| 21 November 2011
(Creative Commons - Parker Anderson)
Last Monday, the 10 semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the top college receiver in the country, were announced. This week, the three semifinalists were announced (which I believe are incorrect).
Since the beginning of the season, I've 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, I continue my rankings of the 10 Biletnikoff semifinalists (in ascending order with their candicacy pros and cons):
7. Sammy Watkins (Clemson)
| Targets | Rec | Yds | TD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Troy | 9 | 7 | 81 | 1 |
| Wofford | 6 | 4 | 56 | 1 |
| Auburn | 12 | 10 | 155 | 2 |
| Florida St. | 10 | 7 | 141 | 2 |
| Virginia Tech | 9 | 3 | 38 | 0 |
| Boston College | 11 | 7 | 152 | 0 |
| Maryland | 9 | 8 | 105 | 2 |
| North Carolina | 13 | 8 | 91 | 1 |
| Georgia Tech | 11 | 9 | 153 | 1 |
| Wake Forest | 8 | 5 | 62 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 98 | 68 | 1034 | 10 |
Reception % - 69.39
Yards per Target - 10.55
CONFERENCE TOTALS: 71 targets, 47 receptions, 742 yards, 6 touchdowns
Reception % - 66.20
Yards per Target - 10.45
Candicacy: This kid may very well win a Biletnikoff before he leaves Clemson. It will be fun to watch the battles for the Biletnikoff that will take place between Watkins, USC's Robert Woods and Marqise Lee, Washington State's Marquess Wilson and the other fabulous freshmen and sophomores the next two seasons, especially knowing that we will get to continue watching all of them on Sundays after they finish they're college days.
But this year, the only freshman among the semifinalists just didn't put up the big numbers consistently. It's not a knock on Watkins necessarily because it was usually the cause of defenses overloading to shut him down and leaving his teammates free to have big games.
And defenses had to account for him at all times because Watkins is probably the top playmaker of all the semifinalists, which is saying something when you consider Woods, Justin Blackmon and Ryan Broyles are still to come in our Biletnikoff rankings. Watkins had a 20+ yard catch in every game this season, three rushes of 20+ yards and an 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Despite the number of big plays, Watkins is one of only three semifinalists without a 200+ yard game. The shoulder injury he sustained last week kept him from playing against North Carolina State this weekend and potentially having a standout performance.
Shotgun Spratling
