NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 257. Ranking 2025 NFL Draft Wide Receivers (Summer Scouting)

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers continue their Summer Scouting Series and coverage of the 2025 NFL Draft by ranking the draft-eligible wide receivers for the 2025 NFL Draft. The two bring you each of their top 15s (shoutout to the fantasy football and devy league people) with strengths, weaknesses, player comps and projections

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year.

It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, oh, it's the deep dive that everybody has been waiting for. It is the summer scouting wide receiver position for the 2025 NFL draft. We're going deep for this one. Not the top five, not the top eight, not even the top 10. We're giving you our top 15. It's my top 15, Connor's top 15 of this entire

wide receiver group. You knew we had to go deep for this one. Shout out the fantasy and Debbie community, which we know are tuning in for the skill position players. Hopefully we do you guys some justice and you love the show. I'm Trevor Sycamore with me as always is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I am Trevor Sycamore, the man with the incredible mustache over there is Connor Rogers. Here on Wide Receiver Monday, baby. It's a summer scouting series and it's time for truly everybody's favorite position.

I feel like I kind of say that in the intro of every show, but Connor, this is actually everybody's favorite position. We all got takes on wide receivers. We all watch whether it's wide receiver three, two, one, whether they're going to league, whether they're just a college star. We love them. We want to talk about them, and we're going to talk about a lot of them here on this show. We did, what, top five running backs? Sort of top 10?

We did like top 10. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. You're right, you're right, you're right. Quarterbacks, we did top 10 because we wanted to talk about them a lot. Wide receivers, top 15, baby. You knew we had to expand it a little bit. But you guys know the drill. Connor's got some guys that I didn't watch.

I got some guys that he didn't watch. I got some guys that he didn't watch. So we'll easily top 20 guys, pause, in this class that we're going to talk about here on this wide receiver episode. Connor, how you doing, my friend? I'm great, man. The first person to call my mustache incredible. So that's why I really, really appreciate you. That's definitely not what hurts me.

You're a bold man getting married and then immediately the second the ink is dry on that marriage license. Boom. Mustache. It's kind of the opposite of bold. It's kind of a cowardly way of like, well, you're in it now, so you can absolutely hate it. And spoiler alert, she does. It despises it. Despises it.

This is great for the audio only people because it's good. They're going to be like, now I got to go to the YouTube and see how it this is great for the audio only people because it's good they're gonna people gonna be like god now i gotta go to the i gotta go to youtube and see how pathetic this is while you're there folks smash subscribe just hit like leave a comment below trigger those bells yep there you go i'm doing great this is obviously i would call it the biggest beast of all of our summer scouting groups every year i mean the, the volume of wide receivers, the talent at the position, and the fact that, like you said, there's just so many different takes and opinions,

and it's usually the headliner, it feels like, because of the plethora of talent in it each year. And spoiler alert, folks, no different this year. A really, really fun group. A lot of different types of players. And I think we had to do 15. And listen, I'll still get owned online. I'll rip off my 15 and somebody will be like,

you didn't watch this guy, fraud. And I get it. What do you mean online? I'm going to say that to you in like 20 minutes. Yeah, online, on virtual video recording, in real life, out in the streets. They'll be like, you didn't watch blah, blah, blah. Fraud.

Look, but that's why this episode is obviously a lot of fun. And this is the most fun that I think Summer Scouting gets when it comes to the comment section because there's a lot of people who, like I said, all joking aside, have a lot of really great opinions and insight of these wide receivers. Maybe it's a school that you're a fan of and you've watched his players since they were recruit and how much they've gotten better. And there's always great background information on these players.

And like, you know, last year for the wide receiver class, we had Marvin Harrison Jr., who we've all been waiting for forever. And then, you know, a lot of people really loved Romo Dunze. Somebody pointed out in the comment section from last week's video, I had Rom Dunzay, I think like wide receiver eight going into the year last year. And I will defend myself and say, Hey, he does a lot of things really well. I just want to see him get better at contest catches. And he did, he got better at contest catches. So I elevated him quite a bit. But anyways, there are so many wide receivers that we're going to love in this class. There's not like a Marvin Harrison going into it right but I can tell you guys you're going to have a lot of fun on this episode learn a lot of these names because there are some great even underclassmen

who are eligible for the first time that we're going to introduce to you here on this episode Connor you want to uh kick us off here you want to go 15 through 11 we'll do kind of the same thing we'll chat about it a little bit we'll go back and forth and then I'll give my 15 through 11 we'll do kind of the same thing we'll chat about it a little bit we'll go back and forth and then i'll give my 15 through 11 i think that's the right way to do it um yeah i'll kick us off here and listen folks and buckle up there's going to be names that i don't surprise you you don't know you do know you're pleasantly surprised let's get right into it the first of two maryland receivers is that oh actually i'm reading off of, reading a little too far down the list. I got to cut. I already screwed up.

I was about to read wide receiver 20. So we'll, we'll, we'll do a little thing. I didn't even watch the Maryland guys, whoever you were about to bring to the table. No. So only one is going to be on the top 15.

Sorry to the other one. I'll, I'll drop his name at the end of the show, or I'll probably just forget to do that in total 15. He's transferring from Houston to Miami that is Sam Brown a big bodied wide receiver uh 14 Jaden Higgins another big target breakout year out of Iowa State a really exciting year for Jaden uh 13 is brew mccoy who will be 25 before his nfl rookie season so brew mccoy has been around in college the 2018 class right i think yeah i know he turned he turns 24 this month he's you know usc texas back to usc obviously he's actually played for Tennessee. So Brew McCoy will be an interesting combo.

He's been our 2019 class, but he was the number one overall athlete in the 2019 class. Yep. So Brew McCoy comes in at 13 for me. 12 is Trey Harris, who is a very popular name. Trey Harris, you know, who is from Ole Miss, but a little bit of a surprise when he went back to school last year, so I think a lot of people are familiar with Trey Harris. He comes in at 12.

And then 11 is the other Maryland wide receiver, my top Maryland wide receiver. That's Caden Prather, their big-bodied target out of Maryland. He comes in at 11. Man, I'm sleeping on the Maryland guys. I didn't watch either of those Maryland players, And honestly, this is kind of cool for the podcast because we each get to individually talk about a lot of these guys. I only watched one player on your 15 through 11. It was Trey Harris. So we'll get to Trey Harris because funny enough, I also have him

12. So the same exact spot. That is funny. And you know Brew McCoy really well though. So I do. Right. I didn't rank Brew just because i didn't have a chance to go back and watch him but i i ranked him a little bit last year kind of for his film of the last couple of seasons but yeah talk to me about whoever you really want to dealer's choice 15 through 11 if you want to talk about the maryland guys that would be the first time that i'm kind of getting an introduction to them so if you want to give like a little spark notes version of them i think that would be the first time that I'm kind of getting an introduction to them. So if you want to give like a little spark notes version of them, I think that'd be great. But whoever you want to talk about in that list, let's hear about it. Well, I think number one, 15 to 11 here, they're all pretty big wide receivers, honestly, which we're, we've gone through drafts lately of

just so many small slot wide receivers, gadget players. And I felt like there was a change with a lot of this class where these guys are big perimeter targets. I mean, I'll work my way back. So we'll start with Caden Prather at 11 from Maryland. He's somebody to me that's really interesting because you see all the physical ability there with him. He transferred from West Virginia to Maryland. He's a senior.

He's about 6'4", 211 pounds. He's got the height. He's got the mass. He plays on the outside. He's got those vertical strides that cover a lot of ground. They stress the coverage. He's very competitive in contested situations. I broke down plus ball skills. Really finds a way to make plays on the football that, whether it's off-target throws or lofted throws,, or he can really just kind of out talent the coverage at times. The nuances of the game, selling routes, working back to his quarterback, like not drifting and fading down the field, but more so towards the quarterback, maximizing that frame as a shield. It needs to significantly improve on all of those things. And it just shows you how physically talented I had him at 11. Wow, yeah.

And that was kind of the story with a lot of these guys. It was kind of hard to separate them, Trevor. Like Jaden Higgins on this list at 14, compared to Caden Prather at 11, I would have the same actual grade on them. And it's the same story for a lot of them. Higgins was one of the last guys I watched and I was wildly impressed. I mean, I'm six foot three and three quarters, 212 pounds.

They play him inside and outside. So a little bit different usage for Higgins where he's that big wide receiver, but they'll throw him in the slot. I thought he was shiftier than you'd expect after the catch, considering the size, legit red zone threat with ball skills well built i mean 53 catches 983 yards and six touchdowns last year had some big games against good competition so this group as a whole they are they are big bodied wide receivers that can go up and help their quarterback i think there's a consistent theme that a lot of them almost find themselves in traffic a little bit too much and you'll notice the guys i have lot of them almost find themselves in traffic a little bit too much. And you'll notice the guys I have ahead of them I thought were either more dominant in that aspect or were just better separators.

So I'm really interested to watch this group of Prather, Harris, McCoy, Higgins, and Sam Brown, how they try to differentiate themselves this year. Because physically, they are all really, really well-built outside wide receivers. I kind of felt that way about McCoy when I watched him last year. And I'll say that as I went through this list, there were quite a bit of receivers where they were relying too much on being contested catch guys. Living in it. Right.

I really wanted them to be more than that. And I don't know. I don't really know what the deal of that is. Like, I don't know if this is just a isolated sort of recruiting class or wide receiver class kind of a thing. Or, man, I wonder if, you you know the evolution of popularity of like the seven on seven camps and things like that where a lot of times you're just you're sort of trying to out athlete these guys and um you know if you're bigger and taller sometimes you're you're

in these camps and you just say to the quarterback like hey i'm here to impress people just throw the ball up to me like i'm not really i'm not really focused on like winning a different way or like trying to get better in this like a rebound drill basically yeah and and i wonder if you're kind of getting to college like that look that way and and and i i'm not saying that like these guys aren't trying to improve it's just there were more guys in this class and we'll get to some of the other ones especially when we start to get in our top 10, where you look at a player's strength and they very clearly just run their game through that strength, which is fine. You don't want to do a square peg in a round hole, if you will. Half of scouting is seeing what a guy does well and putting them in position to do that. But I is that the drop off between what they do well and then what they don't was

steeper this year and like separation versus settling for contested catches was kind of a area where i continued to notice that for some of these guys well i think that's the perfect conversation to us to for us to have mutually about trey harris right because i feel like some people listening might be really surprised to hear trey Harris at 12 for both of us with, right? You know, he almost had a thousand yards last year. He catches eight touchdowns. I started watching him and I was like, and he's 6'1", 5'8", 212 pounds.

