As a true freshman in 2015, Alabama receiver Calvin Ridley put up an incredible stat line of 89 catches, 1,045 yards and seven touchdowns – although he did play in a 15 game season which helped to slightly pad his stats.

Aside from simply impressing early and stepping into a starting role virtually from the moment he walked onto campus, Ridley also excelled in several of the Crimson Tide’s biggest games last season. On the road against Georgia he had five catches for 120 yards and a touchdown. Ridley followed that effort up with a nine catch, 140-yard, one touchdown game against Arkansas. And if you combine his stat line from the SEC Championship Game against Florida and the Cotton Bowl against Michigan State, Ridley caught 16 passes for 240 yards and scored two touchdowns in those games.

Given the excellent start to his career, it’s easy to see why ESPN’s Tom Luginbill proclaimed Ridley to be a faster Amari Cooper Monday on the Bo Bound’s Out of Bound radio show:

High praise from a guy who runs ESPN’s recruiting department in addition to playing a lead role in the Under Armour High School All-American Game. But at least one important stat suggest Ridley has a ways to go to catch up to the 2014 Heisman finalists Cooper:

Catching contested passes isn’t the only thing Cooper had over Ridley, as it has to be noted that Cooper was 18 when first suited up for Alabama and caught 59 passes for 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2012. Ridley turned 21 last season during the Tide’s season.

So while Ridley was tearing up the SEC and college football at age 20 (he turned 21 in December), Cooper was only catching 72 passes for 1,070 yards and six touchdowns in the NFL last season, while playing at the same age of 21 for the Oakland Raiders.

Ridley is great and likely will be the SEC’s top receiver in 2016 but to say he’s better than arguably the best receiver in Alabama history after one season seems a bit premature at this point.