VN: The 2014 College Receiver Crop

December 05, 2014, 3:14 pm ET

Photo: USA Today Sports Images

by Bill Connelly

A couple of columns ago, I took a look at some updated rushing numbers for the 2014 college football season. On the eve of Championship Weekend -- when players like Alabama's Amari Cooper, Oregon's Byron Marshall, Ohio State's Devin Smith, and even Kansas State's Tyler Lockett could play a direct role in deciding which teams reach the first College Football Playoff -- I thought now would be a good time to look at the pass catchers.

We'll go about this with about the same approach that we used for runners: share the top names below, and share an Excel file with full information.

But first, let's quickly revisit an old concept: RYPR.

Below, you will find a measure that attempts to answer the following questions about a given pass-catcher:

1) How much do you produce?
2) How important are you to your team's passing game?
3) How good is the passing game to which you are important?
4) And how much is the forward pass featured in your team's offense?

The idea was to simply multiply the following four factors together: a player's Yards Per Target, his Target Rate, his team's Passing S&P+, and his team's pass rate. Target Rate x Yards Per Target x Passing S&P+ x Pass Rate = RYPR.

Simplified, it's basically this:

RYPR = (receiving yards / total team plays) * Passing S&P+

Again, it's not bad. It gives a single player too much credit for his team's Passing S&P+ overall, but the initial goal here isn't to produce the perfect receiver measure -- it's simply to answer the four questions listed above. As soon as I give myself the time, we'll take this further.

I've been working with some students on different ways to look at receiver data, but let's ride the RYPR one more time before, like everything else this offseason, the ideas get refined a bit.

Here's a link to a file with all players who have been targeted at least 10 times this season.

Here are the top 100 wide receivers, ranked in order of their RYPR score. Below, we'll look at the top 25 tight ends and running backs, too.

