| Phil Steele Blog • March 2, 2016 |
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2015 Top 50 True Freshman WR's and their Impact on the Season.
Lets continue on with the 2015 Top 50 true freshman today and talk about the wide receivers. Just like the running back position 25 (50%) of the Top 50 wide receivers contributed in the 2015 season.
Two players topped this list with over 1,000 yards receiving. Alabama’s Calvin Ridley (PS#2) led the group with 89 receptions for 1,045 (11.7). A&M’s Christian Kirk (PS#6) was #2 with 80 receptions for 1,009 (12.6). From there you start to see the drop off. Florida’s Antonio Callaway (PS#46) and Clemson’s Deon Cain (PS#7) were the only other 2 players to have over 500 yards receiving. Only 5 players from the Top 10 recorded over 250 yards. Out of the Top 50 only 13 players had more than 100 yards receiving this year.
The top yards per catch in the group goes to Preston Williams of Tennessee (PS#5) who averaged 22.6 ypc on only 7 receptions. Florida’s Antonio Callaway came in at #2 with 19.4, Deon Cain of Clemson (17.1), and LSU’s Tyron Johnson (16.7) off of 9 receptions.
Out of the Top 50 only 13 players had at least 1 touchdown in 2015. Calvin Ridley and Christian Kirk Top the list again both having 7 touchdowns. Deon Cain and Jovon Durante (PS#23) both came in second with 5 touchdowns each.
Ten players on this list recorded rushing stats led by Oregon St’s Paul Lucas (PS#39) who moved to running back had 171 yards off 22 attempts. Five players topped over 300 return yards. Triston Payton of UCF was #1 with 726 on KR (24.2), CJ Sanders (PS#41) had 640 KR (22.9), Antonio Callaway 435 on PR (15.5), Jovon Durante 316 on KR (22.6) and Christian Kirk had over 300 on both KR (19.2), and PR (24.4).
The Top 50 wide receivers from the 2015 class combined for 5,947 yards receiving with 40 touchdowns and 11.0 yards per catch.
Here is the complete list of the 2015 Top 50 frosh wide receivers and what they did in 2015 as true frosh. Also provided below is my list of the Top 50 true frosh wide receivers from the 2016 class.
| Top | Info & | ||||||||
| 50 | RS | NAME | TEAM | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | OTHER STATS |
| 1 | George Campbell | Florida State | 3 | 42 | 14.0 | 0 | 23 | ||
| 2 | Calvin Ridley | Alabama | 89 | 1045 | 11.7 | 7 | 81 | Rush 1-2-2.0-0 | |
| 3 | Terry Godwin | Georgia | 35 | 379 | 10.8 | 2 | 35 | Rush 7-37-5.3-1, PR 4-58-14.5-0/KR 1-27-27.0-0 |
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| 4 | Tyron Johnson | LSU | 9 | 150 | 16.7 | 2 | 61 | ||
| 5 | Preston Williams | Tennessee | 7 | 158 | 22.6 | 2 | 49 | ||
| 6 | Christian Kirk | Texas A&M | 80 | 1009 | 12.6 | 7 | 66 | KR 20-385-19.2-0/PR 14-341-24.4-2 | |
| 7 | Deon Cain | Clemson | 34 | 582 | 17.1 | 5 | 67 | Rush 1-(-5)-(-5.0)-0 | |
| 8 | Damarkus Lodge | Mississippi | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| 9 | Brian Cole | Michigan | 1 | -1 | -1.0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 10 | Ray-Ray McCloud | Clemson | 29 | 251 | 8.7 | 1 | 36 | Rush 7-48-6.9-0, KR 7-223-31.9-0, PR 4-6-1.5-0 |
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| 11 | RS | Alex Ofodile | Oregon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 12 | Da'Vante Phillips | Florida State | 1 | -3 | -3.0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 13 | Trent Irwin | Stanford | 12 | 150 | 12.5 | 0 | 20 | ||
| 14 | Equanimeous St. Brown | Notre Dame | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 | 8 | PR 1-18-18.0-0 | |
| 15 | Daylon Charlot | Alabama | 2 | 9 | 4.5 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 16 | RS | Van Jefferson | Mississippi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 17 | RS | Juwan Johnson | Penn State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 18 | RS | Darius Slayton | Auburn | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 19 | RS | Carlos Strickland | California | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 20 | John Burt | Texas | 28 | 457 | 16.3 | 2 | 84 | Rush 1-(-2)-(-2.0)-0 | |
| 21 | RS | Miles Boykin | Notre Dame | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 22 | Ryan Davis | Auburn | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rush 2-20-10.0-0 | |
| 23 | Jovon Durante | West Virginia | 24 | 378 | 15.8 | 5 | 57 | KR 14-316-22.6-0/PR 3-14-4.7-0 | |
