Top Five Wide Receiving Corps Indiana will Have to Face in 2017

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Over the course of the 2017 season the Indiana Hoosiers, who would top this list, will play some other pretty impressive receiving corps. 2017 will feature some familiar faces at this position, but many teams on the list will have new names to learn. Gone from this list from last season are Jehu Chesson and Amara Darboh of Michigan, Noah Brown from Ohio State, Chris Godwin of Penn State, and DeAngelo Yancey from Purdue.

1. Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State’s wide receivers will be right up there with Indiana when it is all said and done in 2017. They have a running game that will keep defenses honest and a quarterback who loves to chuck the deep ball. The Nittany Lions did lose 2016 receiving leader Chris Godwin to the NFL, but return three other playmakers who should be able to pick up the slack.

Two seniors, DaeSean Hamilton and Saeed Blacknall, will headline Penn State’s receiving corps. Those two will be joined by junior DeAndre Thompkins or Juwan Johnson to form a very formidable trio for quarterback Trace McSorley to throw to.

Hamilton is fourth on Penn State’s career receptions list with 161 and needs just 18 catches this season to pass Deon Butler (2005-08) as the school’s best pass catcher of all-time. He finished 2016 with 34 catches for 506 yards and a touchdown. He has the frame at six-foot-one 205 pounds and the talent to step up into the role that Godwin left. He will need to be more explosive and needs to find the end zone more however, as one score will not cut it for Penn State.

Blacknall is Penn State’s best deep threat as he averaged 23.13 yards per catch last season. At six-foot-three and blazing fast, the senior is a perfect target for McSorley to heave it up to down field. He has five career touchdowns and 690 yards on just 33 career catches.

The third receiver spot will be a battle between DeAndre Thompkins and Juwan Johnson. Thompkins, a junior, is more experienced and has 50 career catches for 618 yards to his name. He can in as a highly regarded recruit, but hasn’t been able to live up to the hype just yet. Johnson had just two catches for 70 yards, but had an outstanding spring and could wrestle away the starting spot from Thompkins.

The Nittany Lion wide receiving corps will be rounded out with depth pieces like junior Brandon Polk who has caught 20 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown in his career and Irvin Charles who had 2 catches for 106 yards and a score.

2. Ohio State Buckeyes

Urban Meyer’s offense will have to replace their top three pass catchers from a team that was a National Semi-Finalist in 2016, but the Buckeye faithful shouldn’t be too concerned as Meyer and his staff have stockpiled talent like a 1950’s fallout shelter is stocked with canned meat. Lead by a pair of juniors, the Buckeyes will have a young, but super talented receiving group.

Junior Parris Campbell will try and replace Curtis Samuel’s production at the H-back position. Samuel was one of the most versatile players in the country last year. Campbell caught 13 passes for 121 yards in 13 games last season. His numbers should be much better in an expanded role and if offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson can tweak J.T. Barrett and the passing game.

Indianapolis native Terry McLaurin is the other upper classman expected to step up for the Buckeyes. Like Campbell, McLaurin saw limited duty due to the talent in front of him in 2016. He only caught 11 passes for 114 yards, but did score twice.

Sophomores Binjimen Victor, Austin Mack, K.J. Hill and Johnnie Dixon will all be in the mix for playing time as well, but they combined for only 30 receptions and 226 yards. Youth and inexperience could hold this unit back early in the year, but the talent is there for this to develop into a strength for the Buckeyes. There is a kicker though, J.T. Barrett has to be better throwing the ball or it doesn’t matter who is running routes in Columbus.

3. Michigan Wolverines

Much like their arch rivals in Ohio, Michigan will be looking at inexperienced youth to replace the departed Amara Darboh and Jehu Chesson who combined for 1,362 yards and nine touchdowns last season.

Luckily for Michigan, Jim Harbaugh and his staff brought in the number one wide receiver in the 2017 recruiting class in Donovan Peoples-Jones. The five-star recruit is six-foot-two and 193 pounds and should have an immediate impact in the passing game. He has all the tools to develop into one of the best receivers in the country. Peoples-Jones has great speed, terrific footwork, tremendous hands, and a physical blocker in the run game.

