Fantasy football owners might want to consider picking up some members of the Washington University football team from the waiver wire.

Madelaine Azar | Student Life

Junior quarterback J.J. Tomlin lofts a pass on Sept. 6, 2014, in a game against Ohio Northern University. In the first game of the 2015 season, Tomlin threw for a career-high 399 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-24 win over Carnegie Mellon University.

In their season opener against Carnegie Mellon University, the Bears exploded for 512 yards of offense, five touchdowns and zero turnovers on their way to a 45-24 victory on Sept. 5. Their 420 yards passing broke a school record set in 1992.

After Wash. U. was stifled for 316 yards of total offense and only 16 points in a one-point loss to the Tartans last year, you would think that there was some switch in offensive scheme, or maybe a sacrifice to the football gods that unlocked the team’s offensive potential. According to junior quarterback J.J. Tomlin who completed 26 of 36 passes for four touchdowns and 399 yards, the turnaround was all a matter of implementation.

“It’s also just more execution offensively as a whole, getting the ball out to our playmakers and allowing them to do all the work,” Tomlin said. “It’s an overall offensive effort, five guys doing their job, their receivers doing their job and simply executing better.”

Offensive coordinator Scott Mueller added that what little changes were made were there to amplify the existing system.

“We’re doing a lot of the same things we did last year; we just made some tweaks and modifications to do it better,” Mueller said.

The Bears run a pro-style hurry-up offense—the type you’d see at the University of Oregon or the simultaneously heralded and scrutinized system run by Chip Kelly with the Philadelphia Eagles.

This system is tailored towards the Bears’ ability to move the ball through the air. In addition to Tomlin, whose performance against Carnegie netted him both the University Athletic Association (UAA) Offensive Athlete of the Week and Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Offensive Player of the Week, the Bears boast a deep receiving core.

“We’re blessed with some quality wide receivers. We also have two really massive tight-ends,” Mueller said.

The players Mueller speaks of are junior wide receivers Kevin Hammarlund and Hank Childs and senior tight ends Max Elliott and Mitch McMahon. The quartet combined for 19 catches for 359 yards receiving and all four of the receiving TDs.

“Those guys can turn an average play into a bigger play,” head coach Larry Kindbom said. “I think having that threat from our standpoint makes it tougher on a defense to say, ‘How do you double up a Hammarlund?’ or ‘How do you double up a Childs?’ if I know I’ve got Mitch McMahon in there or Max Elliott.”

The Bears boast pass-catching depth beyond that. After Hammarlund, Child, McMahon and Elliot, the five other receivers caught passes. Senior wide receiver Will Smith, who caught two touchdown passes last year, did not play against Carnegie Mellon due to injury but also figures to garner targets once healthy.

Of course, all the receivers in the world mean squat without a man under center to get them the ball. This is where Tomlin comes in. Tomlin remains humble when confronted with his gaudy numbers against Carnegie Mellon.

“I still had 10 incompletions. That’s 10 times that I failed, so we want to be better on every single play,” Tomlin said.

He won the starting quarterback job for the second straight year because of his ability to integrate himself into the offensive scheme.

“He took steps forward with a better understanding of the offense and developing better relationships with the rest of the guys on the team—not just the receivers but the offensive line and the running backs,” Mueller said.

In the Bear’s hurry-up offense, a quarterback who can direct a unit from the line of scrimmage is vital. In standard offenses, Mueller would call the play directly. Wash. U.’s system, on the other hand, requires Tomlin to make play-calls and audible right before the ball is snapped.

Tomlin’s rapport with his receivers becomes paramount. Luckily, Tomlin, Hammarlund and Childs all arrived in the same recruiting class.

“Since freshman year, me, [Childs] and [Tomlin] have been throwing pretty much every practice, every game,” Hammarlund said. “We hang out outside of football, we play video games and chill on the bus rides.”

Years of working together have allowed the unit to coalesce.

“Half the time I throw it, [the receivers] aren’t even looking at me yet,” Tomlin said.

The third variable in this offensive equation is the offensive line. After giving up just 10 sacks last year, the team’s fewest allowed since 2010, the unit prevented the Tartans from recording a sack in 71 offensive snaps. Tomlin deferred much of his success to the men in the trenches.

“It’s the difference between having 399 yards and the difference between having 200 yards,” Tomlin said. “If you look at the game, there was absolutely zero sacks and hardly any pressure. When you give a quarterback and when you give receivers like [Hammarlund] and [Childs] that much time to run their routes, things open up and defenses can’t really do that much.”

It’s easy to assume that the Bears’ offensive outburst was a fluke. As recently as last year, the Bears’ ability to score has fluctuated wildly from 47 in their penultimate game against Alfred State College to 16 the next week against Carnegie. This weekend’s game against No. 19 Centre College should provide the Red and Green with a suitable yardstick to test itself. Centre College limited opponents to 221.3 yards per game through the air and 19.6 points on their way to a 10-1 season and a NCAA tournament berth.

Kindbom is confident at least knowing that the Bears have the ability to score in volume.       

“I like what’s developed,” Kindbom said. “I don’t think that’s a one-game pattern; I think it’s hard to think that we’re going to get that kind of success yardage-wise every game, but we have that kind of potential every game.”