O’Gara: Malik Nabers isn’t far off from 2020 DeVonta Smith levels of dominance

DeVonta Smith’s 2020 season is the gold standard for a single season by a college receiver. Period.

There shouldn’t be any debate about that. Smith was the first receiver to win the Heisman Trophy in 29 years and he was easily the best player on an undefeated Alabama team that navigated COVID-related absences and an all-SEC schedule en route to perfection.

Smith was about as perfect as one can be at the wide receiver position. He set single-season SEC records in receiving yards (1,856) and receiving touchdowns (23). He also finished 2nd in receptions (117) to 2014 Amari Cooper (124), though Smith had 1 fewer game and still averaged more receptions/game (9.0) than Cooper (8.9). What made Smith’s 2020 season even more impressive was that he took his game to the next level once Jaylen Waddle suffered a midseason injury.

To compare anyone to that level of dominance feels disrespectful to Smith. But the year that LSU star Malik Nabers is having prompted the question.

How far off is 2023 Nabers from 2020 Smith? Not as much as you’d think.

Through 9 games, Nabers has 1,152 receiving yards — 106 more than anybody in America. The only Power 5 player with more receiving touchdowns than Nabers (10) is his LSU teammate, Brian Thomas, with 11. He’s No. 3 among Power 5 receivers in receptions (66), but the 2 guys ahead of him don’t come close to his 17.5 yards per catch.

Like Smith, Nabers is on a straight-line path to the Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver in the sport. Five SEC players have averaged at least 120 receiving yards per game in the 21st century. Four won the Biletnikoff Award. The one who didn’t was 2020 Elijah Moore … who lost to Smith. Nabers is at 128 receiving yards per game, but that number is at 146.2 yards/game against SEC competition.

That’s why this side-by-side with Smith is at least worth looking at:

You could argue that Smith playing an SEC-only schedule puts his season in a different stratosphere, or you could argue that defensive depth was an absolute train wreck during the COVID season and he probably benefited from that.

Whatever the case, Smith was phenomenal as a smooth, route-running savant who hit the century mark 9 times in 13 games. Nabers has also been a smooth, route-running savant — he played 263 snaps out wide and 247 in the slot — who hit the century mark 6 times in 9 games. Go figure that the only game that Nabers didn’t have at least 100 yards or a receiving score was the opener against Florida State. That’s similar to Smith, who was held to less than 100 yards and without a score in the 2020 opener at Mizzou. That only happened 3 times during his magical 2020 season.

Nabers won’t be remembered in the same vein as Smith because his season won’t end with a 200-yard performance in a blowout national championship victory. It’s not Nabers’ fault that LSU’s defense allowed 35 points per game against Power 5 competition. But if Nabers keeps up his 13-game pace — that’s assuming he plays in an LSU bowl game and doesn’t opt out — that side-by-side with 2020 Smith will be darn impressive:

Nabers’ 13-game pace of 1,664 receiving yards would put him No. 5 all-time for SEC single-season receiving yards behind only Smith (1,856), Ja’Marr Chase (1,780), Josh Reed (1,740) and Amari Cooper (1,727), though it’s worth noting that Chase got 15 games and Cooper had 14. Nabers (128) is averaging slightly more receiving yards than Chase (127.1) and Cooper (123.4).

All signs point to Nabers continuing that pace and having 1 of the 5 best seasons we’ve ever seen from an SEC receiver. The remaining schedule might actually lend itself to improving that torrid pace.

Florida’s defense allowed a receiver to hit 100 yards in each of its last 4 games, Georgia State is No. 128 out of 133 FBS teams against the pass and Texas A&M’s inconsistent pass defense just allowed Ole Miss’ Tre Harris to go off for 213 yards.

Of course, a limiting factor for Nabers’ production could be the status of Jayden Daniels, who went into concussion protocol after taking a nasty hit from Dallas Turner in the 4th quarter in Tuscaloosa. Daniels is in the midst of his own historically dominant season. Assuming that LSU’s offensive juggernaut would keep soaring at the same level with Garrett Nussmeier would be disrespectful to Daniels.

At the same time, Nussmeier did connect with Nabers for a 34-yard score in last year’s SEC Championship after replacing the injured Daniels. And Nussmeier’s lone touchdown pass of 2023 was to a wide-open Nabers early in the second half against Army.

Garrett Nussmeier doing what Garrett Nussmeier does.

A dime to Malik Nabers for the touchdown! pic.twitter.com/7fSsZ67iVv

— Matthew Brune (@MatthewBrune_) October 22, 2023

Half of Nussmeier’s 8 career touchdown passes have gone to Nabers. They’re both Louisiana natives who were blue-chip recruits in that 2021 class who stuck with LSU after Brian Kelly’s staff took over.

By the time that Nabers arrived, the likes of Justin Jefferson, Chase and Terrace Marshall Jr. were gone, but he still had to work his way up in a crowded receiver room. Nearly 3 years later, it’s safe to say that Nabers not only did that, but he might’ve separated himself as the best receiver in the sport.

Or rather, he’s undoubtedly having the best season of any receiver in the sport.

He won’t be as decorated as Marvin Harrison Jr., especially if Ohio State gets over the Michigan hurdle and plays for a national championship. But outside of Harrison’s 0.13 yards/catch advantage, he doesn’t have Nabers beat in any major statistical category. If that continues, that’ll be noteworthy for the Biletnikoff Award discussion.

What’s clear for now is that Nabers is making it look easy against elite competition. He just recorded the most receiving yards in a game against Alabama (171) since last year’s Biletnikoff winner, Jalin Hyatt, went off for 207 yards in the Vols’ 2022 upset in Knoxville. Nabers still had the most receiving yards by an opposing receiver at Bryant-Denny Stadium since Treylon Burks racked up 179 in November 2021.

Nabers needs to average 121.5 yards in his final 2 conference games to join Moore as the second player in the last 15 seasons to average 140 yards/SEC game. That feels manageable, no matter what LSU’s quarterback situation is down the stretch.

That feat alone would make Nabers’ 2023 campaign worthy of being considered one of the SEC’s best ever from a receiver.

Will he end the season with better numbers than 2020 Smith? It’s not likely.

But No. 8 in purple and gold is knocking on the door of that gold standard, one prolific performance at a time.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.