And I started watching him and I was like, damn, like Trey Harris has ball skills. He is physically imposing and it was one of his better games. And then when I just kept watching him I started to realize he was just living in coverage where he's great at positioning himself for the football he has no fear of getting to going to the dirty areas of the field and getting hit he'll run right through you after the catch he's got 18 touchdowns over the last two years but yeah he's a little slow getting

into his routes off the line of scrimmage yep he body catches at times even though i think he has strong hands and he's constantly living in coverage where he's just better than a lot of the guys so he makes plays but when you go to the nfl that's why these guys fail or don't meet expectations that are a little unfair uh So I thought he was, he was a big example of that. And, you know, I'll kind of go back to like Jaden Higgins.

Yes, I'm at 14, but why I'm excited about him is I thought he moved. It wasn't always clean separation, but there was signs of movement skills from him where I was like, Oh, maybe he could, he's the guy a little bit in the back of the pack,

but I could see a big year from him. And maybe it's because they do move him around more than the other guys. He gets the slot reps as well. But I like the movement skills for sure. And then McCoy fractured his ankle last year at the end of September. I think he had four surgeries on it. So when you're watching the tape, you're looking at a lot of 2022, which is the tape you watched last year.

Right. So we just got to see how McCoy comes back. Older prospect, serious injury history, but physically gifted, tough, hard nose blocker, hard nose runner. But yeah, it's just you just don't know. I mean, that's a Um, who is it? Where is he now? I don't even know. He's at Tennessee still. He didn't go back, but he has been at three different colleges. Yeah. And it sucks because he's just a, you know, he's, like I said, he was former number one overall athlete. Um, in that 2019 class, he was a top 10 recruit overall. I mean, his, his, his frame is incredible. I mean, he's six foot two six foot three like 215 220 pounds i mean this dude's massive but my summer scouting notes from last year on mccoy which is

basically all we have for him um mccoy's athletic potential is very high his physical gifts are still what make him alluring but he hasn't really honed in on the nuances of playing the position his routes and his separation are very inconsistent. I had in a note here with Cedric Tillman and Jalen Hyatt gone, he could be in for a big jump in production in 2023. Obviously, he gets hurt, so we don't really get to see that. So that kind of sucks. But obviously, he's somebody that anytime you have that athletic potential

in your background, you got to pay attention. You mentioned Trey Harris, and I do want to talk about him a little bit more because I do think there's going to be a lot of people who are fans of his. So yeah. Trey Harris, he's at Ole Miss. He's a senior now. He was a two-star athlete coming out of the 2020 recruiting class, played both football and basketball when he was in high school. When he was playing high school football, he actually mostly played quarterback, I think just because he was the biggest, fastest, strongest athlete that he was on the field. So he committed to Louisiana Tech as a two-star athlete to play receiver. Ended up playing at Louisiana Tech for a little bit, transferred over to Ole Miss.

You saw the production from him last year. But I agree with you. I think a lot of people really love Trey Harrison. I remember watching Trey Harris because he was draft eligible last year. Yeah, I thought he'd be like the senior bowl. I was getting ready for him to be a senior bowl guy. And I watched him and I'm like, there's obviously some things that he does well. He's a nice, bigger athlete.

But the nuances of playing the position, creating that separation, the route running, getting out of his releases, that stuff still needs a lot of work for Trey Harris to be able to succeed at the NFL level. The way that he plays right now, Connor, I watched, you know, four more games of him for this exercise this summer. And I'm like, he's a tight end to me, you know, like, like, and he's not, he's not big enough to be a tight end. So you can't make that position switch. He doesn't weigh enough.

He's like 205, 210. And he's like 6'2". So you can't really switch him there. You kind of have to keep him as a wide receiver. But how he plays is more of a tight end. The player comp that I actually came up with for him is Jalen Strong from Arizona State. You remember Jalen?

Oh, yeah. Good athlete, explosive player, but just lived in contested catches. And Jalen Strong did not improve how he created separation at the NFL level. He lived off of contested catches when he was at Arizona State, and he continued to try to do that at the NFL level.

And like we've said before on this podcast, there are guys out there that can do it. A.J. Brown, DeAndre Hopkins, to name a few. Those guys could live and contest to catch worlds. They're the outliers. That's about it. They're the outliers. There's just not a lot of names.

So I thought of Jalen Strong. He's my kind of early comp for Trey Harris. But yeah, man, you look at the pff numbers separation percentile versus single coverage connor zeroth percentile oh man yeah zero 28.6 percent of the routes that he was running versus single coverage he created separation he got open that's just not good enough so he's got to be more nuanced i think that there's some athletic potential there i know a lot of people really created separation. He got open. That's just not good enough. So he's got to be more nuanced. I think that there's some athletic potential there. I know a lot of people really like Trey Harris. We'll see what he's able to do this year, but that was my thought of him too.

What do you got for 15 through 11? Okay. So 15 for me, number 15, Theo Weiss Jr., the other wide receiver from Missouri who plays alongside Luther Burden III, who of course we are going to get to later in this podcast number 14 uh Dion Burks the now junior wide receiver from Oklahoma I played the last two years at Purdue um so now he's transferring over to Oklahoma we'll see what he can be there Tez Johnson from Oregon the small receiver who packs a big game I'll say the pun there. I'll be cheesy. He's now a senior this year. He played at Troy for two seasons. Played at Oregon this past year, and now he is a senior this year.

He's only listed at 5'10", 160 pounds. So if we wanted to get into Tez Johnson, I don't know if you watched him, but we could do that. I did, yeah. Trey Harris, he's number 12 for me. And then number 11 is from UCLA. He was at Cal. Now he's at UCLA.

We actually talked about him for last year's Summer Scouting. J. Michael Sturdivant, the wide receiver there, who I still think has a lot of potential, man. I still think that he is going under the radar and what he brings to the table. But yeah, he just needs more nuance in his game. Connor, you want to start with Tez or where do you want to go with those names there?

I think we'll get to Tez when it flips back to me because he's going to kick off my next tier. Okay. I'm curious to hear about the guys that I didn't get to watch and there was a handful of them. And Burks was specifically someone that I was disappointed i ran out of time i watched 20 wide receivers he would have been the next guy i watched i didn't get to see enough of him so tell me about deon burks because we talk about the conversation small wide receivers but it feels

like he has some playmaking ability right and i think he does uh he's 14 for me um he's getting like i said he's going to be a junior this year. He's playing at Oklahoma this year. 5'9", so he's smaller, 190 pounds. He's pretty thick. It's at least a bigger build for a 5'9 guy. He's a former three-star wide receiver, also ran track in high school. You can definitely see that in how he plays the game. He actually played three seasons at Purdue, so he must be a senior this year i must have that wrong in my sheet uh he started all 12 games

of 2023 now he transfers over to oklahoma to hopefully get some more production in there with that sooner's offense um really high athleticism scores yeah i've i've sort of teased it to you guys that pff is introducing uh what sam monson has fought for to change the title of it to gas, which is like game athleticism score. I think it's very simple in that regard. We just call it the athletic score that we have over at PFF. And Burke's high 90th percentile in, I think, the last two years. So this is a guy who is a really good athlete. Very quick footwork, as you would want to see from a guy who is five foot nine slot receiver type of a player he can but the thing that i like about burks is he's got a small

catch radius he maximizes it all the time like he's hands are out and extended you know sometimes you get these smaller guys that they're trying to shield everything because they don't necessarily trust they've got enough strength in their hands or their forearms to really be able to corral the ball throughout all sorts of contact so sometimes they'll shield it they've got enough strength in their hands or their forearms to really be able to corral the ball throughout all sorts of contact. So sometimes they'll shield it, they'll let it get into their body, and that's when a lot of drops happen because you've got to time it very well because if not, then it's going to bounce off of your shoulder pads or off your stomach and you're going to miss it.

So he's somebody who continues to attack the ball with full extension there. The issues with Burks, he is somebody who struggles to get off press coverage. So they put him in the slot. They'll use him as a flanker. They don't really want him on the line of scrimmage to go up against slot. The lack of weight definitely hinders sort of catch point strength. As I mentioned, that smaller catch radius definitely shows up, but he can win with his quickness, man.

I have this in my little spark notes version for him. He embraces the strengths that come with his size, mainly that phone booth quickness where he's trying to get off the line scrimmage with really quick footwork, really good releases. He's got decent separation score, 68th percentile for regular separation score, 64th percentile for separation versus single coverage. So he definitely has that going for him. And I think he believes the separation starts at the release point, which is very true. And I like wide receivers that can think of that.

The big issue with him for me is he was not nearly as elusive after the catches you figured a 5'9", 190-pound speedster would be. 31st percentile in yards after catch per reception. And I thought that number would be wayst percentile in yards after catch per reception and that like I thought that number would be way higher for him so at the end of his little summary I had if he could become more of an elusive player after the catch I think he's got the speed to crack a starting slot role at some point in the NFL but right now he feels just like a smaller vertical threat type of a player reminding me a little bit of a me call Hardman in that role that you could kind of see that sort of

shorter speed when you're attacking vertically deep down the field so that was uh that was young perks for me and then sturdivant's interesting to me another guy i didn't get to watch this summer but had a big 2022 and has some length and i feel like has some juice what did you see of him as i don't want to say the production went down because yes, the numbers went down, but he was averaging five more yards per catch in 2023. Dude, he's got more than like just some juice. Okay. Like UCLA has got him listed at six foot three, 205 pounds. So maybe a little bit shorter, maybe a little bit closer to six foot two and a half, six

foot two, but whatever. He has good size in terms of height and weight. Connor, this dude ran a 10, three, nine, 100 meter dash in high school. It's more than just a little bit of juice. Like this dude's got the whole orange man.

I mean, he, he, this, he, his athleticism is awesome. He was a former four-star wide receiver. He spent the first two years at Cal.

