Does Size Matter???
by Narby on Jan 6, 2011 12:38 PM CST
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Print(When it Comes to WR Recruits)
Ok, get your minds out of the gutter. I started thinking about this subject more since we picked up Ge'Shun Harris since he is being compared to the failed experiments of Pittman and Carpenter quite a bit as they are all JUCO receivers. I don't believe that is a fair comparison, so I did a little research on Gophers receivers since 2000. I put together a list of the top receivers by year excluding TE's ( in order to make the list they had to have 35 or more receptions, not a super high number but productive) and the correlation is higher than I thought it would be even.
Year Player # of receptions Height
2000 Ron Johnson 59 6'3"
2001 Ron Johnson 56
2002 Antoine Burns 44 6'1"
2003 Aaron Hosack 51 6'6"
2003 Jared Ellerson 44 6'1"
2004 Jared Ellserson 37
2005 Ernie Wheelwright 37 6'5"
2005 Logan Payne 37 6'2"
2006 Logan Payne 59
2007 Ernie Wheelwright 66
2007 Eric Decker 67 6'3"
2008 Eric Decker 84
2009 Eric Decker 50
2010 MarQueis Gray 42 6'5"
2010 Da'Jon McKnight 48 6'3"
No receiver under 6'1" has caught 35 or more passes for the Gophers in the past 10 years. Accuracy is a problem with college qb's (ahem...Weber) so having a bigger target who can go up and get the ball is more essential than having a burner and these numbers back that up pretty well.
Then, there is the other obvious advantage they have in blocking for the RB's. The Broderick Smith transfer hurt us much more than Green being injured last year. The other interesting note is that only Decker managed this many receptions for 3 years, which would lead me to believe it is a difficult position to be productive as a freshmen or sophomore.
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Short burners tend to be...
…more effective corners (and kick/punt returners) as they usually get weeded out of the mix for receiver for reasons you cite, but are usually a little bit more skilled at reactive movements to accompany their speed, so corner is in their calling. So yes, size does matter!!!!! What is the last effective short receiver you can remember in college or pros? Ignore Wes Welker, he’s a freak of nature and worthy of all our praise, but he’s a total outlier!!!!
Good question for a slow Thursday, winter’s afternoon.
And short burners
Tend to only need 1-2 catches a game to make a big impact from the WR spot. Look at a guy like Deshawn Jackson. Over the course of his NFL career, he’s caught roughtly 3-5 passes per game, yet he’s considered a very feared wide receiver. That’s the definition of what a small receiver’s role is in an offense.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
Of course
Then you have guys like Wayne Chrebet and Wes Welker who love going over the middle despite their size!
The one thing a smaller guy isn’t, usually, is the primary red zone target.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
NFL Receivers....
get to catch passes from NFL caliber QB’s. College QB’s usually are not quite as accurate, but the majority of top WR’s in the NFL are taller and have speed as well.
Since we aren’t going to get the Calvin or Andre Johnson’s of the world to come the the Gophers, I would rather have a guy that is 6’3" with good hands even if his forty time is in the 4.6 neighborhood than another short burner ala Pittman, Carpenter. It’s all about the catching radius. Just give me 3 or 4 guys like McKnight and Harris and we will be fine.
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