The SEC has become a destination league for the nation’s best high school receivers.
The conference’s rich history isn’t too shabby, either.
Here are the 10 best in-state receivers who played for an SEC school.
10. Craig Yeast, Kentucky
One reason Tim Couch, one of the SEC’s best in-state quarterbacks, was so successful in 1997 and 1998 is he was throwing to Yeast, a first-team All-SEC pick both seasons.
Yeast, who arrived from Harrodsburg, Ky., about 30 miles southwest of Lexington, still holds Kentucky’s single-season (1,311 in 1998) and career records (2,899) for receiving yards.
9. Mike Evans, Texas A&M
How often do three-star recruits become first-round picks? Texas A&M had two, both from Texas, both from the 2011 recruiting class. Johnny Manziel was one, and Evans, his go-to, was another.
Evans, out of Galveston, Texas, was 6-5 but weighed just 180 pounds when he enrolled.
In 2013, he set A&M’s single-game receiving yards record with 279 against Alabama — and then broke it a month later by going for 287 against Auburn.
8. Jeremy Maclin, Missouri
Maclin was a modest three-star recruit from St. Louis who blossomed into a two-time All-American after missing his freshman season with an injury.
He played before the Tigers joined the SEC, but he had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, something Amari Cooper and Julio Jones didn’t do.
Maclin caught 102 passes in 2008, becoming the first Tiger to reach triple digits. He left with 182 catches and still ranks sixth on Missouri’s career list.
He was a first-round pick in 2009.
T6. Josh Reed, LSU
Reed, from Lafayette, La., had some of the surest hands in SEC history.
In 2001, he also had one of the best seasons in SEC history.
He was an All-American and Biletnikoff winner that year. He caught an SEC-record 19 passes against Alabama for an LSU-record 293 yards. He led the nation with 1,740 yards, still an SEC record.
Strangely, he had just seven touchdown catches that season, 17 for his career.
T6. Odell Beckham, LSU
Beckham starred at the Mannings’ old high school, Isidore Newman in New Orleans.
He was a U.S. Army All-American and became a college All-American in 2013, when he broke LSU’s single-season record for all-purpose yardage.
The Giants drafted him 12th overall in 2014, and Beckham made the Pro Bowl each of his first two seasons.
Reed did more in college, but Beckham quickly surpassed him as an NFL receiver and is challenging Julio Jones to be considered the greatest ever from the SEC.
5. Alshon Jeffery, South Carolina
Jeffery was a four-star prospect out of St. Matthews, 40 miles southeast of Williams-Brice Stadium.
The No. 12-ranked receiver in the 2009 class, Jeffery had the greatest single season in South Carolina in 2010, when he set records for catches (88) and yards (1,517) and scored on nine of them.
He left after the 2011 season with 3,042 career yards, the only South Carolina receiver to go above 2,800 yards, and 23 touchdowns, tied for the program high.
4. Terrence Edwards, Georgia
Edwards played quarterback at Washington County High. Georgia turned him into a receiver, and he turned into a star.
Edwards left in 2002 and still holds the program records for career touchdown catches (30), receptions (204) and yards (3,093). He still ranks in the top 5 in the SEC in all three categories.
T2. Jabar Gaffney, Florida
A standout from Jacksonville, Fla., Gaffney only played two years for the Gators, but that’s all he needed to jump into their record books.
He caught 14 touchdown passes as a freshman and 13 as a sophomore — both totals among the top 10 single seasons in SEC history.
He was an All-American in 2001, and his 27 career touchdown receptions still rank in the Top 10.
T2. Reidel Anthony, Florida
Anthony, a star out of talent-rich Glades Central in Belle Glade, Fla., was a top target in Steve Spurrier’s “Fun ‘N’ Gun” air show, and in 1996 he set an SEC record with 18 touchdown catches.
Nobody — not Julio Jones, not Amari Cooper, not A.J. Green — has broken it yet.
He finished with 26 career touchdown catches before becoming a first-round pick in the 1997 NFL Draft.
1. Julio Jones, Alabama
If Apple built receivers, Jones would be the result: 6-3, 220 with sprinter’s speed, Jordan’s hops and Rodman’s desire to go get anything in the air.
Jones, who starred at Foley High, just 12 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, was named Alabama’s Mr. Football as a senior. He was a five-star recruit and No. 1-ranked receiver in the 2008 class.
He left Alabama with 2,653 receiving yards in just three seasons, a record Cooper later broke.
He was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft and has already has made three Pro Bowls.
With Calvin Johnson retiring, Jones becomes the prototype for what a No. 1 receiver looks and plays like.
Managing Editor
A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
