can make big plays. We call ourselves the 'Bomb Squad.' "

Receivers coach John McKenzie has coached a number of quality receivers at a number of different places, but he believes the trio he currently has could be among the best ever.

"Their best football is ahead of them because they're so young and talented," McKenzie said. "DeJarnett is Thunder because he's so powerful. Pride is Lightning because he has great speed. Montaurius is Flash because he can give you something and take it away because of his ability to move with great quickness.

"They came up big for us last year, but they're going to have to come up even bigger this year if we're going to win it all."

But the group is more than Smith, Pride and DeJarnett.

Ross is expected back and he gives the Bulldogs a big, physical receiver who is a tremendous blocker. Torey Smith, the lone senior in the bunch, averaged a team-high 19.1 yards-per catch last season. Tae Keith, a converted outside linebacker, is improving every day, DeJarnett said.

"Keith is an athlete," he said. "He's just got to learn how to play the position."

While the group wants to increase their big-play ability, DeJarnett said that not only has to be catching the football, but blocking as well.

"We want to make a lot of big plays in a lot of aspects of the game other than just catching the ball," he said.

Smith believes that will happen.

"Everybody is back from last year and we've got more experience," Smith said. "We know what we've got to do. We came together and we talked about it. We watched film together and we came to the conclusion that we're going to have to be the group that steps up.

"We can be as good as we want to be if we keep working hard and getting better every day."