Top 100 college wide receivers according to RYPR
Team	Player	Year	Targets	Catches	Yards	Catch Rate	Yds Per Target	Target Rate	Target No.	Passing S&P+	Pass Rate	RYPR	WR Rk
Alabama	Amari Cooper	JR	146	103	1573	70.5%	10.8	38.7%	1	150.4	47.8%	300.1	1
Colorado State	Rashard Higgins	SO	121	89	1640	73.6%	13.6	30.6%	1	122.1	53.9%	273.5	2
Kansas State	Tyler Lockett	SR	113	79	1193	69.9%	10.6	34.8%	1	120.6	52.7%	233.6	3
Florida State	Rashad Greene	SR	123	86	1183	69.9%	9.6	29.8%	1	140.8	56.9%	229.5	4
Western Michigan	Corey Davis	SO	99	70	1232	70.7%	12.4	31.3%	1	118.0	47.5%	218.5	5
Michigan State	Tony Lippett	SR	98	60	1124	61.2%	11.5	28.1%	1	144.4	45.9%	213.3	6
Pittsburgh	Tyler Boyd	SO	104	69	1149	66.3%	11.1	40.2%	1	123.1	37.6%	205.2	7
USC	Nelson Agholor	JR	125	97	1223	77.6%	9.8	30.6%	1	127.8	52.4%	200.3	8
Rutgers	Leonte Carroo	JR	90	53	1043	58.9%	11.6	28.3%	1	135.0	44.4%	196.7	9
Kansas State	Curry Sexton	SR	90	67	940	74.4%	10.4	27.7%	2	120.6	52.7%	184.0	10
Oklahoma	Sterling Shepard	JR	78	50	957	64.1%	12.3	25.6%	1	133.1	43.2%	180.4	11
Notre Dame	William Fuller	SO	106	71	1037	67.0%	9.8	26.0%	1	126.5	54.0%	174.0	12
West Virginia	Kevin White	SR	144	102	1318	70.8%	9.2	30.4%	1	120.0	51.9%	173.5	13
Washington State	Vince Mayle	SR	163	106	1483	65.0%	9.1	21.8%	1	111.7	78.4%	173.5	14
Georgia Tech	DeAndre Smelter	SR	62	35	715	56.5%	11.5	38.8%	1	144.0	25.2%	161.9	15
Western Michigan	Daniel Braverman	SO	97	79	911	81.4%	9.4	30.7%	2	118.0	47.5%	161.6	16
Miami-FL	Phillip Dorsett	SR	64	31	826	48.4%	12.9	18.7%	1	126.3	52.4%	159.8	17
Massachusetts	Tajae Sharpe	JR	135	85	1281	63.0%	9.5	29.3%	1	92.3	62.0%	159.0	18
Arizona State	Jaelen Strong	JR	138	75	1062	54.3%	7.7	33.4%	1	113.1	54.2%	157.8	19
South Carolina	Pharoh Cooper	SO	89	61	982	68.5%	11.0	21.3%	1	126.3	52.7%	156.6	20
East Carolina	Justin Hardy	SR	138	98	1194	71.0%	8.7	27.7%	1	101.6	63.2%	153.9	21
Old Dominion	Antonio Vaughan	SR	94	63	1019	67.0%	10.8	21.9%	2	106.9	59.9%	152.0	22
Auburn	D'haquille Williams	JR	68	45	730	66.2%	10.7	22.6%	2	162.8	37.8%	149.2	23
Auburn	Sammie Coates	JR	70	30	717	42.9%	10.2	23.3%	1	162.8	37.8%	146.4	24
Ohio State	Devin Smith	SR	40	26	662	65.0%	16.6	12.8%	2	156.5	43.7%	144.7	25
Team	Player	Year	Targets	Catches	Yards	Catch Rate	Yds Per Target	Target Rate	Target No.	Passing S&P+	Pass Rate	RYPR	WR Rk
Baylor	Corey Coleman	SO	72	53	928	73.6%	12.9	17.5%	3	127.8	48.7%	140.1	26
UCLA	Jordan Payton	JR	91	63	896	69.2%	9.9	23.0%	1	124.7	49.5%	139.9	27
Colorado	Nelson Spruce	JR	153	106	1198	69.3%	7.8	29.7%	1	105.0	57.3%	139.9	28
Ohio State	Michael Thomas	SO	56	40	639	71.4%	11.4	17.9%	1	156.5	43.7%	139.7	29
Illinois	Mike Dudek	FR	105	69	965	65.7%	9.2	25.5%	1	106.2	56.1%	139.4	30
Idaho	Joshua McCain	SR	120	76	1162	63.3%	9.7	29.8%	1	90.2	53.0%	137.9	31
