Who are the top wide receivers in SEC history?

We’ve spent the last several weeks flipping through team-specific media guides, glancing over highlight film and nearly coming to blows at our home office determining this 25-member comprehensive list of the league’s best pass-catchers.

Editor’s note: The SDS staff weighed multiple factors during our SEC’s all-time wide receivers rankings process including career statistics, individual awards, importance to their respective team and the era in which they played.

15.) CARLOS ALVAREZ, FLORIDA (1969-71)

Considered by most as the Gators’ top receiver in program history, Alvarez is Florida’s all-time leader in receiving yards (2,563), holds a single-season mark for receptions (88) and is tied for the record with 15 catches in a single game.

Alvarez’s average of 133.0 yards per game in 1969 is a Florida record and second-best all-time for an SEC single season. During that fantastic campaign, Alvarez led the SEC in catches (88), yards (1,329) and touchdowns (12). A few of his receiving records have been squashed over the last 35 years thanks to the spread era, but what he was able to accomplish during a time of run-heavy football is commendable.

The Gators have produced 17 All-Americans at the wide receiver position and two Heisman quarterbacks since Alvarez’s departure, but the ‘Cuban Comet’ is still respected amongst the best players to ever play on offense in Gainesville. Chronic knee problems ended his pro career before it began after being drafted by the Dallas Cowboys, but Alvarez later earned a juris doctor from Duke University School of Law and worked as a law professor at Southern Methodist.

Career numbers:

172 catches, 2,563 yards, 19 TD

Individual superlatives:

Consensus All-American (1969); All-SEC (1969)

NFL Draft:

No. 390 overall (15th round) in 1972

Defining moments:

Alvarez recorded 13 games with 100 or more yards receiving, one behind Jabar Gaffney’s program record.

14.) JOEY KENT, TENNESSEE (1993-96)

There’s been several outstanding wide receivers to play at the University of Tennessee including Peerless Price, Marcus Nash and Robert Meachem, but Kent has the edge overall at WRU, putting together consecutive 1,000-yard All-SEC campaigns as a junior and senior in the mid 1990s.

Kent posted an incredible 15 100-yard games — four more than his nearest competitor in Knoxville — during his career and is one of only five wideouts in program history to lead the Vols in receiving yards three consecutive years. He established a school record in 1996 with seven straight 100-yard outings.

Kent remains Tennessee’s all-time leader in career receptions (183), receiving yards (2,814) and touchdown catches (25).

Career numbers:

183 catches, 2,814 yards, 25 TD

Individual superlatives:

All-SEC (1995-96)

NFL Draft:

No. 46 overall (second round) in 1997

Defining moments:

Heavily-recruited by Alabama out of high school, one of Kent’s most memorable touchdown catches was an 80-yard grab against the Crimson Tide on the first play from scrimmage at Legion Field during the 1995 campaign. Kent told Tennessee’s student newspaper, “Peyton (Manning) and I kind of looked at each other, we saw the potential of the play before it happened but obviously we didn’t know that it would go for 80 yards.”

13.) OZZIE NEWSOME, ALABAMA (1974-77)

His overall numbers may not jump off the page like most of the other pass-catchers ranked in our Top 25, but Newsome is an SEC legend, one of the first ‘big-play’ athletes at his hybrid wideout-tight end position. He averaged 20.3 yards per catch over his career, an SEC record that stood for two decades and was named Alabama’s ‘Player of the Decade’ in the 1970s.

An expert blocker who also knew how to get open, Bear Bryant labeled Newsome as the ‘best end in Alabama history’ during a career in which the Crimson Tide won 42 of 48 games.

Newsome’s legacy in football was just beginning.

After leaving Tuscaloosa in 1977, Newsome went on to play in 198 consecutive games in the NFL, starring for the Cleveland Browns during a Hall of Fame career. He finished his career with 662 catches and 7,980 yards — franchise records that are still standing today. In 2002, Newsome became the NFL’s first black general manager, earning the position with the Baltimore Ravens.

Career numbers:

102 catches, 2,070 yards, 16 TD

Individual superlatives:

Consensus All-American (1977); All-SEC (1976-77); SEC Lineman of the Year (1977)

NFL Draft:

No. 23 overall in 1978

Defining moments:

Newsome led the SEC in receiving yards (804) as a senior in 1977 and finished second with 36 receptions.

12.) DWAYNE BOWE, LSU (2003-06)

There wasn’t a more feared deep threat during his time in the SEC than Bowe, one of the top wideouts in LSU history.

Bowe emerged into the Tigers’ go-to player on offense as a sophomore in 2004 following the departure of previous top targets Devery Henderson and Michael Clayton. With confidence as the team’s No. 1, he compiled an SEC-high 2,297 yards and 26 touchdowns over his next three seasons, leading his team in receptions, yards and touchdowns two of those years during that prolific stretch.

Bowe set a school record with a touchdown catch in seven straight games during his junior campaign and followed that up with a 65-catch, 990-yard season as a senior. Bowe’s 12 touchdown receptions in his final season is a school record and his 26 career scores ranks ninth on the SEC’s all-time list.

Entering his ninth NFL season, Bowe has enjoyed a stellar pro career with the Kansas City Chiefs as the franchise’s all-time leader in receptions (532).

Career numbers:

154 catches, 2,403 yards, 26 TD

Individual superlatives:

All-SEC (2005-06)

NFL Draft:

No. 23 overall in 2007

Defining moments:

Bowe made several acrobatic, highlight-worthy grabs during his career, but his game-winning touchdown reception at Alabama as a junior is one LSU fans — and Alabama fans too — won’t forget.

11.) ANTHONY LUCAS, ARKANSAS (1995-99)

The only player in SEC history to lead the league in yards-per-catch three different seasons (1995, 1998-99), Lucas’ career average of 21 yards per reception ranks amongst the best in college football history.

With Clint Stoerner as his quarterback during the beginning of the Houston Nutt era in Fayetteville, Lucas found the end zone 10 times as a junior during his best season, finishing with 43 catches for 1,004 yards in 1998. His career total of 2,879 yards receiving ranks 11th on the SEC’s all-time list.

Lucas is currently in the Razorbacks’ Top 3 all-time for career receiving yards, receiving yards in a single season, career touchdowns and touchdowns in a single season.

Career numbers:

137 catches, 2,879 yards, 23 TD

Individual superlatives:

All-SEC (1998)

NFL Draft:

No. 114 overall (fourth round) in 2000

Defining moments:

In 1999 against SMU, Lucas set a personal-best receiving mark with 194 yards, the sixth-highest single game total in Razorbacks history.