College Football

Fun with college football stats: Michael Crabtree, Marqise Lee the best first down wide receivers

If you had to pick a wide receiver to throw the football to on first down, who would it be?

Mar 7, 2013, 4:00 PM UTC

Robert Laberge

Conventional wisdom says that running the football on first down successfully is always the thing you should be doing. The Big Ten has taken that strategy to heart and put it in their football bible, “Ground and Pound and Punt”, written by Kirk Ferentz.

Enter the new era of college football, where it’s all about getting that football out into the open. First down passing has become all the rage. Getting that ball out and early has become more crucial, particularly with offenses recognizing that a high percentage completed pass has about the same utility as a standard run up the middle.

Here are some notable aspects of these players, based on data from the indispensable cfbstats.com.

The Airraid offense dominates this list. Multiple representatives from Texas Tech, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State are all a part of this list.
At least a third of these wide receivers are in the NFL right now, many of whom are either primary or secondary receiving options in their offenses.
The University of Hawaii has more representatives in the top 30 than the state of Hawaii. The run and shoot lives on in the far away isles.
Lane Kiffin had the most explosive first down wide receiver of the past six years and went 7-6.

Here’s the list! Highest numbers are in bold.


	Player	Team	Year	Catches	Yards	TDs	Comments
	Michael Crabtree	Texas Tech	2007	68	999	12	Crabtree had a spectacular freshman campaign and was released early and often on first down to terrorize Big 12 defenses.
	Marquise Lee	USC	2012	66	1046	9	Lee was the most explosive of all the wide receivers on this list, notching big play after big play and turbocharging USC's offense.
	Ryan Broyles	Oklahoma	2010	64	774	8	Broyles was the number one threat for Landry Jones in Oklahoma's Big 12 title run.
	Jordan White	Western Michigan	2011	63	894	6	White set FBS records this year in receptions and receiving yards.
	Kendall Wright	Baylor	2011	61	778	4	Wright was RGIII's main target during his quarterback's Heisman campaign.
	James Casey	Rice	2008	59	683	7	Rice won ten football games this year.
	Greg Salas	Hawaii	2009	58	881	3	Hawaii's offense is set in a recursive loop of passing.
	Jordy Nelson	Kansas State	2007	58	805	4	Bill Snyder moved Nelson from defensive back to wide receiver because Bill Snyder is a wizard with exceptional vision.
	Robert Woods	USC	2011	56	622	8	Woods was pretty exceptional too when Lane Kiffin decided to throw the ball too much to him on 1st down last year.
	Justin Blackmon	Oklahoma State	2010	56	896	8	Blackmon was ranked the 91st best recruit in the country by Rivals in 2008. No, not nationally. At the wide receiver position.
	Danny Amendola	Texas Tech	2007	56	601	3	Crabtree before Crabtree.
	Tavon Austin	West Virginia	2012	54	599	5	Austin got most of the pub for WVU, but he was probably the second most important Mountaineer WR last year.
	Justin Blackmon	Oklahoma State	2011	54	636	1	Blackmon received four offers in college.
	Greg Salas	Hawaii	2010	54	953	6	Hawaiians believe passing a football is like riding the gnarliest wave bro.
	Mohamed Sanu	Rutgers	2011	53	570	2	Sanu was an impressive first man option at Rutgers.
.	Golden Tate	Notre Dame	2009	53	930	9	Charlie Weis lost to UConn with Tate putting up these numbers.
	Freddie Barnes	Bowling Green	2009	53	724	8	Barnes set records for receptions and receiving yards.
	Michael Crabtree	Texas Tech	2008	53	673	11	Crabtree's senior Heisman campaign wasn't quite so good, but Tech was a more complete team and came close to a title berth
	Cobi Hamilton	Arkansas	2012	52	777	2	Arkansas's offense last year was Cobi Hamilton doing something awesome, or dead zone.
	Quinton Patton	Louisiana Tech	2012	52	708	7	Patton was unleashed in Sonny Dykes's system last year, including an incredible 22 catch, 4 TD game against A&M
	Tyron Carrier	Houston	2011	52	554	4	Houston rocked it up and took it a little later.
.	Eric Page	Toledo	2011	52	476	2	Toledo wut
.	Ryan Grice-Mullen	Hawaii	2007	52	767	5	True story: Hawaii has never ever run the football. Look it up in a book, preferably the Farmer's Almanac
.	Stedman Bailey	West Virginia	2012	51	788	10	Austin got more catches, but it was Bailey who was the more explosive option in Holgorsen's mad raid.
.	Jordan Shipley	Texas	2009	51	742	3	Shipley was the engine that kept Texas steering through the toughest parts of an undefeated regular season
.	Quan Cosby	Texas	2008	51	547	4	Remember when Texas could throw 50 receptions to one plus guy? Dark times.
.	Josh Stewart	Oklahoma State	2012	50	640	3	Airraid don't stop for no one.
.	Austin Collie	BYU	2008	50	658	6	Should've been the first sign that Collie would be a willing weapon for an NFL offense when he could be remarkable with the Cougars
.	Jamarko Simmons	Western Michigan	2008	50	634	4	I imagine none of you picked Western Michigan as a team that would make this list twice. Never underestimtae MACtion
.	Davone Bess	Hawaii	2007	50	604	6	HOW COULD ANYONE HAVE FORESEEN A FOURTH HAWAII RECEIVER ON THIS LIST