Marshall	Tommy Shuler	SR	99	67	869	67.7%	8.8	27.0%	1	112.9	50.6%	135.2	32
Tulsa	Keevan Lucas	SO	154	101	1219	65.6%	7.9	33.7%	1	101.2	50.1%	135.1	33
Texas Tech	Jakeem Grant	JR	110	67	938	60.9%	8.5	20.7%	1	122.0	62.0%	133.8	34
Central Michigan	Titus Davis	SR	83	54	843	65.1%	10.2	25.9%	1	106.0	47.9%	133.2	35
Oregon	Devon Allen	FR	58	37	666	63.8%	11.5	16.2%	2	150.6	47.4%	133.0	36
Ole Miss	Laquon Treadwell	SO	75	48	632	64.0%	8.4	21.4%	1	133.7	53.7%	129.8	37
Central Florida	Breshad Perriman	JR	73	37	767	50.7%	10.5	24.1%	1	108.9	46.6%	128.4	38
Texas A&M	Josh Reynolds	SO	73	49	805	67.1%	11.0	15.7%	2	126.2	58.5%	128.1	39
Missouri	Bud Sasser	SR	106	65	898	61.3%	8.5	31.3%	1	99.0	47.3%	124.1	40
Texas	John Harris	SR	99	64	1015	64.6%	10.3	26.3%	1	93.3	48.8%	122.8	41
Ole Miss	Vince Sanders	SR	53	35	594	66.0%	11.2	15.1%	3	133.7	53.7%	122.0	42
Duke	Jamison Crowder	SR	131	79	983	60.3%	7.5	32.0%	1	95.3	53.0%	121.0	43
Baylor	KD Cannon	FR	79	47	800	59.5%	10.1	19.2%	2	127.8	48.7%	120.8	44
Miami-OH	David Frazier	SR	110	59	949	53.6%	8.6	25.5%	1	88.6	61.6%	120.0	45
Clemson	Mike Williams	SO	80	48	918	60.0%	11.5	20.1%	2	104.3	49.7%	119.6	46
TCU	Josh Doctson	JR	96	51	812	53.1%	8.5	22.1%	1	115.4	54.8%	118.4	47
Utah State	Hunter Sharp	JR	96	63	918	65.6%	9.6	26.8%	1	96.4	47.9%	118.4	48
BYU	Mitch Mathews	JR	96	64	840	66.7%	8.8	23.1%	1	111.5	52.4%	118.0	49
Nebraska	Kenny Bell	SR	74	40	717	54.1%	9.7	25.5%	1	118.0	40.4%	117.7	50
Team	Player	Year	Targets	Catches	Yards	Catch Rate	Yds Per Target	Target Rate	Target No.	Passing S&P+	Pass Rate	RYPR	WR Rk
Texas Tech	Bradley Marquez	SR	102	65	821	63.7%	8.1	19.2%	2	122.0	62.0%	117.1	51
Western Kentucky	Taywan Taylor	SO	56	44	739	78.6%	13.2	11.2%	4	127.6	61.9%	117.0	52
West Virginia	Mario Alford	SR	104	62	888	59.6%	8.5	22.0%	2	120.0	51.9%	117.0	53
Western Kentucky	Jared Dangerfield	JR	88	64	738	72.7%	8.4	17.6%	1	127.6	61.9%	116.9	54
Cincinnati	Mekale McKay	JR	65	39	643	60.0%	9.9	16.2%	2	125.3	57.6%	115.7	55
LSU	Travin Dural	SO	79	37	758	46.8%	9.6	31.9%	1	107.8	35.0%	115.3	56
Washington State	Isiah Myers	SR	116	78	972	67.2%	8.4	15.5%	2	111.7	78.4%	113.7	57
Air Force	Jalen Robinette	SO	70	41	763	58.6%	10.9	37.0%	1	117.1	23.9%	112.8	58
Rice	Jordan Taylor	SR	75	49	781	65.3%	10.4	24.3%	1	112.1	39.7%	112.4	59
Northern Illinois	Da'Ron Brown	SR	88	48	841	54.5%	9.6	32.5%	1	100.6	35.8%	111.9	60
Boise State	Thomas Sperbeck	SO	55	38	664	69.1%	12.1	14.7%	2	133.6	46.9%	111.6	61
Oregon	Dwayne Stanford	SO	52	37	557	71.2%	10.7	14.6%	3	150.6	47.4%	111.3	62
Georgia State	Donovan Harden	JR	89	60	885	67.4%	9.9	21.5%	2	92.4	56.1%	111.0	63
Michigan	Devin Funchess	JR	100	62	733	62.0%	7.3	32.5%	1	99.8	46.7%	111.0	64
Clemson	Artavis Scott	FR	83	68	851	81.9%	10.3	20.9%	1	104.3	49.7%	110.8	65
