The start of the 2025 college football season is just a couple of months away.
This piece will seek to predict the SEC’s leaders in total receiving yardage during the regular season — not necessarily the most efficient or most explosive pass catchers. Only a handful of playmakers will join the list of 1,000-yard receivers in SEC history.
SEC football predictions: Top 5 receiving leaders for 2025
When attempting to predict receiving yardage totals, there are a few factors to consider. The most obvious: who are the best wide receivers? Once you get past the hyper-elite playmakers (such as Alabama’s Ryan Williams), production will be dictated by factors such as play-calling, quarterback ability and other variables.
The reality is the best 5 receivers in the SEC this fall may not necessarily be the 5 most productive — and this piece will strive to predict the latter group.
No. 5: Cam Coleman, Auburn
In what was the year of the freshman wide receiver, Auburn’s Cam Coleman shouldn’t be overlooked. He racked up 598 yards during the regular season in 2024, finishing 20th among SEC pass-catchers. Now he’s a year older and there’s a whole lot of targets that need to be replaced with KeAndre Lambert-Smith in the NFL.
Per PFF, Coleman averaged 1.88 yards per route run last season which ranked in the top-20 of SEC wide receivers. Most of the players ranked above Coleman have departed for the NFL, but Coleman is just entering his sophomore season. Coleman should also be getting a major quarterback upgrade with Jackson Arnold entering the lineup — I’m buying his upside going into 2025.
No. 4: Nic Anderson, LSU
Nic Anderson missed basically all of last season due to injury while playing for Oklahoma, so this projection is based mostly on his impressive 2023 campaign. That year, he caught 38 passes for 798 yards and 10 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman. Anderson accomplished that while playing with an excellent college quarterback in Dillon Gabriel, but now he gets to catch passes from a potentially-elite pro prospect in Garrett Nussmeier.
This is also a pick based on opportunity. LSU led the SEC last season — by a very wide margin — in pass play rate. Nussmeier is going to let it rip a lot this year. Because of Nussmeier’s quality and Joe Sloan’s tendencies, I feel quite confident an LSU receiver will end up in the top 5 at season’s end. I went with Anderson here, but former Kentucky transfer Barion Brown could be in the mix for a No. 1 target share as well.
No. 3: J. Michael Sturdivant, Florida
This pick is about both Sturdivant and also the strengths of Florida quarterback DJ Lagway. Over the past 3 seasons, Sturdivant has caught 21 passes of 25+ yards. That’s tied for 30th among power-conference receivers over that span, so it’s not necessarily elite (Tetairoa McMillan’s 41 leads all over that span) but it’s a solid figure considering the context Sturdivant has been playing in.
With respect to Ethan Garbers, Dante Moore and Jack Plummer, I trust Lagway to find him downfield much more often than his previous quarterbacks did. Sturdivant has game-breaking speed and virtually no one pushes the ball down field more aggressively than Lagway (11.8 yards average depth of target). With Elijhah Badger now in the NFL, there’s also plenty of opportunity for someone to step up in Florida’s receiver corps.
No. 2: Cayden Lee, Ole Miss
Cayden Lee is a natural choice for this spot. He finished top-10 in receiving yardage in the SEC last season but second on his own team behind Tre Harris. With Harris now gone and Lee as Ole Miss’s only returning starter at receiver, he’s slated to receive a big increase in target share next season.
Ole Miss does run the ball a lot (15th in the SEC in pass play rate since the start of the Lane Kiffin era) but the Rebels make up for that with tempo. Jaxson Dart finished 3rd in the SEC in total pass attempts during the regular season last year despite the Rebels owning a high rushing rate. Lee is the veteran in that room now and should receive a lot of looks all over the field from new quarterback Austin Simmons.
No. 1: Ryan Williams, Alabama
This is an obvious pick given what Williams accomplished a year ago as a true freshman at Alabama. He finished 6th in the regular season in receiving yardage last season among SEC pass catchers and now should be getting an upgrade at quarterback (at least as a passer) with either Ty Simpson or Austin Mack.
Williams set all kinds of records last season that make you think the trajectory he’s on could lead to something special as early as this fall. He’s the SEC’s second-leading returning receiver behind Kevin Coleman, who is in a new offense at Mizzou after playing for Mississippi State last season. The last time Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb had a receiver this good (Rome Odunze in 2023), he led the nation in total receiving yards. This is a perfect marriage of talent, opportunity and play-calling, making Williams a clear choice to lead the SEC in receiving in 2025.
Honorable mentions: Kevin Coleman Jr., Mizzou; Zachariah Branch, Georgia; Noah Thomas, Georgia; Aaron Anderson, LSU; Barion Brown, LSU; Deion Burks, Oklahoma; KC Concepcion, Texas A&M; Ryan Wingo, Texas.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