He spent last year at UCLAcla now he is a believe redshirt junior is technically what he is classified as going into this year but he he is i can't quit this guy because of that athleticism to him he he's not just a vertical threat player and we'll get to a one guy in particular who is better as a vertical threat player, but he's just not quite the explosive route runner. Sturdivant is an athlete, an explosive athlete, I should say, in every sense of it. It's not just when he's opening up and running a nine route. I will watch him run slant routes where he is putting on like a little diamond release or just even like chopping his feet. And then boom, when that leg hits the ground and he is moving inside, he explodes. Or when he knows he is getting vertical, that first step outside of his stance

rarely has a false step to him. It is right off of that front foot. And he is even with those guys immediately, especially if it's press coverage, he knows how to get off it. He knows how to get behind these guys. So even if he is just a vertical type of receiver, really good size, really nice strength, and really good speed to kind of wrap that all up with a bow. The issues with him and why I don't have him a little bit higher, which I would love to do on this list, is he's just not the route runner I want him to be. And he's not nearly as creative after the catch

that his speed makes you believe that he can be. A little bit like Burks in that regard, like I just talked about. So this is a player that's going to be really hard for me to quit because of the type of overall all around explosive athlete that can really attack every single level of the field. His stuff kind of reminded me of Chris Chambers, Miami Dolphins. I mean, dude, Chambers was big. He had some muscle on him and he could get behind you quick. I mean, he had a really good combine. This is a guy who could really stretch the field and Sturdivant reminds me of that. He just needs more route refinement to ever really become,

to me, the wide receiver too, that he has the potential to be. So I hope we get that from him this year, but the nuances of the game really need to catch up to just how athletic this dude is before we move to 10 to 6 because i don't want i don't want to get away from this group was there anyone else that you you really wanted to break down um my dear folks we're going to be doing this podcast the entire draft year well we'll get to we'll get to tez obviously yes we will have the tez combo for sure theo weiss jr i'll just really quick i mean he was a former four-star five-star wide receiver uh he played at oklahoma for i believe four seasons before transferring over to missouri

last year he still had another year of eligibility so he went back and i believe this is his like super senior sixth season i you love how this guy approaches the game. Very high IQ player, understands no false steps out of the releases, a diverse release package, knows how to set guys up, understands how to attack different leverages, whether a guy's playing off or whether he's playing press. He knows how to kind of fool guys with his eyes, with his shoulders, where really he's going one way,

or it looks like he's going one way and instead he's going the other. Very sound blocker to him. The issue with him, he's just not a great athlete. I think he's a below average athlete in a lot of different areas. And there's only so much actually. So I got Theo Weiss at 15. I have Will Shepard from Vanderbilt, who is now a Colorado. I have him right below him at number 16. They're sort of the same conversation. They're these guys who are really technically sound, really fundamentally sound. They'll give you some nice routes, some nice catches, some nice reps. But when you put those guys on an NFL field and the athleticism takes a whole nother step up, I feel as though those guys really struggle to separate.

Now, it's only going to get worse at the NFL level, even for how technically refined they are. So just wanted to shout him out because he's somebody who gets a lot of production in that Missouri offense. So I just kind of wanted to give my thoughts on him. All right. So let's, this is an easy transition because 10 for me was Tez Johnson.

I believe he's 11 for you. He's 13 for me. 13 for you. Yeah. Okay. So we can, I'll do my full 10 to six after we have that combo, but 10 for me was Tez Johnson,

13 for you. This one, I think will surprise people because of this year statistically that he had and the speed that he has. But one, I mean, year statistically that he had and the speed that he has but one i mean there's a lot of other players in this class and we're gonna get to some really really impressive ones for sure for me trevor and he was pretty early out of the guys i watched let me get to him so 510 160 i would imagine he's not 510 um connor 160 160 i mean you're looking like a tank dell profile here

which zeroth percentile which are rondell moore zero like yeah size is dude even tank dell was bigger than him right maybe tank might have been taller tank brother brother tank weighted at 165 whoa bulked up for the combine put on the rain boots he did a little caesars hot and ready to bring up baby you love to see it cretine and a little caesars and rain boots 165 baby rain boots oh man tez johnson he's he's in that profile of being really slender um there's just no way around it like you you see it when you turn on the tape now with that comes the fact that he's got legit vertical wheels to stretch the field i mean you see it right away he is a field stretcher against single coverage trevor in 2023 he ate it up i mean you see it right away he is a field stretcher against single coverage trevor in 2023 he ate it up i mean 22 caught 22 of his 31 targets 427 yards over 19 yards per catch against single

coverage six touchdowns very sharp cuts with the ball in his hands but when you get to the and by the way i talked about the statistical production i mean 86 catches that's a school record in a single season at oregon 1182 yards 10 touchdowns very slender build limited catch radius really hurt his ability to adjust to the football there's times where like if bo nicks just didn't put it on him and he had to he had to move his body or his upper body in some kind of way. It's a good chance. He just wasn't going to be able to grab it. And he's probably a slot only 443 slot snaps last year,

33 out wide. I just don't know if he'll, he'd be able to really get off press playing on the outside. I don't see it. That's why I had him at 10 and not in the top five. Yeah. And he ran a, you know, this is the case for a lot of these guys,

but a pretty simplified route tree. It's a screen slant and go for him. And when you're a probably slot only an outlier in weight, not overly impressive in terms of adjustments to the ball, you're probably closer to a one trick pony of an undersized vertical threat. And Hey, that trick is you're going to be an NFL player. I'm not saying Ted Johnson's not an NFL prospect, but I think I kind of went into this when I saw that eye popping production in this offense and thought,

Ooh man, Ted Johnson, is he going to challenge to be a top five wide receiver in a pretty good class? And I came away with that. He's kind of just right on the fringe there at 10. Yeah. Did he play special teams?

Is he returner? Let me double check. Because to me, that becomes a huge issue, right? Because if you are not Tank Dell, you're not making a roster, right? Because if you are going to be, that's the challenge for these smaller wide receivers is, yes, you can point to some who have worked out. Again, Tank is certainly the one. Punter Turner.

Okay, so he was a punter Turner. Punter Turner. So you basically have to have that. Because to me, Tez Johnson's size alone tells me that you're starting at best wide receiver four wide receiver five on this you're just like totally different on film right just different yeah yeah yeah like jaylen waddle was once upon a time small not this small though no i agree with you he was he jaylen waddle measured in smaller than i thought that he was going to because he was was he like 170s his combine he was five nine and a half 180 okay but yeah I mean like he even even he was 180 which is a whole 20

pounds so yeah I just yeah I didn't I didn't see that much of a difference making player at 160 to say like okay this guy's wide receiver two on my NFL team. Exactly. And if he's not, again, I'm just saying it becomes harder because if you go, okay, well, he's wide receiver four or five for me. Why just your four or five has to play special teams. And he's not big enough to play special teams roles that are not either a kick return or a power return. Let me ask you something. I hate to cut you off, but this is a very, very current event conversation. Do you think we're entering a world where the average size of the kick returner

is going to increase? Because I do with the new rules. I think there's just going to be way too much contact. Yeah, yeah. I think the days of like punt returner, which is you got to be brave as hell to do that job no matter what. But I think the average size of the kick returner is about to get bigger

with the change of the kickoff rule. I think they'll be running through more contact. Kick returner, yes, I completely agree with you because it's less about speed. It's less about straight line speed, and it's more about running back vision. Or I should just say ball carrier vision, right? So I agree with you completely, which again, it sort of makes this a little bit tougher for him.

Now, I will say this because anytime we get the chance to kind of like highlight guys' background and things like that, I want to do it because we preach on this podcast all the time. These are people as much as they are players, right? That is what makes an NFL player. It's kind of like who you are, what makes you tick, your work ethic, your drive, your inspiration. Sometimes it really is that that is the difference between seeing what you could be on film and actually achieving it and getting to those ceilings of these players that we talk about. Tez Johnson, incredibly inspiring story.

I mean, if you go back to early childhood, I was reading a whole feature article on him. His father committed suicide when he was just an infant, when Tez was just an infant. His mother was raising multiple kids on her own. Mother didn't even graduate high school, but was always trying to do the best she could for her kids. Tez obviously being one of them was raised in what he described as a not good area of Birmingham, Alabama. And he talked about seeing shootings and killings and gang violence all throughout his childhood saying that he, you know, saw way more than any kid ever should. Um, and because of that, he was rolling with a lot of not great people,

I think throughout middle school and getting into high school, but then he found football and he said football was kind of his area to let out his anger and to find that peace. And the interesting part of this story is he ended up going to the same high school and playing on the same football team as Bo Nix. And Bo Nix's father was the head coach of that football team. And there came a point where they did not legally adopt Tez, but Tez began to, you know, have those extended sleepovers at their house. Honestly, it felt a little bit like the blindside type of a story. And they ended up helping Tez out and they ended up helping his mother out. And his mother kind of gave blessing through this entire step of the way. She was like, hey, I want better for my son. And I realized that there are things that this family

might be able to do for him that I wouldn't be able to do on my own. And so she's been involved in the story the whole time. And, you know, Tez always grew up watching Oregon and now he actually got to play with Oregon with, with, with Bo after he went there. And so it's just the, the, his story, if you guys haven't looked it up, there's so many more details that are unbelievably inspiring that Tez has even gotten to this point. And so this is somebody that I, like myself, I know Connor as well, like you're rooting hard for this kid.

Like this is an awesome story. And he is going to be an NFL player. But evaluation-wise, I think that he just has to be a little bit more precise in what he does, become an even better separator or a more consistent separator, which I think he was able to do quite a bit last year, just pump it up another level, right? Without Bonix being there, now you got Dylan Gabriel there. I think that Dylan's going to look his way quite early and often. He reminded me from a smaller player that was feisty. He reminded me of Paul Richardson when Paul Richardson was coming out of Colorado, I believe, right?

It was Colorado, I think. Played for the Seahawks, whatever it was. Why was I thinking? Yeah, I think you're right. It was Colorado. Is it Colorado? It's Colorado or Purdue or one of those schools. No, it was Colorado.

Okay, all right. See, I know football. I kind of know some things, guys. Watch the game. That's why I've got him at number 13. I'm to watch him i'm excited to root for him that's who he reminded me of but uh yeah so you got him at 10 there great call out on the story and for tez i mean he has played his way up to oregon because he you know had a lot of success at troy yeah started at troy right then transferred, you know what we like to call transfer up to Oregon. So not somebody anyone should be betting against. Okay, 10 through 6. I said 10, Tez Johnson from Oregon. 9, I think this one will catch you a little off guard,

Trevor, and maybe a lot of people listening. Jalen Royals from Utah State. Oh, I didn't watch him. He's going to be like my, I don't want to say my sleeper. Utah State making the show. Jalen Royals, I guess, will be my favorite player to talk about for the surprise factor. Eight, Torrey Horton from Colorado State, a guy that we thought would probably be in last year's draft. He goes back to school. Seven, out of Stanford, Ellick, Io Manor Io Manor yep big season last year after a lost

2022 to injury and then six Evan Stewart the transfer uh from Texas A&M to Oregon so you can imagine what this Oregon passing offense is going to look like. The fact they have my 10th and 6th wide receiver, and their other receiver, Treshawn Holden, is like a legitimate player. So yeah, Oregon's stupid loaded at wide receiver. We had the conversation about Tez. I guess I'll jump right into Jalen Royals from Utah State. Yeah. So he just has a little bit of this,

where the hell did this guy come from feel. I didn't even watch him. Started at Georgia Military. Wait, Georgia Military? Started at Georgia Military. We've had a handful of guys from Georgia Military over the last couple of years, right? We have had quite a few. There was one year where it felt like we had a couple.