Old Dominion	Zach Pascal	SO	104	59	743	56.7%	7.1	24.2%	1	106.9	59.9%	110.8	66
Nebraska	Jordan Westerkamp	SO	61	41	666	67.2%	10.9	21.0%	2	118.0	40.4%	109.4	67
Louisville	DeVante Parker	SR	57	35	735	61.4%	12.9	15.4%	3	112.8	48.8%	109.2	68
East Carolina	Cam Worthy	SR	74	43	846	58.1%	11.4	14.9%	3	101.6	63.2%	109.1	69
USC	JuJu Smith	FR	77	51	658	66.2%	8.6	18.8%	2	127.8	52.4%	107.9	70
Cincinnati	Shaq Washington	JR	82	56	598	68.3%	7.3	20.4%	1	125.3	57.6%	107.6	71
Wisconsin	Alex Erickson	JR	76	44	651	57.9%	8.6	32.1%	1	109.3	35.5%	106.7	72
Georgia	Chris Conley	SR	48	32	577	66.7%	12.0	16.8%	2	125.4	42.0%	106.3	73
BYU	Jordan Leslie	SR	93	54	756	58.1%	8.1	22.4%	2	111.5	52.4%	106.2	74
Penn State	DaeSean Hamilton	FR	127	75	848	59.1%	6.7	29.7%	1	92.8	57.4%	105.7	75
Team	Player	Year	Targets	Catches	Yards	Catch Rate	Yds Per Target	Target Rate	Target No.	Passing S&P+	Pass Rate	RYPR	WR Rk
Louisiana Tech	Trent Taylor	SO	89	61	808	68.5%	9.1	22.6%	1	97.3	52.6%	105.0	76
North Carolina	Ryan Switzer	SO	80	55	708	68.8%	8.9	18.2%	1	119.8	54.2%	104.6	77
Ole Miss	Cody Core	JR	52	36	506	69.2%	9.7	14.9%	4	133.7	53.7%	103.9	78
Florida	Demarcus Robinson	SO	83	47	774	56.6%	9.3	30.0%	1	92.8	39.5%	102.6	79
California	Kenny Lawler	SO	83	54	701	65.1%	8.5	16.4%	1	123.7	59.5%	102.1	80
Toledo	Corey Jones	SO	96	66	812	68.8%	8.5	26.9%	1	102.6	43.6%	101.8	81
Arizona	Cayleb Jones	SO	112	64	841	57.1%	7.5	24.8%	1	99.5	54.6%	101.1	82
Mississippi State	De'Runnya Wilson	SO	68	38	575	55.9%	8.5	18.8%	1	134.6	47.1%	100.9	83
Maryland	Stefon Diggs	JR	83	52	654	62.7%	7.9	22.9%	2	102.7	53.6%	99.2	84
UNLV	Devonte Boyd	FR	100	64	973	64.0%	9.7	21.6%	1	88.5	53.3%	98.9	85
Cincinnati	Chris Moore	JR	48	24	548	50.0%	11.4	12.0%	4	125.3	57.6%	98.6	86
Buffalo	Ron Willoughby	JR	84	50	771	59.5%	9.2	24.1%	1	93.6	47.5%	98.6	87
Boise State	Shane Williams-Rhodes	JR	76	68	585	89.5%	7.7	20.4%	1	133.6	46.9%	98.3	88
Temple	Jalen Fitzpatrick	SR	81	50	702	61.7%	8.7	24.1%	1	82.7	56.5%	97.7	89
Stanford	Ty Montgomery	SR	94	61	604	64.9%	6.4	27.3%	1	109.1	50.4%	96.6	90
Fresno State	Josh Harper	SR	122	76	941	62.3%	7.7	30.4%	1	84.0	48.9%	96.4	91
California	Stephen Anderson	JR	65	46	661	70.8%	10.2	12.8%	4	123.7	59.5%	96.2	92
Oklahoma	Durron Neal	JR	74	40	508	54.1%	6.9	24.3%	2	133.1	43.2%	95.7	93
Oregon State	Victor Bolden	SO	107	72	798	67.3%	7.5	23.2%	1	94.6	58.4%	95.5	94
TCU	Kolby Listenbee	JR	74	36	653	48.6%	8.8	17.1%	2	115.4	54.8%	95.2	95
UL-Monroe	Rashon Ceaser	JR	112	77	872	68.8%	7.8	22.3%	2	84.1	64.3%	94.0	96
Baylor	Antwan Goodley	SR	85	42	621	49.4%	7.3	20.6%	1	127.8	48.7%	93.8	97
UL-Monroe	Kenzee Jackson	SR	133	79	866	59.4%	6.5	26.5%	1	84.1	64.3%	93.3	98
UL-Monroe	Ajalen Holley	SO	97	57	863	58.8%	8.9	19.3%	3	84.1	64.3%	93.1	99
Florida Atlantic	Lucky Whitehead	SR	106	76	709	71.7%	6.7	29.8%	1	96.2	48.4%	92.6	100

