Everyone and their mother will say they are fans of the top names near the college ranks of wide receivers right now. Jeremiah Smith, among others, has hogged the spotlight deservedly, so I will look past the fun names everyone knows at the top to identify some potential values to note over the summer. The rule of thumb here will be to avoid all names inside the current average top 25 for C2C ranks, so we have a deeper look into some prospects. I would love to talk about Bryant Wesco Jr, Boobie Feaster, & Vernell Brown III, among others at the top, but let’s talk further down. If we take advantage of the current lull in these 15 names, we may see a better payoff for CFF use or even future risers in C2C leagues.
Kenny Darby, Kentucky
First up is Kenny Darby, who flipped from LSU to join Will Stein at Kentucky. The room is bare, with the main competition coming from Shane Carr, Nic Anderson, and DJ Miller. Darby, as a freshman, has slowly risen to the notice of his coach throughout spring. Stein has been clear that talent is the only concern over worries of vet preference. Darby showed on film that he is able to play with a varied alignment and route tree ability.
Stein at Oregon loved to have players who could operate after the catch, which Darby can do with ease, along with his short area burst. The schedule will not provide any breathing room for the offense, so there will be plenty of game scripts in favor of using the passing game.
Emmett Mosley V, Texas
Mosley operates as the forgotten man of Texas with the flash of Cam Coleman, the athleticism of Ryan Wingo, and the enticing freshman Jermaine Bishop Jr. Mosley was able to stand out for Stanford as a freshman and then managed to stay afloat in his first year transitioning to the new scheme of Texas for the SEC, despite having to recover from an injury first. Mosley operates as a safe intermediate-range route runner who can hold his own as a solid complement to Cam Coleman and possibly push for the WR2 spot over Wingo at a reduced cost.
On a per-game basis, Mosley is better than Wingo in PPG, targets, receptions, yards, TDs, and first downs. This is true despite Mosley having limited snaps in his first three weeks back, too. Manning will be looking to lead this team to the playoffs, so there will be plenty of opportunities in this offense to put up stats and points this season. If Mosley does fall more to third on the depth chart, you may have a primary guy for 2027 as well if he stays for a fourth year in college.
Cooper Barkate, Miami
Moving Barkate with his QB to Miami is going to do wonders for those who got him. Toney is already established as a primary threat for defenses to shift towards inside, and now Barkate takes his chemistry to operate as WR2 outside in an offense where Carson Beck put less stats than Mensah did for the full year.
While the offense did swap out Keelan Marion and CJ Daniels for Vandrevius Jacobs and Cam Vaughn, it was Barkate who was still the one standing out this spring. Joshua Moore, Vaughn, and Jacobs will be the complementary pieces to round out the room.
Comfort will be key for Mensah, so I expect him to lean on the elder statesmen of the room, as Barkate has been playing since 2022. I am not saying he will be a super high draft pick as a fifth-year guy, but the upside is well worth the price for a team wanting to compete with a Day 3 receiver outcome likely at the next level, so small additional upside if he lands in an opportunity to fight for relevance if not buried on an NFL squad.
Talyn Taylor, Georgia
Georgia put a ton of trust in this current roster and staff as they only brought in Isiah Canion to help offset the loss of six of their top seven receiving options, with the lone exception being London Humphreys with a whopping 276 yards. Taylor has had a great spring from reports while Canion was out with an ankle injury.
The team needs more explosive plays in 2026, and Taylor has all the goods to deliver. Now, of course, the double whammy of being a Georgia receiver on top of being a year 1 zero after he was sidelined most of the season for an upper body injury sent him tumbling down the ranks for most. With such a new outlook on offense, Taylor, having a year in the system to understand the scheme, helps. That, paired with Stockton having more time to adapt, could be the perfect opportunity to offer upside as a WR3-4 type option with a profile and build that offers NFL upside too. A big Year 2 is the exact type of profile I wrote about, turning around NFL hopes for the young man, too.
Amare Thomas & Trent Walker, Houston
I will lump these two teammates together as both fit the criteria here. Thomas was already the top target for Weigman in 2025, but close behind was Tanner Koziol, who is now off to the NFL. In fact, Houston lost their second, third, and fourth highest options with Walker and Patrick Overmyer the only experienced additions.
I expect we see Amare Thomas get the same role and hopefully more in 2026, but Walker is already likely to be more relevant than what WR2 did last year with 12 catches for 191 yards. Walker has two back-to-back seasons over 800 receiving yards with shoddy QB play for Oregon State, so the transition to Big 12 defenses as a secondary receiving threat for a much more talented QB in Weigman should pay dividends, as Overmyer is not near the threat of Koziol. For clarification, he was the fifth option on his own team at UTSA and not even the top TE. I do want to clarify that Walker is also a fifth-year receiver, so NFL upside is likely tougher, but he could do it.
Derrick Salley Jr, Kansas State
Besides a select few, Salley has slid under the radar as a transfer to Kansas State. Many will focus on Tibbs or the tight ends Oakley and Cure as the top guys to replace the lead role of Jayce Brown. Salley had a great spring and comes in as a solid producer who produced a 34% yardage share and 52% TD share in Year 2 for his team on a 16.4 yards per catch rate.
That rate, coming in a 6’3” 213 lb. frame for Avery Johnson, who will stress Big 12 defenses while looking for the big play, could flourish for a guy not in the ranks by many. Tibbs is a cheap flyer too, so I get if people prefer the guy already there, but one name has shown way more at a younger rate and smaller level.
La’Keyleon Graves, Texas State
Shout out to G5 Hive on this callout, as Graves is another player not known but being described as the third option and most needed one for Texas State in 2026. The reason I love that is we know Chris Dawn and Beau Sparks are both done with this final season to play, so the freshman is next up. He has the size we want at 6’2” and 201 pounds, with a style of play that makes the team want to use him like Travis Hunter. That playstyle is fine, as the staff has said the focus will be on offense.
Now we get a year for Graves to learn with Brad Jackson and have the opportunity to be a bigger impact with him or perhaps in an even better spot in 2027. Their show hyped up Graves with the beat reporter discussing him as the under-the-radar guy who could surprise people.
Honorable mentions to Anthony Evans, Anthony Eager, Ed Small, Rasean Jones, KJ Duff, Winston Watkins, and Eugene Wilson. For the sake of time, I will keep this article from running too long and just note that they all could pay off at the current rank levels I have seen being outside the top 25.
