A lot of talented receivers have played for smaller schools over the years. Out of all the greats, which 10 have been the best of the bunch?
Year in and year out, dominant receivers represent small schools on statistical leaderboards. Some of these players were overlooked coming out of high school. Others ran into trouble that ended their chance at a big-time scholarship. Some merely blossomed within a particular system. In any case, their position as statistical leaders are hardly any fluke.
But what makes someone a “small school” player? For the purposes of this exercise, we must first define what constitutes a “small school” player. For players from recent years, small schools are defined as those outside of the Power Five structure. During the BCS era, the delineation was marked by the Big Six which also included the Big East.
Before that period, things are a bit less clear. The current power conferences (and their antecedents, such as the Big 8 and SWC for the Big 12) are all considered large schools for the purposes of this exercise. Independent programs that are now in major conferences are also included as major schools. Notre Dame will also never be confused for a small school.
That leaves what we would now think of as mid-major programs. Players at the FCS level were also included, and a few big names managed to make the cut for this list.
Prior to the 1950s, the college football landscape was vastly different. Thus we will focus on the modern era from the late 1950s onward. The list is filled with receivers that made their mark, and many went on to succeed in rhe professional ranks as well. Click ahead to see who we rated as the 10 best wide receivers from small schools.
Jim O’Brien will forever be remembered for his winning field goal in Super Bowl V for the Baltimore Colts. The 32-yard kick broke a 13-13 tie against the Dallas Cowboys to bring Baltimore its first Super Bowl win. But O’Brien lasted just four years in the NFL, all as a placekicker. Few remember his exploits as a receiver at Cincinnati, but his play as a Bearcat in the late 1960s was epic enough to land him in our top 10.
Even though Cincinnati went just 12-15-1 between 1967 and 1969, O’Brien was among the top receivers in the country. Getting his first playing time as a sophomore, the El Paso native hauled in 26 passes for 547 yards. The following year O’Brien followed it up with a season that put him about the nation’s leading receivers, averaging 25.2 yards per catch for 1107 yards and 12 touchdowns. He ended his career as Cincinnati’s leader with 142 points over three years.
Thanks to his success in college, O’Brien was selected by Baltimore in the third round of the 1970 NFL Draft. After helping the Colts win the Super Bowl as a rookie, he slowly earned more chances to catch passes in addition to placekicking. He finished 1972 with 11 receptions for 253 yards and two scores. O’Brien ended his NFL career with the Detroit Lions in 1973.
In his four years at Western Michigan, Corey Davis quickly developed into one of the country’s top receivers. Davis was a key part of P.J. Fleck‘s rebuilding project in Kalamazoo. Dominant from the outset, the Illinois native burned MAC defenses every season he played for the Broncos. He finished just shy of 1000 receiving yards in 2013, earning MAC freshman of the year honors.
Davis followed up his rookie season with the first of three straight 1,400-yard seasons. With 1,408 yards and 15 touchdowns, Davis led the conference in both categories as a sophomore. He followed it up with 1,427 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2015. As a senior, he played a key role in Western Michigan’s 13-0 MAC championship season that earned a berth in the Cotton Bowl. His 1,500 yards topped MAC receivers and he led the FBS with 19 touchdown catches.
In the final game before the MAC championship, Davis broke the all-time career FBS receiving record against Toledo. In the conference title game against Ohio, he went for 144 yards and a touchdown. Facing Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl, Davis finished the game with six catches for 72 yards and a score. It wasn’t enough to beat the Badgers, but Davis was selected fifth overall in the 2017 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans.
In the early 1990s, few I-A receivers were more electric than Wyoming’s Ryan Yarborough. The Baltimore native was recruited to play in Laramie by Cowboys legend Paul Roach. Yarborough played one season under Roach as a freshman, hauling in 25 passes for 406 yards and a touchdown. His career really took off the following season when Roach handed the reins of the program to offensive coordinator Joe Tiller.