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Some quick thoughts:

Amari Cooper has been so good this season that I was worried nothing would pass the eyeball test if it didn't have him atop the list. It has him atop the list.
That Tyler Lockett, Rashad Greene, Tyler Boyd, Nelson Agholor, Sterling Shepard (despite injury), and Kevin White are also in the top 20 is certainly another nice thing for the eyeball test.
The worst, or perhaps least successful, 100-target receiver: Hawaii's Quinton Pedroza. The most successful receiver with 50 or fewer targets: Ohio State's Devin Smith.
Two Western Michigan sophomores in the top 16. WMU's P.J. Fleck is recruiting like crazy considering WMU's stature, and wow, they could be really good over the next couple of seasons.

Top 100 college tight ends according to RYPR
Team	Player	Year	Targets	Catches	Yards	Catch Rate	Yds Per Target	Target Rate	Target No.	Passing S&P+	Pass Rate	RYPR	TE Rk
Miami-FL	Clive Walford	SR	55	44	676	80.0%	12.3	16.1%	2	126.3	52.4%	130.7	1
Ole Miss	Evan Engram	SO	61	37	633	60.7%	10.4	17.4%	2	133.7	53.7%	130.0	2
Florida State	Nick O'Leary	SR	69	44	517	63.8%	7.5	16.7%	2	140.8	56.9%	100.3	3
Oregon	Pharaoh Brown	JR	33	25	420	75.8%	12.7	9.2%	6	150.6	47.4%	83.9	4
Kent State	Casey Pierce	SR	94	61	658	64.9%	7.0	22.6%	1	84.7	62.3%	83.4	5
Massachusetts	Jean Sifrin	JR	72	41	637	56.9%	8.9	15.6%	2	92.3	62.0%	79.1	6
Minnesota	Maxx Williams	SO	54	29	471	53.7%	8.7	26.0%	1	106.5	32.3%	77.9	7
Arkansas	Hunter Henry	SO	56	36	495	64.3%	8.8	17.3%	2	121.1	40.9%	75.9	8
Florida International	Jonnu Smith	SO	84	61	688	72.6%	8.2	27.2%	1	78.9	42.9%	75.4	9
Kansas	Jimmay Mundine	SR	61	45	584	73.8%	9.6	17.5%	3	92.6	47.8%	74.2	10
Wake Forest	Cam Serigne	FR	70	49	469	70.0%	6.7	21.9%	2	85.5	56.5%	71.0	11
Western Kentucky	Mitchell Henry	SR	45	29	442	64.4%	9.8	9.0%	6	127.6	61.9%	69.9	12
Stanford	Austin Hooper	SO	49	35	428	71.4%	8.7	14.2%	3	109.1	50.4%	68.4	13
Michigan State	Josiah Price	SO	39	23	355	59.0%	9.1	11.2%	3	144.4	45.9%	67.3	14
Virginia Tech	Bucky Hodges	FR	67	42	517	62.7%	7.7	17.4%	2	93.9	51.9%	65.6	15
Vanderbilt	Steven Scheu	JR	60	39	525	65.0%	8.8	18.0%	2	88.4	46.7%	64.8	16
Boise State	Jake Roh	FR	44	31	377	70.5%	8.6	11.8%	4	133.6	46.9%	63.4	17
Massachusetts	Rodney Mills	JR	59	30	489	50.8%	8.3	12.8%	3	92.3	62.0%	60.7	18
Marshall	Eric Frohnapfel	SR	43	33	389	76.7%	9.1	11.7%	3	112.9	50.6%	60.5	19
Georgia State	Joel Ruiz	JR	57	39	478	68.4%	8.4	13.8%	4	92.4	56.1%	60.0	20
Mississippi State	Malcolm Johnson	SR	34	24	339	70.6%	10.0	9.4%	7	134.6	47.1%	59.4	21
Kansas State	Zach Trujillo	SR	19	16	301	84.2%	15.8	5.8%	5	120.6	52.7%	58.9	22
Central Michigan	Deon Butler	SR	34	26	355	76.5%	10.4	10.6%	3	106.0	47.9%	56.1	23
NC State	David Grinnage	SO	35	26	343	74.3%	9.8	10.3%	6	103.2	52.1%	54.4	24
Wisconsin	Sam Arneson	SR	36	25	331	69.4%	9.2	15.2%	2	109.3	35.5%	54.2	25

Three tight ends would land in the overall RYPR top 100, and they're three damn good ones. Clive Walford and Evan Engram are explosive up-the-seam targets (just ask Mississippi State about Engram), and Nick O'Leary is Jameis Winston's bailout option. And the fact that Oregon hasn't missed injured Pharaoh Brown very much says quite a bit about quarterback Marcus Mariota. Brown was becoming a hell of a weapon for them.

