| 07 November 2011
A.J. Jenkins hasn't seen this end zone in a long time. (Creative Commons)
On Monday, the 10 semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the top college receiver in the country, were announced. Since the beginning of the season, I have been accumulating stats for the top receivers, beginning with an article I wrote about just how good Robert Woods had been through the first five games.
I've added a receiver every week or two when they've jumped toward the top of the national leaderboards for the primary receiving stat categories of receptions, yards and touchdowns. Going beyond those three categories, I culled through stat sheets and the play-by-play records of each game to see how many times these receivers had the ball thrown to them, aka targeted.
After looking at all the data, here's my current ranking of the 10 Biletnikoff semifinalists (in ascending order with their candicacy pros and cons):
10. A.J. Jenkins (Illinois)
| Targets | Rec | Yds | TD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas St. | 14 | 11 | 148 | 1 |
| S. Dakota St. | 7 | 5 | 71 | 0 |
| Arizona St. | 7 | 6 | 103 | 1 |
| W. Michigan | 8 | 6 | 43 | 0 |
| Northwestern | 14 | 12 | 268 | 3 |
| Indiana | 13 | 6 | 182 | 2 |
| Ohio St. | 11 | 8 | 80 | 0 |
| Purdue | 14 | 8 | 92 | 0 |
| Penn St. | 9 | 6 | 43 | 0 |
| Michigan | 19 | 8 | 103 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 116 | 76 | 1133 | 7 |
Reception % - 65.52
Yards per Target - 9.77
CONFERENCE TOTALS: 80 targets, 48 receptions, 768 yards, 5 touchdowns
Reception % - 60.00
Yards per Target - 9.60
Candicacy: A.J. Jenkins rose up the ranks after putting up amazing numbers in back-to-back games against Northwestern and Indiana that helped Illinois move to 6-0.
It's been all down hill since then. The Fighting Illini have lost four straight and part of the problem has been the inability to get Jenkins in the end zone.
Jenkins had three consecutive games below 100 yards and only got past the century mark against Michigan when the Illini threw the ball his way 19 times. The 11 incomplete passes intended for Jenkins were the first time any of the Biletnikoff semifinalists has reached double digits in that category.
Shotgun Spratling