As a sophomore in 1991, Yarborough’s 1,081 yards and 13 touchdowns put him fourth among all I-A receivers. The following year he led the nation with 1,351 receiving yards. Yarborough capped his career in Laramie with a 1,512-yard senior season. At a time when the WAC was featuring plenty of aerial attacks, Yarborough led the conference in touchdown catches for three straight seasons.
What made Yarborough so great was his ability to get into the endzone, and by the end of his career he held the I-A record with TD catches in 27 straight games. That success earned Yarborough a second-round selection in the 1994 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. Yarborough never found much success as a pro, spending two seasons with the Jets and two more with the Baltimore Colts before continuing his career in the short-lived XFL.
In just two seasons with Fresno State, Davante Adams established himself as one of the premier receivers in the FBS. Instead of sticking close to home at Cal or going further away to San Diego State or Hawaii, the Palo Alto native decided to play for the Bulldogs. Despite playing in the Mountain West, Adams played his way on to the national radar in 2012 and 2013.
As a redshirt freshman, Adams led all Mountain West receivers with 102 receptions, 1,312 yards, and 14 touchdown catches. That year the Bulldogs went 9-4, earning a share of the conference title and setting themselves up for another leap forward. 2013 saw Adams lead the nation with 131 receptions and 24 touchdowns. His 1,719 yards put him second among all FBS receivers. Fresno State went on to win its first outright conference title since taking the Big West crown in 1989.
Electing to leave school after his redshirt sophomore season, Adams was picked by the Green Bay Packers in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He was slowly worked into the Packers offense over his first two seasons. Injuries forced Adams to take a larger role in Green Bay in 2016. He responded with 997 yards and 12 touchdowns, adding another 217 yards and two scores in the playoffs.
Though he played just two years at Nevada, Alex Van Dyke needed no further time to establish himself among the greatest small-school receivers in history. Catching passes from Mike Maxwell in Chris Ault’s offense, Van Dyke led the NCAA in receptions in both 1994 and 1995. As a result, Van Dyke was part of two straight Big West championship teams in Reno and went 18-5 over his short college career.
In his first season with the Wolf Pack, Van Dyke caught 98 passes for 1,246 yards and 10 touchdowns. Both marks led the Big West as Nevada shared the conference crown with UNLV and Southwestern Louisiana (now UL-Lafayette). As a follow-up in 1995, Van Dyke hauled in 129 receptions for 1,854 yards and 16 scores. He also threw a 35-yard touchdown pass and was featured as a kick returner both seasons.
Van Dyke’s dynamic skill set led the New York Jets to select him with the first pick in the second round of the 1996 NFL Draft. Bouncing from New York to Philadelphia, Van Dyke spent five years in the NFL but never managed to equal his college success. He now lives in his hometown of Sacramento, where he owns and operates the training facility Going Vertical.
Jerry Rice has gone down as perhaps the greatest professional receiver in history. Before gracing an NFL field, though, Rice was dominating I-AA competition for Mississippi Valley State. The Starkville, Mississippi native quickly developed synergy with quarterback Willie Totten. Rice would go on to set multiple NCAA records during his time in Itta Bena, playing on one of the most dynamic offenses in college football history.
Rice earned his first playing time as a true freshman in 1981, catching 30 passes for 428 yards and two scores. The following year, Rice eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the first of three straight seasons. In his junior year, the receiver broke NCAA records with 102 catches for 1,450 yards. Rice then turned around and broke his own records in 1984 with 112 receptions for 1,845 yards and 27 touchdowns. The Delta Devils reached their only ever NCAA tournament appearance that season.
Thanks to his record-setting exploits at Mississippi Valley State, Rice was selected by the San Francisco 49ers as the 16th pick in the 1985 NFL Draft. He won three Super Bowls with the 49ers, earning MVP honors in Super Bowl XXIII with 11 receptions for 215 yards and a touchdown. Rice finished his NFL career as the all-time leader in receptions, yards, touchdowns and most other statistical categories for receivers.