I think Byron Young was from there, right? That sounds exactly right. The not Alabama Byron Young. Yes, yeah. The Tennessee Byron Young. Tennessee Byron Young. Yes, yes. Georgia Military College.

Yep, that's where he went. Yeah, so Jalen Royals originally from there at Utah State now. 5'11 and a half 193 last year this guy just exploded for 71 catches 1080 yards and 15 touchdowns 15 he challenges all levels of the field with adequate acceleration adequate speed very smooth adjuster and tracker that catches the ball away from his body and over defenders. I just love watching this guy catch the football because he creates separation, but he knows how to pluck the ball rather than catch the ball into his frame. And then you see that translate when he is in contested situations. So unlike the guys that

are constantly living in contested situations, he does both where he can kind of go into his back pocket and play a lot of different ways and knows how to catch the ball away from himself that it keeps himself out of those really, really tough battles. He caught 18 of 27 contested catch chances last year and had 24 explosive plays, 15 plus yards. Consistently works back to the ball. He doesn't drift up the field. He works towards his quarterback. I loved what I saw from this guy.

I think he's a pretty good athlete too, which is usually the question you ask yourself when you're looking at somebody playing against lower level competition or started at really low level of competition. I think he's a solid athlete. I just think he plays the position extremely, extremely well. And I would imagine he had some big-time opportunities to transfer up, but he stays at Utah State coming off a monster, monster year. So he's kind of my sleeper of this list before we get to some, I would call them very, very notable names in the college football world. Dude, so I just looked up some of his PFF numbers while you were talking.

Separation percentage, 92nd percentile. Separation percentage versus single coverage, 94th percentile. That's nuts. Yeah, he's phenomenal. That's better than Ladd-McConkie. Right. I'm not saying he's a better route around Ladd-McConkie. I haven't watched him, but those scores scores are better than lads last year.

Right? Yeah. And some of it is, you know, not always against the sec competition, but some, right. No,

but to be fair to him, like a lot of it is just, Hey, you're just really good. I mean, if he transferred up, I would bet on him again. He's,

he's a really good player. I love the way moves. I think he does things so well at the position at all three phases. And that's, you know, obviously in the route at the catch point and after the catch and he's, uh, he just has a little bit of that, like master of his craft feel. I love it. And Rose really liked him. All right. So I'm kind of confused where we should go from here because I feel like I do. Why don't I think you should go 10 through six because we'm kind of confused where we should go from here because I feel like we're going to – Why don't I do – Yeah, I think you should go 10 through 6 because we're kind of –

this is where the pool gets really, really wide open. Yeah, really quick. Do 10 through 6 again for you? Just names? Tez Johnson, Oregon. Jalen Royals, Utah State. Torrey Horton, Colorado State. Ellick Iomanor from Stanford.

Evan Stewart who transferred from Texas A&M to Oregon. Okay, so I have some of the same names. Kyle Manor from Stanford, Evan Stewart, who transferred from Texas A&M to Oregon. Okay. So I have some of the same names. I got Torrey Horton at 10 from Colorado State. I have Evan Stewart at nine. I have Isaiah Bond at eight from Alabama. Now he is at Texas. I have Juice Wells,

who I cannot quit. Clearly. He didn't even need to play last year. Dude, okay, here's the thing though. Juice Wallace played like three games. Two of them he was extremely hurt. The other game was Georgia in which he actually got hurt. But before he got hurt against Georgia, he played 10 total receiving snaps.

One of them was a touchdown. Right, I know. So I got Juice Wallace at number seven. Now he plays at old miss and uh six for me is miami's xavier restripo okay he didn't make my top 15 but i watched him oh dude i cannot believe he didn't make your top 15 i know and i was like smokes i know he it's weird to say this he didn't make my top 15 and I can make an argument. He's a top three route runner in this.

Oh brother. He's good. I know, but he's good. I know. I'm going to talk about Xavier. Yeah. Yeah, please do. And I'll give you my like little, like my concerns list of why I wondered if he was top five.

I like, I wondered if he was five for you, but we were running, we're kind of like running out of names. So I guess that this was yeah inevitable so he's a redshirt junior this year uh university of miami 5 foot 10 195 pounds and he looks like a rocked up 195 like he looks like he hurts yeah i haven't met 199 now so he's getting even bigger okay so he's getting bigger so a little bit of a recruiting background for him three-star wide receiver uh from deerfield beach flor Florida. Went to St. Thomas Aquinas High School before he transferred over to Deerfield Beach. Need to be able to say that if it's going to be in my notes here. Played both receiver and cornerback in high school, but it's more than that, Connor. I have some of his high school stats here.

48 total touchdowns throughout his high school career. Eight interceptions. Okay, not bad. Over 200 tackles, 500 passing yards, 3,000 receiving yards, and over 2,000 rushing yards. This guy played every position. He's Boobie Miles. He's Ronnie Bass.

Yeah, just everything out there. Literally just played every single position. So he chose Miami. He had some scholarship offers from, I Georgia Boston College Kentucky Louisville Michigan others but Miami was sort of it seemed like his dream school all along so ends up sticking with Miami didn't play a ton in his first two seasons when he was there um started three games as redshirt sophomore season but he ended up missing five games due to injury so last year was kind of his coming out party of his total talent uh Started 13 games as a redshirt junior,

set Miami's record with 85 receptions last season. Little nugget that I found. Now, I haven't called the principal to verify this, but I believe he had an over 4.0 GPA throughout his entire high school career. So shout out to this dude. Going to class, learning something. So what I love about Restrepo is he brings that all around athleticism, all of those high school stats that I listed off.

It's like he does all of those things at once while playing the slot. The strengths I have listed for him, good all around athlete with a really nice blend of strength, quickness and body control. He looks really strong for his size he's got great balance to not only take but also dish out content or contact so and he's dishing out content and he's dishing out content time for all this and he's coming on the pod no i don't know maybe uh very precise route runner it goes back to the body control that i was very very impressed with you know he's not i'm not going to say he's garrett wilson level but remember a a part of garrett wilson's scouting report that i missed on because i had garrett wilson wide receiver five in that class it was good wide receiver class to my defense but the reason why i had garrett wilson

number five is because i was like man really good allaround player. Is there a standout trait for him? It's not like he's got elite speed. It's not like he's got crazy elusiveness. It's not like he's got the biggest height out there of these wide receivers. I did not take into account how much true core strength body control can be a trump card for you. And Garrett Wilson is just so in control at all times, no matter what route he is running,

no matter whether he has the ball or not, when he is a playmaker after the catch, like he's just, he's so in control of everything. And I feel like I get those vibes with Restrepo, who also has very, very strong hands. Now, some of the weaknesses for him, I think he lacks a difference making top speed for as much as I like the quickness.

I think he is explosive. I don't think for as much as I like the quickness. I think he is explosive. I don't think he's this field stretcher of a player. I think he is a true slot receiver. So if you kind of diminish the value there for just slot guys, I can understand that. Limited yards after catch, despite all of what I said with the quickness and body control, he just doesn't have a lot of it. Like the yards after catch, for for whatever reason 18th percentile so that was something that i feel like there's a little bit more in the tank for him to get to that's sort of a projection that

i'm thinking gets better um the hand placement when he's blocking can be a little hit and miss but you can kind of teach that you can figure that out and he's got very limited experience versus press because miami intentionally puts him in the slot because he's really great at running routes from the slot with those two-way goes. Naturally, he just doesn't face a lot of press when he's there. So if you're looking for that experience versus press coverage, he won't have it for you. The comp that I had for Xavier Reshepo was Sterling Shepard. I think both of those guys were built very similarly. They're kind of like these bigger rocked up players that were really good route runners that were really good with body control and could be great in contested catch situations but sterling

shepherd was kind of the same way it's i i didn't i never saw him and i like shepherd a lot during his recruiting or when he was coming out in his draft class i never saw him as this like vertical field stretcher yes he had some big deep passes but that was more like oklahoma's offense than necessarily him being a great burner. So I think Shepard probably had better, better wheels than Reschrepo did. But on a play by play basis, I felt both of those guys sort of won in the same way of just how great of route runners and good body control players they were. So Reschrepo, great college slot, like really, really great college slot. Caught 53 first downs last year, 32 explosive plays, snappy routes, good agility. I think my concerns for him as a pro, not a college player, is that some of the like bigger games, Florida State, he got shut out.

And it wasn't all against Jerrion Jones. And I didn't think the quarterback play that game specifically helped him. But it was a lot of Jerrion Jones. He just, he couldn't do much to me. Clemson, I mean, seven targets, 26 receiving yards. Yeah. Couldn't do much. He devoured Louisville for almost 200 yards devoured texas

a&m like credit credit to him for that like he's not like a dud in all big games it's not what i'm saying i i just thought the best look at i i got of him in terms of nfl projection was against florida state and there was a couple times he was open and should have got the ball. But as a whole sample size, I was like, he's just not really threatening over the top. He's not creative enough with the ball in his hands that you're going to scheme him. So he's a guy that constantly has to win from the slot in the middle of the field.

And if he doesn't do that, he's also really not big enough to help as a big-time blocker. So not a really great college college player will be a pro. I did struggle to, to land him in my top 15. I got to watch the Florida state game. Cause I did not do that one. I watched four games of him.

A and M I watched Georgia tech. I watched Clemson. I watched Rucker. So I did not see the exercise. Like we are in summer scouting where we're not watching 12 games of a guy. Right. It just goes to show you how it can, it can just like we have we

have varying opinions of things that we saw and how we can carry them into the season i think that's really it's why it's great to have these conversations um who else tori horton yeah go ahead on horton i just talked to him for step up go ahead i got him at 10 you have him at eight yeah i think i have him at eight let me double check i have him at eight yeah the guy may let me double check i may yeah i mean what's not to like about tori horton right what's not to like about tori 187 he's been a highly productive college player for the last two years he's had over 1100 yards both of the last two years uh eight touchdowns each of the last two years drop rate went down in 2023 at eight drops in 2022. He had more catches in 2023 and only four drops.

18 explosive plays last year, 30 explosive plays the year before that. Lengthy frame. I think he's got room to get even stronger. Good ball tracking, body adjustments, does not care about getting hit, dominates the middle of the field. Caught 42 of his 50 targets in the middle of the field short area, caught 10 of 11 intermediate, four touchdowns in the intermediate over the middle of the field. Very good at making the first man miss on the scheme touches he gets, gets upfield. Tons of experience and production playing on the outside.