Top 100 college running backs according to RYPR
Team	Player	Year	Targets	Catches	Yards	Catch Rate	Yds Per Target	Target Rate	Target No.	Passing S&P+	Pass Rate	RYPR	RB Rk
Oregon	Byron Marshall	JR	77	56	791	72.7%	10.3	21.6%	1	150.6	47.4%	158.0	1
Arizona State	D.J. Foster	JR	88	59	646	67.0%	7.3	21.3%	2	113.1	54.2%	95.9	2
Boise State	Jay Ajayi	JR	50	45	536	90.0%	10.7	13.4%	3	133.6	46.9%	90.1	3
Ohio State	Jalin Marshall	FR	37	26	356	70.3%	9.6	11.8%	3	156.5	43.7%	77.8	4
USC	Javorius Allen	JR	52	40	442	76.9%	8.5	12.7%	3	127.8	52.4%	72.4	5
Miami-FL	Duke Johnson	JR	53	33	370	62.3%	7.0	15.5%	3	126.3	52.4%	71.5	6
Western Kentucky	Leon Allen	JR	53	46	431	86.8%	8.1	10.6%	5	127.6	61.9%	68.2	7
Ohio State	Dontre Wilson	SO	34	21	300	61.8%	8.8	10.9%	4	156.5	43.7%	65.5	8
Mississippi State	Josh Robinson	JR	38	28	370	73.7%	9.7	10.5%	3	134.6	47.1%	64.9	9
Idaho	Richard Montgomery Jr.	SO	70	50	543	71.4%	7.8	17.4%	2	90.2	53.0%	64.5	10
UL-Lafayette	Elijah McGuire	SO	50	40	449	80.0%	9.0	16.2%	2	94.8	43.0%	59.4	11
South Carolina	Mike Davis	JR	38	30	349	78.9%	9.2	9.1%	6	126.3	52.7%	55.7	12
Illinois	Josh Ferguson	JR	55	44	373	80.0%	6.8	13.3%	3	106.2	56.1%	53.9	13
Washington State	Jamal Morrow	FR	69	61	460	88.4%	6.7	9.2%	4	111.7	78.4%	53.8	14
California	Daniel Lasco	JR	41	33	356	80.5%	8.7	8.1%	6	123.7	59.5%	51.8	15
NC State	Matt Dayes	SO	42	31	303	73.8%	7.2	12.4%	3	103.2	52.1%	48.0	16
Texas Tech	DeAndre Washington	JR	45	30	328	66.7%	7.3	8.5%	4	122.0	62.0%	46.8	17
Ohio State	Ezekiel Elliott	SO	28	26	208	92.9%	7.4	8.9%	6	156.5	43.7%	45.5	18
Middle Tennessee	Shane Tucker	SO	35	25	351	71.4%	10.0	10.9%	4	98.6	42.1%	45.4	19
West Virginia	Wendell Smallwood	SO	40	30	321	75.0%	8.0	8.5%	5	120.0	51.9%	42.2	20
Northwestern	Dan Vitale	JR	62	40	402	64.5%	6.5	14.3%	3	84.5	53.6%	41.9	21
Ole Miss	Jaylen Walton	JR	23	18	201	78.3%	8.7	6.6%	6	133.7	53.7%	41.3	22
Stanford	Christian McCaffrey	FR	17	16	251	94.1%	14.8	4.9%	6	109.1	50.4%	40.1	23
Florida State	Karlos Williams	SR	31	24	206	77.4%	6.7	7.5%	5	140.8	56.9%	40.0	24
Louisiana Tech	Kenneth Dixon	JR	35	26	306	74.3%	8.7	8.9%	6	97.3	52.6%	39.8	25

Football Study Hall's Ian Boyd wrote about Byron Marshall today. Out of necessity, he has basically become Oregon's leading wideout while still carrying the ball 44 times. He barely counts as a running back, but that's how he's listed, so I'll keep him here.

(Meanwhile, holy moly, Jay Ajayi. A 90 percent catch rate and 11.9 yards per catch? A rare combination.)