Big 12 Football: 50 best players of all-time

Big 12 Football best players of all-time: 24. Jeremy Maclin, WR, Missouri football

Jeremy Maclin is another player who made a huge impact in the conference despite the fact that he was a short-timer. He joined the Missouri Tigers in 2006 and redshirted during his freshman season. Then as a redshirt freshman the following year, he blew up for the Tigers.

A wide receiver by trade, Maclin was given the ball any way possible. He had 80 receptions for 1,055 yards and scored nine touchdowns as a receiver. He also ran the ball 51 times for an additional 375 yards and four touchdowns. If running and receiving wasn’t enough (and Missouri didn’t think it was) they also had Maclin return kicks.

During that same redshirt freshman season, Maclin had 1,039 yards on 43 kickoff returns with one touchdown and another two scores and 307 yards on 25 punt returns. He proved that he was no one-year wonder as well, putting up similar numbers as a return man (1,010 yards on kick returns with a touchdown and 270 yards and a touchdown on punt returns) while improving as a receiver.

Maclin hauled in 102 receptions for 1,260 yards with 13 touchdowns. He also ran the ball 40 times for 293 yards and two touchdowns. He was a one-man wrecking crew who made life miserable on opposing defensive (and special teams) coordinators. Maclin also earned All-American honors in each of his two seasons at Missouri.

Following that redshirt sophomore season, Maclin entered the 2009 NFL Draft where he was selected in the first round by the Philadelphia Eagles.