It's not perfect, right? Not the greatest athlete in the world. Routes could be upright. Needs to sell them a little bit more full body selling. But like, I think Horton could be a possession number three with his size that can come in and play on the outside and just has a knack for finding space in the red zone. So I really, really enjoyed watching him because he's a little bit more seasoned than most of these guys in my opinion.

Yes. Love the route running from him um and and you really don't he feels like a dude who's very like leggy like he's very high-waisted and normally when you get players like that they're just they cannot sink the hips um it's really difficult for them to do that but he's able to do that i think really well really good route runner for his size really precise um super strong hands at contact i feel like he's got really good hands some of the best hands in the class yeah okay like the slender build yeah he can get moved off of his routes a little bit easier the top speed it takes a little bit more time to build up but he is i i just think he is a very solid possession type of receiver.

The comp that I came up with is Mike Williams, the Syracuse version of him. Buccaneer great Mike Williams as well. So these bigger, taller, longer guys who I think were able to succeed at the NFL level because they were a little bit better route runners and just excellent hands. Excellent hands from Torrey Horton. We should definitely talk about Evan Stewart, right? You had him at nine? I got him at nine. I i am at six so we have him in the same tier transfer some a&m to oregon had some interesting comments um oh yeah he basically you know not perfectly rewarded not

be better not be connor wegman slander no it was i'll drop him further on this list if i need to it was about the training staff just that he didn't have clarity on his injuries in 2023 i think he i think he battled an ankle injury in spring of 23 and then a lower body like leg injury because you know college college football is like hockey with the injury updates it's like sometimes a and m for sure a and m's horrible a and m's like yeah i mean lower body the guy's like leg is amputated like on the field like yeah he stubbed his toe yeah he's dead you'll fire it out what do you see him on the field either they uh either they hacksawed his foot off or he just stubbed his pinky toe it's one of the two you never know yeah he's like greg jennings

in that viral madden video limping all the way to the end zone which we cannot quote most of here on this show but you know or he has a paper cut on his kneecap which that'd be kind of hard to get a paper cut on your kneecap anyway he's interesting to me trevor and he is a big projection don't get me wrong because you look at last year like okay 38 catches 514 yards four touchdowns in eight games he is a big projection. Don't get me wrong. Because you look at last year, like, okay, 38 catches, 514 yards, four touchdowns in eight games. He missed a lot of time. This guy moves different, though.

He does. He's got excellent feet, sharp, sharp movements, change of direction, big-time athletic background. He, in high school, has standout numbers in the 100, the 200, the long jump, the triple jump. And you could see the athleticism on the field. But it's got to turn into production at Oregon, right? And this is an offense that's gotten a lot of production out of their wide receivers.

So 6'1", 75, he needs to get bigger and stronger. And you've seen the injuries kind of pile up a little bit on the lower body. But just not a lot of cats move like this. And I think in this offense he's going to do some damage yeah i mean in in high school he so he won the state title in the long jump and was came in second place in the triple jump then he won the state title in the four by 400 and got second place in the 4x200. So it's like this dude was either winning state titles or he was right there for some other state titles.

I mean, he has true difference-making speed. The reason why I have him at number nine is the same reason why I had Xavier Worthy outside of my top 10 in last year's wide receiver class. Right now, from the tape that I saw in 2023 from evan stewart they're like the same player and i had my qualms with xavier worthy because i felt like worthy was just his speed and when i watched evan stewart last year and maybe injuries kind of went into it i'm i'm not sure maybe i i need to go back and watch some 2022. If you guys really bully me in the comments to go watch Evan Stewart 2022, I will do it.

But I did not see a nuanced route runner. I saw somebody who approached getting off the line of scrimmage, facing press, and getting vertical as I am faster than you. And I, and I, and he is obviously, but there are then corners that were like, okay,

I know what your moves are. I know what you're doing here. I'm going to get hands on you in an, in an advantageous point. I'm going to bump you off your route. And now like now all of a sudden his separation is much lower than i thought it would be connor for a guy who is this fast his separation percentage against single coverage was 32nd percentile shouldn't be you got i mean like a lot of nuance there like that's the issue

you've got to have much more of a diverse release package to you you've got to be much more diverse of a route runner in whatever to even if you're just running your vertical routes. I was disappointed in that area from Stewart. And I just had so many flashbacks to watching. And that's not even to say, like, he does have some strength issues being as light as he is. So when it comes to the catch point, catching through traffic, just regular catches, he has some strength issues to him and so when you combine all those it just gave me flashbacks again to Xavier Worthy where I this is an ultra athlete type of a player that I continue to just want more from as a wide receiver not just a sprinter

who put on a helmet that's kind of where I'm at with Stewart and why is it number nine but I know I I know we're probably gonna get some pushback from that. And then Andy redrafts him and you hate your life. Yeah, and then everything that I said gets posted as bulletin board material because Andy redrafted him. Okay.

Well, I'm trying not to skip people. Where do you have Isaiah Bond? I have him as wide receiver three. Okay. all right so we'll get to him in a second um juice wells i will be very quick on this yeah yeah talk about juice wells because you are you are the the stan of juice wells and i respect that i cannot i cannot quit the man um so he was in south carolina over the last two years i believe um now he is at old miss for his final year of eligibility this was was a zero-star recruit in the 2020 recruiting class.

Wells was not highly recruited, and he says this because of his grades. He did not care enough about school and high school to realize that, hey, football could take me places. He did not have the grades to even really get considered for scholarships in a lot of places. He ended up committing to Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia, but then he was able to transfer over to James Madison. He set the single season records at JMU for catches,

receiving yards, and touchdown receptions. Then he transferred to South Carolina in 2022, played 2022, had a monster year, had all SEC honors that year, was an All-American candidate. I thought he was a stud in 2022. Suffered a foot injury in camp going into 2023. And he was really limited from the beginning of the year. He tried to play through it.

He played like three games. And then they just had to, I mean, they shut him down for the rest of the season. Or maybe he shut himself down because he didn't want to kind of. Because that's kind of real for these players too, right? I mean, unfortunately, if you go out there and play and you're hurt, that affects the draft stock a little bit. So I don't know if it was kind of a South Carolina wasn't wanting him to play, didn't think that he was cleared, or, you know, Juice kind of didn't want to put out bad tape

because his foot really wasn't feeling right. You know, it kind of – however it happened, he ends up leaving South Carolina. Now he is with Ole Miss. But when he is on the field, if you just look at that 2022 tape, and you can go back to the JMU tape too, is a really good football player. Really good combination.

So he is, I forgot to mention the height, weight, 6'1", 210 pounds. A really good size player. Good combination of size and speed. Strong at the catch point. Really good contested catch type of player super competitive when the ball is in the air really strong core balance for yards after the catch and contact and this is something i love about him the second the ball gets into the

into his hand he his first step is explosive whether it is for yards after catch or whether he is getting off the line of scrimmage and up the field that first step is difference making man and that is not the case for all of these receivers his explosiveness is for real it's why he had an 88 percentile yards after catch percentage this dude was just hitting the ball was hitting his hands and he was taking off he was always getting a lot of really good yards um this is another player that, like I said at the beginning of the show, too comfortable with contested catch situations. Now, he's a monster at it.

I don't want to do this, so I'm not going to fully commit to it, but he's got shades of Dez Bryant to him. He's like Dez Bryant light, man. I mean, he he, he just, he is just a beast when that ball was in the air. And when that, when you're getting yards after the catch and exploding off the line of scrimmage, now Des was a lot bigger than him.

So of course, like bigger and being the same athlete matters more, especially when we're talking about making a projection to the NFL level, but like, that's the style of player that we're talking about here. Now you understand why it's tough for me to quit the good, but he is to rely on a contest to catch situations. Um, his routes are kind of more rounded than they are crisp. Uh, basically all of his routes are sorted from a vertical route tree. So there's a lot of nuance of his game that needs to get better, but he's a certain type of athlete that I always gravitate towards from the wider zero position, little scouting summary blurb,

and then we'll move on. Wells is an alpha type of receiver. His size and speed are adequate to start at the pro level, but it's really what happens at the catch point that sets him apart. He truly attacks the ball in the air. When he has space for yards after the catch, he explodes to rack them up as well. His routes aren't super refined, and he's a bit inconsistent as a blocker, but he's a true playmaker in the receiving game

who can be a wide receiver too with more technique in his releases and his routes. So, can't quit the man. Number seven on rankings i mean when you hear that you get why though right i mean two years ago he caught 15 touchdowns like it's how quick we forget so i'm i'm excited there are a couple guys that we've already gone through on this process that i just want to see them healthy and get right. And, and go back to making plays again. And he's,

he's one of those guys. We're talking to brew McCoy earlier. He's one of those guys. We should both talk about Alec guy on manner, right? Because we had him in this tier. No, you not.

I haven't before you haven't met for, okay. I have him at seven. I love him, brother. there's a lot to love dude and this is considering in 2022 he tore his acl mcl and meniscus so like everything we watch is him coming off of that which is wildly impressive this dude's awesome yeah i i was i was tempted to put him higher i had to kind of like rein myself in a little bit i was like all right all right hold on hold on hold on he's not raining moss but you know i really did man i'll obviously it's a joke calm down people um ellic i o manor three-star wide receiver 2022 recruiting class uh Was born in Canada. Canada, baby.

Alberta, Canada, baby. Do we get to claim him? He played high school ball in Massachusetts. Americans like doing that. Who's we? The United States or the Northeast? The Americans. Yes, the United States.

No, I don't think we do. I don't think we can do that. I don't think we do either. I think Canada gets this. Canada deserves this one. Yeah, we couldn't do this to Canada. So, he is an

Alamater, he is an interesting player in the fact that I didn't know about his knee injury when I started watching his film. And I watched one of the early games, because I say on the show, the way that I scout, at least, is I like to watch the season in succession

because it tells me how much better a player was able to get throughout the year, especially a young player, which he was just a redshirt sophomore. I think he was, no, he was a redshirt freshman at the time. So I didn't know about the knee injury. And I'm watching him, and he's got a brace on. And I was like, okay, I need to look into this a second. And then I see him kind of like move a certain way, really explosive gets vertical. And I go, oh, okay. There's the track background. I was like, but I feel like I would see it elsewhere. And then I saw that he tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus

the year before. And I was like, oh, okay, there we go. So I sort of fast forward a little bit to the end of the year. He's got the brace off. He's feeling confident in the knee. Dude, this guy's awesome. I mean, he'll do everything for you. His routes are way more refined than you would think for a player of his experience. Super high football IQ. Now, sort of like on a play-by-play basis i think he could catch the football a little bit better but he's got some sick contested catches strong at the catch point one of the best blocking players that we've gotten this wide receiver dude physical physical blocker i think that that track background explosion that's going to be there there's a dude who ran a 10 a dude who ran a 10.76 when he was in high school for track and field.