In four years at Eastern Washington, Cooper Kupp set numerous FCS records. He was the scout player of the year during his redshirt season in Cheney. Once he moved on to the red turf of Roos Field, he never looked back. Between 2013 and 2016, Kupp set the all-division record for the most yards gained by any NCAA receiver at any level. The key thing to note is that Kupp wasn’t simply padding his stats against Big Sky and other FCS opponents.
As a freshman in, he caught five passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns to help upset Oregon State. The following year, the sophomore Kupp hauled in eight balls for 145 yards and three scores in a 59-52 loss at Washington. He posted 15 catches for 246 yards and three scores against Oregon’s defense in 2015, and as a senior Kupp helped beat Washington State with 12 receptions for 206 yards and three TDs.
After posting at least 1400 yards and 16 touchdowns per season, Kupp finished his record-breaking career with 6,464 receiving yards and 73 touchdowns which are NCAA and FCS records respectively. Kupp’s performance as one of the most consistent receivers in the NCAA convinced the Los Angeles Rams to select the FCS player in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
The putative father of the endzone celebration began his short but electric career at the University of Houston. Elmo Wright starred for the Cougars during their height of their brief period as an independent. As a sophomore in 1968, he exploded for 1,198 yards on just 43 receptions. His 27.9 yards per catch led all Division I receivers that year.
In 1969 Wright truly became a sensation. In the season opener at Florida, the junior from Brazoria, Texas found himself opposite Gators defensive back Steve Tannen. Catching one of his 63 passes on the season, Wright high-stepped Tannen’s attempt to tackle him and continued high-stepping all the way to the endzone. It was one of 14 touchdowns on the year, second-best in the nation among receivers.
Wright finished his career with a consensus All-America selection in 1970 even as his statistics tapered off. His 874 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior were the lowest season totals of Wright’s career at Houston. He was drafted 16th overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1971 NFL Draft. Wright was one of the receivers selected to the NFL All-Rookie team in 1971, but injuries cut his pro career short after just five seasons.
In three seasons at Louisiana Tech, Troy Edwards established himself as one of the top college receivers of the late 1990s. From the outset Edwards showed signs of having a preternatural sense for reaching the endzone. That skill helped the Shreveport native to set the I-A single-season record for touchdown catches as a redshirt junior.
As a redshirt freshman in 1996, few might have expected further greatness from the local prospect. That season Edwards posted 38 catches for 649 yards as Louisiana Tech went a pedestrian 6-5. But he scored on 10 of those 38 receptions, a pace few in college football could match. The next season, Edwards hauled in 102 catches for 1,707 yards and 13 scores. But it was in 1998 that he truly broke out as the best receiver in college football.
Though the Bulldogs went just 6-6, Edwards topped the I-A charts for receivers in receptions (140), yards (1,996), and touchdowns (27). The last mark still stands as the FCS record. That breakout season earned Edwards the Biletnikoff Award. Edwards was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 13th overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. He spent three seasons in Pittsburgh and also played for St. Louis, Tennessee, Jacksonville, and Detroit in an eight-year pro career.
The backstory of Randy Moss is legendary, the kind of documentary material that yields 30 for 30 gold. Born in Rand, West Virginia, Moss was a multi-sport star in high school and headed to Notre Dame. Then, jailed for his involvement in a fight, his matriculation in South Bend was severed before it ever really began. Moss was later forced to sit a year as a transfer student at Florida State, enough time to violate probation after testing positive for cannabis in his system.
Thus he landed at Marshall, where he was part of Bob Pruett’s unprecedented transition from the I-AA ranks to I-A football. While Moss was in Huntington, the Thundering Herd went 25-3. In 1996, the team went 15-0 and won the I-AA national championship in its final year at that level. Moss caught 78 passes for 1,709 yards and 28 touchdowns, tying Jerry Rice‘s record.
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The following year, Marshall transitioned to the I-A level and Moss continued producing. He was a consensus All-American and the Biletnikoff Award winner as Marshall immediately won the MAC title in its first try. Moss finished his belated time at the highest level of the sport with 96 receptions. By the end of the year, he led all I-A receivers with 1,820 receiving yards and 26 touchdowns.