Rushing Receivers: End of Season Review

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The fun is over and now the real work begins. The games and statistics are there for the taking, so it’s time to take a deeper look and evaluate what we actually saw this past season. This was an exciting year personally, as it was the first time I used this certain set of criteria in evaluating players.

I’ve already gone through the full list of 2014 players twice, first in the initial Rushing Receivers article and second in the mid-season review. This time around I’m only going to focus on the players that actually piqued my interest, or did the opposite. Here is the data I collected for this study.

Here are some things I’ve learned from this study.

Ball skills are important and can be difficult to judge simply by looking at raw statistics.

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• Ty Montgomery and Ricardo Louis are the main culprits of this, obviously the former being the player who fooled me the worst.

• While the goal of looking at these rushing stats is to get a better idea of who’s explosive after the catch, actually having wide receiver skills (duh) overrules any type of elite athleticism.

All players are not created equal. All players do not progress at the same rate.

• Every player progresses at different rates. Some have untapped potential that they continuously are able to improve, while other’s top out and are what they are. We’ve seen quite a few cases this year of ‘they are what they are’. If you’re trying to make it into the NFL, that isn’t a quality you can have at the college level.

A sad reality, Injuries derail careers.

• TommyLee Lewis, Sterling Shepard, and BJ Knauf all suffered season ending injuries, while pretty much everyone on the list suffered some bumps and bruises, sometimes compromising the stats/results we see. This is a sad reality that we have to accept; hopefully those three can rehab and make solid comebacks in 2015.

Now, let’s get to more optimistic topics at hand.

Bright Futures

Keevan Lucas, Tulsa

Lucas finished 2014 with 101 catches, 1,219 yards and 11 touchdowns, easily the biggest surprise/breakout of the season. While he plays for a small school and would be on the smaller side for NFL receivers (about the same size as Kendall Wright), Lucas has a big time game and is someone who needs to be on your 2016 draft radar. He can do it all, be it making fantastic catches or making players miss after the catch and breaking tackles.

Sterling Shepard, Oklahoma

Even with losing (basically) the last five games to injury, Shepard ended the season with 51 catches for 970 yards and five touchdowns. Averaging 19 yards per catch for a guy who catches quite a few screen passes and plays close to the line is a big blinking light screaming “FUTURE NFL RECEIVER.” While he doesn’t possess long speed, he’s extremely quick and strong with the ball in his hands. Hopefully he can overcome his injury issues, and if so, look out in 2015.

Tyler Boyd, Pittsburgh

It was an awkward start to the season for Boyd. He had to help break in sophomore quarterback Chad Voytik, who until this season had thrown 11 career passes. He also had to get used to not having a legitimate receiving option across from him as he did with Devin Street in 2013. With all that said, and through some awkward moments early in the year, Boyd figured it out and then some in the second half of the year. Boyd posted 110+ receiving yards in five of his last six games, averaging almost 18 yards per catch in that span. Boyd’s rushing numbers were down, but that would seem to be a product of opposing defenses heightened awareness of where he is on the field, and also him focusing much more on the passing game. Either way, I project Boyd as a future top 10-15 pick and he is currently my top ranked receiver heading into 2015.

Emerging Talents

Pharoh Cooper, South Carolina

I already professed my love in this player spotlight, but I’ll take any chance to talk more about Cooper. One of the best games by any wide receiver was had by Cooper against Tennessee on November 1st. He totaled 11 receptions, 233 receiving yards, 23 rushing yards and four total touchdowns. He’s done everything you can ask for as a college weapon and is really the only player that I’ve found the past year that could potentially fit into the original group of rushing receivers. Rarely do you see players efficiency numbers (YPR and YPC) hold up with more volume, but as the season went along, Cooper became more and more dominant. While I think Boyd is a better overall prospect, Cooper is the type of player that sums up what I was looking for when I dove into rushing receivers. He’s a tough, hard-nosed runner who can both break tackles and be extremely elusive at the same time. It also helps that he’s seemingly a natural in terms of ball skills and route running.

Travin Dural, LSU

Dural was impressive in every facet in 2014, but the volume wasn’t there, although that has become the norm for the LSU offense. At 6’2” and 190 pounds, Dural has a long, athletic, basketball player type lankiness to his game. The good part is that he combines that with toughness after the catch/running the ball. Dural ran the ball ten times this season at 11.1 yards per clip. That’s a fantastic number! Combine that with his 20.5 yards per reception, and it makes you think the future is bright.

Victor Bolden, Oregon State

Bolden is someone I discovered after the season was over. He had impressive numbers for his role and volume. OSU was not a good team in 2014, so hopefully they can rebuild and have better consistency/stability for him next year. While I don’t like him as much as the first two, I do think he has some serious potential.

Bonus Player to Watch

Artavis Scott, Clemson

When you look at the stats breakdown, you see six carries on the season for 18 yards. So why would you want to keep an eye on Scott? Check this out! While those explosive plays go down as receptions, Scott did all the work. I’m not exactly sure how many more plays like this there were this year, but seeing those along with a few more explosive receptions have me hooked. Scott will be one of the players I’m watching closest heading into next season.

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