He's listed at 6'2", 210 pounds. To have that kind of explosiveness is awesome. To me, man, he's... I don't want to get ahead of myself, but Io Manor has the framework of a first-round wide receiver. And if we get a fully healthy year from him this year, as long as the quarterback play is up to par, I think he'll play his way into that.

Because I think this dude's awesome. It's all there. I mean, you nailed it. The little things, physical run blocker. He will out-muscle and just dominate smaller coverage at times where it looks like a man amongst boys. You know what I really like, Trevor, that I didn't write down for a lot of these guys?

He has experience in an offense where he's not given a ton of help and easy touches. Like you don't see Io Manor motioned into the slot and now he's going to get a shallow cross that everyone cleared out for him or we're going to throw him 10 screens he plays more like an nfl outside wide receiver and that's really hard to do not only coming off your entire knee exploding every ligament but also that he's he's a redshirt sophomore this year. It's a young guy.

Yeah. So I really liked him a lot too. I'm just waiting to see. And by the way, put Travis Hunter on a poster. I mean, the catch on the back of Travis Hunter's helmet is maybe the catch of the college football season. Dude, I watched the Colorado game and he smokes Travis Hunter on a vertical route.

And I'm like, what? You're six foot two, 210. Who's doing this? Dion could have gotten a $200 billion NIL investment at halftime and they didn't have an answer for this kid. They tried everything. But okay. But you know why they couldn't cover him? It's not just because he's big. It's not just because he's a great athlete. It's because his football IQ is so high already. His release package for a redshirt freshman last year was incredibly impressive.

I mean, he's beating Travis Hunter with his first two steps. Yep. That should not happen. And that's because he is getting such a clean release because he's so good at recognizing, at least the tape certainly tells me he's so good at recognizing where the leverage is, how to attack it, what release to do, how to get even with the player, and now you're behind him and now you're off to the races. I'm just, yeah, I could not keep him out of my top five, man. He is awesome. Yeah, that gave me 294 yards.

No, just absolutely no answer. The thing I'm keeping an eye on for him to get into my top five and a lot of it's coming off the injury like i think there wasn't a lot of lateral quickness i thought last year you said you kind of saw some of it coming back at the end of the year yes maybe i really need to dive in and look for that i i want to see more lateral agility um and that's fair i agree with you that the hands could be more consistent like you have all this size ability to shield and position yourself catch the ball consistently because if you do you're unstoppable yeah and he didn't do that last year in my opinion i thought i mean

he had over 100 targets 62 catches he caught 15 to 34 contested catches so he's good but he left some plays on the field and i think he's better than that so that should probably take us into isaiah bond and then we could each read our top fives uh yeah we can do that it's fine yeah let's do that so i have bond as wide receiver three and he's going to be ahead of some some big names he's he's eight for me. He was wide receiver eight for me. 511, 180, not the biggest guy in the world. Transferred from Alabama to Texas said, you know,

that was mainly because of Nick Saban retiring. Not something you see every day for a player that had 48 catches, almost 700 yards and four touchdowns last year. And it's like a big recruit. I mean, top 100 player in his recruiting class. Yep. One,

the Georgia six, 800 meter, 10, five, one, one, the 200 meter to 21. last year and is like a big recruit i mean top 100 player in his recruiting class yep won the georgia 6 800 meter 10 5 1 won the 200 meter to 21 point uh 0.919 state titles as a junior like that's the you get what kind of athlete this is crazy speed he just glides over the top of the defense yeah tracks the deep ball 17 of his 48 catches went for 15 plus yards i mean the routes to me are so smooth that his speed really doesn't decrease when he changes direction where i'm like i don't really know how you have an answer for that if you get him in an offense that is consistently utilizing him in that manner because i don't see a lot of guys that can run with him as he starts to change direction because the speed really doesn't...

There's no deceleration with this kid. No, his speed is special. It's poetry, the way he moves. And he has experience playing inside and outside. I think the things he needs to clean up are correctable. And I think they're going to be corrected in Texas offense. He needs to be aware of running himself into coverage. He runs himself into coverage too often because he's so fast.

But if he starts to find how to change gears a little bit more, he's going to eat up the middle of the field when they start sitting two safeties so worried about him going over the top. And he's got to angle himself back to the quarterback on certain routes. So the nuance of the position

is not there yet, but he's not that small. He's small, but he's not tiny. He's relatively average. And he just, the speed is insane. And it's productive speed because he knows how to track the deep ball. So Bond to me, I mean, he's not, I'm not going to call him like Jalen Waddle while watching him at Alabama, but it's close to special

in terms of the way he can impact the third level of the field. And I'm going to bet on a massive year at Texas. Yeah, I'm excited to watch him in Texas. I really am. Because he also could hold the key for Quinn Ewers, right? Who really struggled last year, I think, with accuracy throwing the ball. Consistent accuracy throwing the ball deep. Xavier Worthy is now gone, but you're subbing in Isaiah Bond.

You still have that opportunity. Bond still has that speed. They could really help each other out here. I agree with you. I mean, the only real concern that I have for him, because I said, look, he knows when to hand fight, when he's got to fight for vertical releases to try to get up the sideline. He's not just doing speed releases to dip the shoulder and run by him i mean he is he is chopping the hands down he's not afraid to be physical so um also not afraid to put his body on the line for catches like he was somebody who would dive and full extension and all that he had that tough catch he had a handful of tough catches

this year that i was really impressed with for a guy who can win with as much right as he does he does not shy away from it and that's why i very easily had him above a guy like Evan Stewart, because I thought that he brought more of a physical profile to it. It's just like you said, the nuances of, to me, are you winning as a route runner? Are you winning with your releases? And do you know how to naturally find space with your speed? And there were times when I felt like he didn't do that, right? You mentioned like overrunning the space and running yourself into coverage and not really seeing where that is. And sometimes that's not always his fault.

Sometimes it's the play, it's the route that you're being asked to run. Sometimes there's a different purpose because routes have combinations and complements and things like that. So I don't want to make a sweeping statement, but there were a handful of times when I was just like like okay if if he kind of understands it a little bit more and can tempo that speed a little bit better could absolutely see this guy in my top five receivers when it's all said and done player comp i had for him was santana moss i like that one yeah he was able to win with his speed. So there we go.

All right. Five through one. Take us home. Yeah. Did we miss someone? So I've listed my four. You've listed your three. Who do you have at five?

Emeka Ibuka. Okay. I have Travis Hunter at five. I have Travis Hunter at four. Okay. All right. Let's talk Travis Hunter first, and then we'll get to Emeka Ibuka, because I have Emeka Ibuka at three. I have Travis Hunter at four. Okay. All right, let's talk Travis Hunter first, and then we'll get to Mecca Bucca, because I have a Mecca Bucca at three. Okay, so we're

pretty close here. We have the same top two. It's just a matter of who... We do have the same top two. Do you have that one? We will see. Stay tuned. Hopefully a three-minute ad plays right now. People are like, no! Teaser, folks. Just kidding. I don't want that for any of them.

Feeding fan. Let's do Travis Hunter first and then we'll do a make it book. I mean, here's the thing with Hunter is that you do have to factor in when watching him that he's also playing cornerback. Like he's starting at corner. Absolutely stupid. It's,

I actually think it is legitimately stupid. Honestly, idiotic. And it's not, it's not his fault. It's I actually think it is legitimately stupid. Honestly, it's idiotic and it's not it's not his fault. It's not his fault. He's a young player. He's trying to help his team and the best version of Colorado has him playing both ways. I think he might be better in corner. We're going to get there because guess what, folks? We're going to talk about Travis Hunter on corner. I only watched him at corner. Guess what? We're talking about him as edge rusher. We're going to talk about Travis Hunter on corner. I only watched him at corner. Guess what? We're talking about him as edge rusher. We're going to see if you get punt and kick.

I mean, when I watched him on tape, not on tape, on broadcast, like just games last year, Colorado was must watch TV. Everybody wanted to watch Colorado for better or for worse reasons. Like some people wanted them to lose. Some people wanted them to win. They were entertaining as hell. I always on the broadcast was like, man, I hope Travis Hunter plays corner. Like not only do we need more corners, but I like his build.

I like his movement skills. After actually watching the tape and I didn't watch the corner tape yet. I watched the wide receiver tape. I am intrigued by him at wide receiver because of the athlete he is. And so wide receiver for he finishes 2023 with 58 catches for 734 yards and five touchdowns, while also starting at cornerback, while also having a significant injury in the middle of the season. He's just a quick, explosive athlete, change of direction skills, stop and start, speed to threaten over the top, plus body control to keep plays in bounds.

So slippery after the catch. I thought after the catch, he looked identical to Garrett Wilson. Identical. I don't think he's anywhere close before the catch. Garrett Wilson was a totally different player before the catch, and I won't put really any prospect on that level. Yeah. But when he has the ball in his hands,

he runs and looks exactly like garrett like how slippery he is and the stop and start and the quick cuts uh he's pretty fearless when working the middle of the field like you gotta give him a lot of credit he will go over the middle of the field and just not care especially because he gets rocked he gets battered this is somebody this is somebody who like one of my critiques of him are because i agree with you in my in my strength category for travis hunter i have he is very elusive after the catch connor i was very shocked when i saw this only a 3.3 yards after catch per reception average sixth percentile i thought that had been way higher for him. I think it's a couple of things.

I think one, they make it very obvious when they're going to throw him the ball and there's always a second and third man there instantly. Well, I would agree with you, but I would also say a big reason for that is because his lean frame, I don't think he takes contact well. No, he doesn't. I wrote right away. He's got to get bigger and stronger. He is a slender guy. Going back to your point, it's pretty impressive how fearless he is as a catcher over the middle, No, he doesn't. I wrote right away. He's got to get bigger and stronger. He is a slender guy. Going back to your point, it's pretty impressive how fearless he is as a catcher over the middle, especially when his body does not take contact well. He's not bouncing off people. The second he even arm tackles bring Travis Hunter down. He has to get bigger. That's an area that's tough for him. But continue because I'll kind of piggyback off. I'm almost done. I really just wrote he's got to get bigger and That's an area that's tough for him. But continue, because I'll kind of piggyback off.

I'm almost done. I really just wrote, he's got to get bigger and stronger. The route tree is a hit or a go. Because they're like, you're our best athlete here. Get you the football. Listen, I'm not expecting Travis Hunter, while starting at corner, to be running seven different routes consistently. The goal is to get him the ball.

