HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – Kahmal Roy will not waver to tell you that he is fond of his fellow wideout.
“I’m a Charlie Adams fan,” said Roy after his Hofstra Pride beat the Massachusetts football team, 36-6 Saturday evening. “I’ll be the first one to say it.”
In fact, Adams received many respects Saturday after catching eight passes for a career-high 163 yards (including three touchdowns).
But he wasn’t singled out. Roy’s ten-reception, 168-yard performance in the Minuteman dismantling was also worthy of some esteem.
“They’re two of the best receivers I’ve ever faced,” said Jeremy Robinson, the Minutemen’s All-American defensive back. “You can’t say anything bad about them. Those guys are good.
“All three of us [came into this league] together, and from freshman year on, they just got better and better and better.”
Together, Adams and Roy took the UMass defense to pieces. At first, it seemed as though the Maroon and White might have had a handle on the duo, with successful aerial stands from Robinson and freshman Leroy Brooks in the UMass backfield.
But it did not last long.
Near the end of the first quarter, Hofstra’s Rocky Butler found Adams three times in just over one minute, the final toss resulting in a Pride touchdown and 9-3 Hofstra advantage. That lead extended to 22-6 with just under 30 seconds left in the first half when Butler, Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of The Week for the second straight week, found Adams speeding past sophomore Rob Williams for a 43-yard scoring scamper.
“I think…Kahmal and Charlie put on one heck of a show,” Hofstra coach Joe Gardi said. “It’s just unbelievable what type of big play people they are. I think we demoralize defenses with big plays and it’s because of these guys and their second and third efforts.”
“We were young going in, and we got younger coming out,” said UMass Head Coach Mark Whipple, seemingly deflated from the prior 60 minutes. “We need this off-week, that’s for sure.”
After a UMass punt to begin the third quarter, The Pride started the ensuing drive at its own 19-yard line but needed only three plays to waltz into Six Town. A seven-yard toss to Adams began the drive, and a 34-yard Roy over-the-top reception set up Butler’s 40-yard scoring route on the next play.
“It’s like playing playground football,” said Butler, who talked about the fun involved with having two NFL prospects on the flanks. “Whoever is open is going to get the ball.”
In four games, Roy has caught 31 passes for 600 yards and eight scores and before Saturday, the senior lead the conference in receiving yards per game with 144. Adams, a junior, has snared 23 tosses for 435 yards and five touchdowns.
Both are averaging over 18.9 yards per catch.
“I don’t know how you could pick one over the other,” said Gardi, former New York Jets assistant coach from 1976-1984, when asked who he thought may be his primary receiver.
“It reminds me of when I coached Joe Klecko and Mark Gastineau. When one got a sack, the other got two. It’s great competition.”
Gastineau and Klecko are the first two names on the Jets’ all-time career sack leaders list. Both part of the “New York Sack Exchange,” the two combined for 185 sacks in their careers.
Although Gardi’s newest duo isn’t nearly as renowned as the Gastineau-Klecko combination, The Pride’s receiving duet is the reason why Hofstra has the No. 1 rated offense in the A-10. The two respect each other and feed off each other’s successes. And matched with Butler’s throwing arm, their resolve will only make them better.
“I don’t think we’re fighting for each ball,” said Adams, who Saturday became the fourth player in Hofstra history to record 2,000 receiving yards. “Of course, if Kahmal scores a couple touchdowns then I want to score a couple too. That’s just in our competitive nature.”
