BIG, FAST receivers…Low Rated

[awill25]

Like many, I love to recruit SPEED. I’ve always felt it’s by far the most important single rating that matters. I always begin my recruiting cycle by going to ALL RECRUITS and sorting by speed.

Having said that, there seems to be a plethora of tall (6’3”+) WR who just aren’t rated very highly, but have good speed. Most of the time these guys will have speed 90-95, but very average other ratings. Acceleration especially seems to be in 70’s to low 80’s with these players.

The question is: can these guys be extremely effective in the vertical passing game for users? It seems like if their RELEASE rating isn’t awful, then they should be able to overcome their comparatively low acceleration (to speed) rating and get deep!

Wouldn’t getting these guys the ball on the move rather than off screens, hitches, curls, etc negate that Acceleration?

Would love to hear thoughts on this.

[Hiero]

In my experience, they are effective, however, not until they have 2-3 years of training under their belt. Once they are (red shirt) juniors or seniors, they are pretty good, well-rounded players.

[awill25]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hiero

In my experience, they are effective, however, not until they have 2-3 years of training under their belt. Once they are (red shirt) juniors or seniors, they are pretty good, well-rounded players.

Have you been able to use these guys early as field stretchers? Ie DK Metcalf his rookie year.

[jmd161]

Quote: Originally Posted by awill25

Have you been able to use these guys early as field stretchers? Ie DK Metcalf his rookie year.

It depends on their route running and ability to get off press coverage. For the most part they will.. Sometimes they get stalemated at the LOS. You will get some that are beast though.

Their Ovr is low until you recruit them. Then you see everything excep catch is high. These guys are great for stretching the field.

[TWerne]

I find they work very well in the slot since it tends to run crossing, clearout, slant, and drag routes. One of my favorite plays is Mesh and fast receivers will run away from DBs.

I tend to get at least one when I am rebuilding small schools. I use them to punish man coverage in smaller schools that don't have the speed to keep up with them. My Ball State 6'5", 206 lbs, 3-star freshman WR won freshman All-American because of that usage by getting 1110 yds, 20+ yds/rec, and 8 TDs. He is starting his sophomore season with 94 speed and is much more useful now with training bumps to agility, acceleration, and route running.

They will not become well-rounded receivers until their junior or senior seasons, usually and it is a good idea to redshirt them if you can. I am guessing that these receivers aren't used as special cases by the computer and their slow movement skills mean they can't get separation and their weak spec and CIT catching stats mean they aren't going to Moss defenders. They are fairly weak unless you are exploiting unathletic corners.