And Deion, being the athlete that he was, multi-sport athlete, different routes consistently and doing all like the goal is to get him the ball and Dion being the athlete that he was multi-sport athlete knows like just let your best player take over the game and that's how they treat Travis Hunter yeah why I said it's legitimately stupid at times that he's playing both corner and receiver as much as he's doing the right thing for his team and you give the kid a lot of credit is that as a pro i walked away from watching his wide receiver and tape and go man how good would he be if he just played wide receiver and i guarantee i will walk away from watching the corner tape and go man how good would he be if he just played corner right and it's not just the well idiot your job is to project that at the next level. The part of it that's problematic is it is now physically taking a toll on him.

And that is significant in this. Yeah, he basically needs, he has to declare after this year. Not that he wouldn't anyways, but you basically like, we're out here talking about like running back mileage now with a wide receiver slash corner. Absolutely. You're talking about like running back mileage now with a wide receiver slash corner. Absolutely. Anybody that doesn't know anything about Travis Hunter, I mean, he plays at Colorado now. Obviously, like Connor said, he plays for Deion Sanders because he's the head coach there. He was the number one overall player in the 2021 recruiting class. Number one overall player as a five-star, unanimous five-star.

And Deion got him to come to Jackson State. So he was a Jackson State for one year. He was a Florida State commit or at least leaning. It was one of the biggest stunners on the hat table in a long time. Dude, I mean, it genuinely might be the craziest flip in college football history, right? It's got to be up there. Number one overall recruit.

So anyways, goes to Jackson State, plays both sides of the ball, but doesn't play as much. Goes over to Colorado. Obviously becomes a major emphasis of basically everything. Look, this guy's a stud. And he's just, like you said, it's like he's just going out there and he's just playing like backyard football because he kind of has to. He doesn't really have the time to be able

to focus on one of these positions he's just got to play both as best he can but it's crazy how good he still plays them my scouting summary for him says hunter is a rare athlete who truly has the potential to start at wide receiver or corner at the nfl level he possesses he possesses above average speed now i i I will say this. I might be crazy. I thought his speed was good. Like he is obviously a very good athlete, but I didn't think he was like Isaiah Bond fast. No, he's not running 4.3.

He does like, oh, whoa. But like, it doesn't look like, when I've turned Bond film on, I was like, well, there's a 4.3. Right, right. I didn't feel that way with Travis Hunter. Okay, I'm glad that we saw that's a 4-3. Right, right. I didn't feel that way with Travis Hunter. I agree. I'm glad that we saw that the same way.

He possesses above average speed, flexibility, and explosiveness in both roles. He is a naturally gifted player with, and this is really important, elite hand-eye coordination. Elite. You talk about guys who are natural athletes. We often talk about movement, things like that. Travis Hunter is one of the most natural football catchers I've ever seen. Because he's sitting here at a buck 85. We talked about how lean his frame is at six foot one.

How it sometimes prohibits him playing through the strength parts of the game that you would want to see him be better at. And yet, this guy's got crazy contested catches. He's always full-arm extension, catching it with his hands, through all sorts of contact, through his body going everywhere. Again, you talk about a little bit of Garrett Wilson parallels. That's what Garrett Wilson was unbelievable at. The second the ball hit his hands, boom, it's over.

He's hauling it in. The hand-eye coordination that Travis Hunter has is elite, nothing short of elite. So he's an unbelievable player. As a wide receiver, he kind of reminded me of D.D. Westbrook when D.D. Westbrook was at Oklahoma. Just somebody who, the route tree is a little bit simplified, but D.D. was just a really damn good athlete. And Oklahoma told him, hey, just go run and get open. Baker Mayfield's going to find you the football. And they did that a lot because he had a lot of yards.

So obviously Travis is going to get drafted a lot higher than Didi Westbrook was, but strictly as a wide receiver. And the impact that Westbrook had when he was at Oklahoma, I saw kind of those vertical parallels with how athletic both of those guys were. All right. So I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about this. Who'd you have at five? Hunter. Four. So I have Hunter five.

I have Elikai Maynard at four. And then I have Emeka Ibuka at three. So let's talk about Ibuka because I have him at four. Okay. I mean, a weird year for Emeka Ibuka. You kind of throw it out in a weird way i didn't i didn't even evaluate 2023 for him it's there's not right i mean he was hurt he did not have a 100 yard game which was you know kind of shocking when you look at the year before when he had six of them yeah Yes, 600 yard games, 2022.

I mean, he missed three games last year, but he just never looked right. Yep. In 2022, he had over 1100 yards. He's still the guy to me we talked about at summer scouting last year, where I look at some of his ability and think of Keenan Allen, where it's like, man, the way this guy can change gears through his routes to create space and separation. He's a route technician. He can play inside.

He can play outside. A lot of people will kind of think of Jackson Smith and Jigba when they watch him, but I actually think he's a better athlete than JSN was. The more vertical aspect of the game, while JSN was a pretty rare territory in terms of the technician he was, but Ibuka's really good. Concentration allows him to make very difficult grabs. He's very productive over the middle of the field as well.

I think he's got to get stronger, and he's got to get healthy, but Ibuka seems like, to me, a very high-end No. 2 wide receiver in the NFL. I agree with you. I think he is a slightly bigger, slightly faster Amon Ross St. Brown. Yeah. That's the type of player that I see. He's a former five-star wide receiver in the 2021 recruiting class. I mean, he had all the recruiting accolades.

Goes to Ohio State. He's able to absolutely stand out in a major way in 2022. Numbers are fantastic. 92nd percentile in overall separation. 92nd percentile in separation versus single coverage. This is, of course, the 2022 season, which I told you I was evaluating it from. Very quick and controlled player. High separation scores due to elite body control and speed.

Speed control, I think, is the one that... I like that. ...that I think is underrated about him. He is a willing, feisty blocker. High IQ player. Knows how to attack all different kinds of leverages and find space in between zone. Really good contact balance for yards after the catch.

Lack of size does sort of limit the catch radius, the efficacy of blocking abilities. But this to me is just, I'm not going to lie. Like I almost had him at two. I almost had him wide receiver too, just because I think the projection is so easy. Like he's going to be good. And in a world where we're trying to just

bet on and rank who's gonna be good in the nfl i i think it mecca is is just a really easy projection with so many translatable skills what he does is so translatable to something that will succeed at the nfl level with all that he brings to the table so yeah i had that's why i had him at wide receiver three all right so we went over our wide receiver three. I had Bond at three. I know you had Io Manor in your top five. So the top two. You want to go ahead?

I don't know. Do you want to go ahead? So for me at two, I have Ted Aroa, McMillan, so Arizona. So do I. And then number one's Luther Burden III from Missouri.

I think probably kind of anticlimactic there. People were really hoping that we'd get to the end and that we would just absolutely fight each other. Yeah, we sold it well. Straight up plant the House of Dragon flags with these two wide receivers. Yeah, exactly. flags with these two wide receivers yeah exactly with McMillan I thought he reminded me so much of Cortland Sutton at SMU oh okay and now McMillan's listed 6-5-2-10 he's coming off a year where he had 90 catches on 130 targets for almost 1400 yards and 10 touchdowns the year

before that he caught eight touchdowns on just 30 on 39 catches. He's played with Noah Fafita since high school. So it's no surprise these two have gotten Arizona and his birth even. I mean, they just they were in the same preschool together. They were right. It's way before they were. No, but they played before high school. I think I have no idea that preschool. That would be ridiculous. I but they played before high school, I think. I have no idea. Not preschool.

That would be ridiculous. I think they played youth football together. I mean, it wouldn't shock me, I guess. Preschool would be, yeah. Nobody's playing football in preschool. But imagine Fafita at the hospital before they let him go home through something at McMillan. Yeah. And the rest was history.

Yep. Listen, this is a big body perimeter target natural big strong hands like you watch io manor and he has a lot of the ability that mcmillan has but mcmillan's hands are just on a different tier for me glue like just a ball it just sticks glue man one hand two hands away from the body in tight um can contest the catch rate got better from 2022 2023 he's the type of guy in the red zone that he's open when he's covered plus catch radius shields defenders makes the one-handed grab look routine the strides the utep one-handed grab i like had to stop defies gravity i had to stop watching i had to walk away take a break drink a glass of water yeah i had to go on a walk i had to walk my dog think about it and say we'll try

this again later he's got these huge strides that just cover a different amount of grass with him without the ball yeah where you're like damn he just started running how's he eight yards into the route yeah man um and then i mean he had 63 first downs in 2023 stupid i didn't really even write down weaknesses for him i was i mean there's not much to get better on. Finish a couple more plays, but this dude, these top two are really good, man. Like, really good. Just different. So the weaknesses that I have for him, slender build, right? So I think that that kind of goes into how you play through contact.

Now, he plays strong through contact. But, like, again, when you get to the NFL level, Teterola McMillan kind of, like, warps my brain because he's also built differently. Like, he's got a really long torso, but he's still tall. So, like, every other ligament is also still, or every other limb is still long for him, but his build is unique.

I think his strides are unique. Like it's like he runs like Robbie Anderson, but he's don't, I mean, play like Robbie Anderson, but he kind of like looks like that in his build, but he's a totally different kind of player in how he plays the game. So he's got that slender build to him.

He does have very low separation scores, which is okay because you mentioned his hands are like glue, but 38 contested catch targets. That's a shit ton, man. I mean, this guy is just, he goes to bed and the corner is just standing next to the bed staring at him. And he's like, okay, enough. Ninth percentile in separation versus single coverage i mean it just kind of is what it is naturally

it's tougher for him being six foot five to sort of sink the hips and flip the hips and change direction he's a feisty blocker but i i wonder if he lacks the true mass to be able to still do that at the nfl level there's going to be a lot of people that bring up the mike evans comp i don't it's not as dense i can't sign off on it mike came into the league at 6 5 up and like 232 right and yep mcmillan is basically only 210 pounds because he's tall because his bones weigh that much he is skinny so like that it's it's really tough for for as great as mcmillan is and as many attributes that he does share from a strength perspective of mike evans who is of similar height i can't fully just like sign off on the comp it also means too much to me um so it's really tough for me to compare anybody to mike evans but mcmillan is it's sometimes a hard player to truly like

encapsulate and describe how they win the way they do but he is so dominant at what he does. I could not not have him at number two. Just because of how uniquely dominant this dude is at his size. He is somebody who I am comfortable with him being wide receiver two going into the season. I am still workshopping exactly how I see him going into the NFL. Because what he does just does not come around very often winning the way that he does by looking the way he does with his build right and I agree with you on the Mike Evans situation I have the same take about he would need to be 15

pounds heavier to be Brandon Marshall but he wants to play like Brandon Marshall yeah where it's like I don't care that you're near me. I'm going to punch you in the shoulder and, and get open and not open, but create a half a yard and catch the ball. And that's why man, like every player that came to my mind as a comp for him was at least 20 pounds heavier. Yeah. So I don't know what, like now, now I wonder, is that a sign? Like, am I supposed to take that as everybody who's winning the way that he is winning is doing so at 230 plus? He might be barely 210. Should that tell me, hey, you got to temper your expectations a little bit with him going to the league?