| 24 | RS | KJ Hill | Ohio State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 25 | Ryan Newsome | Texas | 4 | 23 | 5.8 | 0 | 8 | KR 6-110-18.3-0 | |
| 26 | Kirk Merritt | Oregon | 5 | 61 | 12.2 | 0 | 28 | Rush 3-13-4.3-0/KR 1-28-28.0-0 | |
| 27 | RS | Jalen Christian | South Carolina | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 28 | RS | Derrick Dillon | LSU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 29 | Tristan Payton | UCF | 21 | 264 | 12.6 | 1 | 46 | Rush 4-4-1.0-0/KR 30-726-24.2-0 | |
| 30 | RS | Blake Lynch | Baylor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 31 | Malik Lovette | Oregon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | RS/Moved to DB | |
| 32 | RS | Kemah Siverand | Texas A&M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 33 | Devante Peete | Louisville | 12 | 166 | 13.8 | 1 | 37 | ||
| 34 | Desean Holmes | San Diego State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Left School | |
| 35 | Cordell Broadus | UCLA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Left School | |
| 36 | Jaylinn Hawkins | California | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | RS/Moved to DB | |
| 37 | Brandon Martin | LSU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | DNQ/Went to JC | |
| 38 | RS | Auden Tate | Florida State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 39 | Paul Lucas | Oregon State | 2 | 8 | 4.0 | 0 | 7 | Moved to RB/Rush 22-171-7.8-0 | |
| 40 | Jayson Stanley | Georgia | 2 | 23 | 11.5 | 0 | 18 | ||
| 41 | CJ Sanders | Notre Dame | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | KR 28-640-22.9-1/PR 25-182-7.3-1 | |
| 42 | JF Thomas | Texas Tech | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Went to JC | |
| 43 | RS | Juval Mollette | North Carolina | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 44 | Michael Chigbu | Georgia | 4 | 28 | 7 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 45 | Jazz Ferguson | LSU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 46 | Antonio Callaway | Florida | 35 | 678 | 19.4 | 4 | 66 | Rush 3-19-6.3-0 KR 3-79-26.3-0/PR 28-435-15.5-2 |
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| 47 | RS | Devontre Stricklin | Baylor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 48 | Lawrence Cager | Miami (FL) | 8 | 70 | 8.8 | 1 | 13 | ||
| 49 | RS | Alex Stump | Ohio State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 50 | LJ Reed | Fresno State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No longer w/team |
Here are the Top 50 rated freshman wide receivers for 2016. A few interesting notes on this list. Auburn has 3 players in the Top 15 and Baylor has 2 players in the Top 10.
| 2016 | ||
| Top 50 | Player | Team |
| 1 | Nate Craig-Myers (Ne'quan) | Auburn |
| 2 | Demetris Robertson | Unsigned |
| 3 | Tyler Vaughns | USC |
| 4 | Michael Pittman | USC |
| 5 | Devin Duvernay | Baylor |
| 6 | Kyle Davis (KD) | Auburn |
| 7 | N'Keal Harry | Arizona State |
| 8 | Donnie Corley | Michigan State |
| 9 | Sam Bruce | Miami (FL) |
| 10 | Tren'Davian Dickson | Baylor |
| 11 | DK Metcalf (DeKaylin) | Mississippi |
| 12 | AJ Brown (Arthur) | Mississippi |
| 13 | Binjimen Victor | Ohio State |
| 14 | Austin Mack | Ohio State |
| 15 | Eli Stove (Elijah) | Auburn |
| 16 | Drake Davis | LSU |
| 17 | Theo Howard | UCLA |
| 18 | Javon McKinley | Notre Dame |
| 19 | Keith Gavin | Florida State |
| 20 | Tyrie Cleveland | Florida |
| 21 | Ahmir Mitchell | Michigan |
| 22 | Dylan Crawford | Michigan |
| 23 | Josh Imatorbhebhe | USC |
| 24 | Scott Bracey (Franklin) | Duke |
| 25 | Stephen Sullivan | LSU |
| 26 | Trevon Diggs | Alabama |
| 27 | Damian Alloway | UCLA |
| 28 | Dillon Mitchell | Oregon |
| 29 | TJ Chase (Tavares) | Clemson |
| 30 | Cornell Powell (CP) | Clemson |
| 31 | Collin Johnson (CJ) | Texas |
| 32 | Trevon Sidney | USC |
| 33 | Mykel Jones | Oklahoma |
| 34 | Diondre Overton | Clemson |
| 35 | Dredrick Snelson | UCF |
| 36 | Josh Hammond | Florida |
| 37 | Melquise Stovall | California |
| 38 | Justin Layne | Michigan State |
| 39 | Cam Chambers | Michigan State |
| 40 | Courtney Lark | Houston |
| 41 | Simi Fehoko (Simione) | Stanford |
| 42 | Brad Hawkins Jr. | Michigan |
| 43 | Dee Anderson (Darius) | LSU |
| 44 | Dionte Mullins | Miami (FL) |
| 45 | Chase Claypool | Notre Dame |
| 46 | Clyde Chriss (Kelejawan) | Texas A&M |
| 47 | Darian Owens | Unsigned |
| 48 | Ahmmon Richards | Miami (FL) |
| 49 | Freddie Swain | Florida |
| 50 | TJ Hammonds | Arkansas |