The other starting wide receiver figures to be Keoa Crawford, a 6-foot-2 sophomore who made four catches last season. Crawford is considered one of the better blocking wide outs on the team, which is a big deal for an offense that wants to run the ball first.

Junior to be Grant Perry is Michigan’s leading returning receiver with 13 catches for 183 yards in 2016, but he could be facing some discipline for off the field issues. Perry is a smaller receiver at just six-foot, but will need to step up in an expanded role after his issues are worked out.

Also in the mix is Eddie McDoom, the receiver with the best name in the conference, is another youngster looking to expand his role in the offense. As a freshman last season McDoom was used in the rushing attack (16 carries for 160 yards) and in the passing game (5 catches for 59 yards. He possesses elite speed and can make defenders miss in space.

Rounding out Michigan’s receiving corps are four-star freshman Tarik Black and senior Maurice Ways. Black, like Peoples-Jones, was an early enrollee and made a name for his self during spring ball. He should be a name to know for at least the next three seasons in Ann Arbor. Ways on the other hand is more of a depth piece with only five catches for 64 yards during his career.

4. Wisconsin Badgers

This is the portion of the list where things get a little dicey and there is a bigger drop-off between teams three and four than there is one and three. Wisconsin isn’t known for their wide receiver play, but they have had several guys who were just good, tough players. Leading the way for the Badgers this season is senior Jazz Peavy.

Peavy is a do it all type of wide receiver who may be as well know for his ability to catch the ball as he is for his propensity to be used on the jet sweep. The junior led the Badgers with 635 yards on 43 catches and five touchdowns. He also ran the ball a remarkable 21 times for 318 yards. That’s a ridiculous 15.1-yard per carry average. Clearly he can impact a game in multiple ways.

The depth behind Peavy is where things get a little muddled for the Badgers. The other starting wide out spot should go to sophomore Quintez Cephus, a six-foot-one receiver out of Georgia, who made four grabs for 94 yards in 2016. He showed some flashes, in limited playing time, that he can be a quality Big Ten receiver.

Behind the starters will be a handful of reserves looking to make an impact. Backing up Peavy will be senior George Rushing who caught 12 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown in 2016. Rushing only has 19 career catches however. Sophomore A.J. Taylor only has three career catches which may open the door for four-star recruit Danny Davis to make an early impact as a true freshman.

5. Virginia Cavaliers

The fifth spot on this list was tough to determine, as the pickings were slim. I choose Virginia over Illinois in part due to the fact that Illini wide receiver Mikey Dudek is coming off of two ACL surgeries and it’s unknown if he can bounce back to the form he showed in 2014.

So let’s talk about the Cavaliers weapons at the position. Coming off a 2-10 season in 2016, it may be shocking to some that UVA is on this list, but speaks volumes to the known quantities IU will play in 2017. The Cavaliers do return their top two pass catchers from a year ago in senior Doni Dowling and junior Olamide Zaccheaus.

Dowling, a six-foot-one 215-pound specimen, led the Cavaliers with 626 yards on 50 and four touchdowns. He has the propensity to make the spectacular grab and could be a star in the making.

Zaccheaus caught one more pass than Dowling and accumulated 584 yards and seven scores on 51 receptions. Zaccheaus is only five-foot-eight, but is a weapon in the slot and can be used to bolster the rushing attack as well. He carried the ball 33 times for 262 yards as a freshman in 2015.

The third starting spot could go to sophomore Joe Reed who had four catches for 77 yards in 13 games last year. Reed adds some much needed size to the lineup at six-foot-three and gives UVA quarterback Kurt Benkert a nice target to throw to.

Backing up the three starters will be senior Andre Levrone who had eight catches and 126 yards in 2016, and a pair of sophomores, Hasise Dubois (8 catches and 99 yards) and Warren Croft (8 catches and 97 yards).  While UVA doesn’t sport the most talent receivers IU will face, they do have plenty of young players who have gotten their feet wet in the ACC.