I don't know. That's why I wrote down Cortland Sutton. He came into the combine at 218. He didn't play at 218 at SMU. He played probably at 210. It's hard. It's hard. It makes him tricky.

I mean, that's all it is. He is a unique player. Like Vincent Jackson. Vincent Jackson was 240. Mike Evans was 232 i know uh where's where's where's brandon marshall brandon marshall 236 5 230 i don't know jim let's talk about Luther Bird. Comment section, please.

Talk to us about Teteroa McMillan. Are you confident that he can be the same player that we are seeing at Arizona at the NFL level? I would love to hear from you. But, Connor, I would love to hear from you about your wide receiver one going into the season, my wide receiver one going into the season, Missouri's Luther Bird III.

Yeah, Luther Bird III, 5' III 511 208 true junior finished last year with 86 catches over 1200 yards nine touchdowns only dropped four passes 20 missed tackles forced former five-star recruit Trevor Cracker if I'm wrong he went to Missouri because he wanted to stay local right he did yeah yeah i know that was a really big part of them getting him kind of a shock um i mean man it's this dude exceptional playmaking skills from anywhere on the field yeah it's it's the malik neighbors kind of feel i'm gonna be honest i'm gonna be honest i watched him and i'm like damn i just did this last year and I fell in love with that player. Like fell in love with that player. Yeah. I put my all my savings account on Malik neighbors to win offensive rookie of the year at plus 1800. No, but in seriousness, what I love about plus 1800.

Yeah. I'm surprised by that. I get it. Daniel Jones is their quarterback. I get it. I get the ball a lot. Bet. I get it. Daniel Jones is their quarterback. I get it. He's going to get the ball a lot. He's going to get the ball a lot.

Mid-show. Here's the thing with Burden. You hear that, like, 5'11", 208, exceptional playmaker, threatens from everywhere on the field, but he is tough as shit. He is so strong pound for pound. He gets rocked and just fires back up off the turf. He will go anywhere to catch the football. He is such a tough, hard-nosed throwback in that kind of way.

And honestly, 13 for 23 uncontested catches at that size is pretty good, considering, I mean, he's not playing with some superstar quarterback, and he's finding ways to make plays. Body control, adjustments, high pointing the ball, it's all there. 724 yards after the catch in 2023. Playmaker, creator, creative runner, fast, explosive, agile. Words. All these adjectives that are beautiful now i will say

here's a weird one with him over 80 of his snaps last year were in the slot but the year before that he played mostly out wide so that was but that was malik wasn't it wasn't that worse it was the neighbors i was just like hey you're the best player on the team we got to move you around it that is where football is going it is how cd lamb does for the cowboys it's what justin jefferson does with the vikings you you are just putting your best player in the situation where they can put the most stress in the defense right you just give them more space to operate there's a massive difference of guys that need to be in the slot versus guys that can be in the slot and burton can be in the slot um he doesn't

have the typical height and length of a true number one wide receiver but this league has changed a lot and a guy that's 5 11 208 is going to be fine i haven't landed on a comp for him yet he really did remind me of neighbors a lot i didn't want to write that down because we just came off of the draft that malik neighbors was taken in and give it a couple of months. Maybe I'll just land there anyway. I'm very curious your thoughts on what you saw for your number one wide receiver as well. Yeah, I got to, I got to comp for him. I'll get to that in a second. A little bit more of a background on his recruiting profile. So we talk on this podcast about multi-sport athletes, Luther burden, the third legit multi-sport athletes. Luther Burden III, legit multi-sport athlete.

His father played basketball in both high school and college, averaged 16 points per game at St. Louis University. Luther Burden III, the one that we're talking about here, won a state championship as a basketball player in high school, averaging 18 points per game. He had, I believe, all sorts of scholarship offers to potentially play basketball he was even selected to participate in team usa's youth development program for basketball like that's how good this dude was at basketball that's a rare air that's that's ridiculous and yet he very clearly like chose football like he's

saying no no i'm better at football we're're playing football. So that just, you know, lets you guys know how good and how athletic this dude is. You listed a lot of stats he has there. My sort of scouting summary for him, just to encapsulate my thoughts here. Burton III is an excellent all-around athlete who naturally succeeds from the position. That's not to say he hasn't put in the work.

His releases are precise and he knows how to attack all kinds of leverages, but where he wins is as an athlete. His long speed is good for the pro level and his change of direction, explosiveness, fluidity, and elusiveness are all elite with and without the ball, which is really important. There are some plays where strength can be an issue for him, but it does not hold him back from being an easy round one wide receiver in this class and so i mean the weaknesses for him are very limited i mean he can sometimes get pushed around in the blocking game just because he's not the most dense dude in the world you mentioned his measurables but 5 11 208 and then he does not always not always

attack the ball in the air with the feistiness, fire, fierceness, whatever adjective you want to name for just like going up and getting the ball in the air. But he's still plenty strong at the catch point, and he is an unbelievable playmaker once he gets the ball in his hands. My comp for him is Terry McLaurin because McLaurin is just that, man. McLaurin's just good. He's just a really damn good wide receiver.

And some people will argue, oh, because of his size and whatever. Like, okay, he's a top 20 receiver. Oh, okay, he's a top 15 receiver. Oh, maybe he's a fringe top 10 receiver. But he's in that conversation. And McLaurin is somebody who is less than 100 yards his rookie season away from having five straight 1, 1 000 yard seasons to start his career mclaurin's a beast and i think that him and burden win in similar ways just as those those

great all-around athletes that could beat you from a lot of different spots how quickly people forget mclaurin ran a 435 right right no mclaurin's legit yeah lain is six foot 208 so yep very similar very similar body type straight line speed 18 reps on the bench I mean I mean I did 19 yesterday but yeah I warm up with 20 but I don't want to right yeah sure sure Yeah, you had to throw in a warm-up. All right, can you read for the good people? No chance. 15 to 1, and I will read 15 to 1. Reading? Never did it. Yeah.

Okay. Why do you think we're podcasting? Yes. 15, Sam Brown, now at Miami from Houston. 14, Jaden Higgins at Iowa State. 13, Brew McCoy at Tennessee. 12, Trey Harris at Ole Miss. 11, Caden Prather at Maryland.

10, Tez Johnson at Oregon. 9, Jalen Royals at Utah State. 8, Torrey Horton at Colorado State. 7, Elick Aio manor at stanford six evan stewart who transferred from texas a&m to oregon the top five five was a mecca abuka at ohio state four travis hunter at colorado three isaiah bond who transferred from Alabama to Texas. Number two, Tedaroa McMillan at Arizona. And number one, Luther Burden III at Missouri. So for me, number 15 was Theo Weiss Jr. from Missouri.

14, Deion Burks from Oklahoma. 13, Tez Johnson from Oregon. 12, Trey Harris from Ole Miss. 11, J. Michael Sturdivant from UCLA. 10, Torrey Horton from Colorado State. 9, Evan Stewart now at Oregon. 8, Isaiah Bond now at Texas. 7, Juice Wells now at Ole Miss.

6, Xavier Restrepo from Miami. 5, Travis Hunter from Colorado. 4, Elec I.O. Maynard from Stanford. 3, Emeka Egbuka. 2, Tedaroa McMillan from Colorado. Four, Elec Io Maynor from Stanford. Three, Emeka Egbuka. Two, Tedaroa McMillan from Arizona. And finally, wide receiver one, Luther Burden III from Missouri. We would love to hear from the good people. We knew the wide receiver episode was going to go long. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it here. We know you got takes on the wide receiver class, so let's hear them. Whether it is ranking the wide receivers,

little nuggets that you might have on particular players, whether you thought that we are way too high, way too low on a guy, whatever. Also, throw out some names of some guys that maybe we didn't mention in this podcast. There's a lot of guys that Connor watched that I need to get to over the next couple of weeks and that I'll get to before the season starts. But if there's somebody else that we didn't get to, you guys mentioned it with Todd Brooks with Texas Tech. You bullied me enough to go back and watch him. By the way, now he's in my top eight. You guys are welcome. So that'll be reflected on the PFF rankings once those things come out. So let us know if there was a wide receiver that did not

get mentioned here that you think should have, or at least that maybe you just want to know our thoughts. Best way to do that, YouTube comments, youtube.com backslash at NFL Stock Exchange. If you were going to the channel, if you were listening to this channel, whether you're audio or video, we would love for you to hit subscribe. We were almost at 30,000 subscribers. It would mean a lot to, you know, continue to build this community and this family throughout the summer. We really enjoy this time of year because it's a little bit slower. It allows Connor and I to get a couple of extra days to dive into the comments and go back and forth with you guys. And it's always more fun when you continue to come back.

That's the way to do that, of course. If you're subscribed to the channel, if you're audio only, you can hit us up at Tampa Bay Trey, at Connor J. Rogers on X, and also on Instagram. Connor, you got anything else before we get out of here? No, I think you summed it up well. Obviously a long one today. It always is with the wide receivers.

A lot of fun. Curious to know who we missed. And I'll say real quick, I did watch a couple that i did watch just for those that are like how is this going on in here i watched rara thomas on georgia i think you have a big year he just needs to actually be productive there uh you had xavier restrepo on your list jaylen lane from virginia tech and a couple more here Ricky White from UNLV smaller school product who yeah had a big season and Ty Feltin really big season Ty Feltin was the other Maryland receiver that I watched those guys didn't make my top 15 um but I wanted to give them a little shout out of guys

that I got I got some early eyes on um in this process only guy that I didn't mention that I watched was Julian Fleming, the former five-star wide receiver from Ohio state. Now he's at Penn state. He's just kind of like a, he's got to play, man. I mean,

he's just, you could tell he just has not played a lot of football because the injuries, but he's a talented player. So I hope that we get a fully healthy season from him. So there we go, everybody. Thank you for watching and listening to the show.

We'd love to hear your comments on all things, wide receivers. I'm Trevor Sicken, but that is Connor Rogers. Thank you guys so much for watching and listening to the show we'd love to hear your comments on all things wide receivers i'm trevor sicken but that is connor rogers thank you guys so much for watching and listening to the nfl stock exchange podcast we will see you with the tight end episode coming up next week Thank you.