The 2027 wide receiver class has been one of the most hyped in recent memory from the day these prospects stepped on campus in 2024.
Five-stars like Jeremiah Smith, Cam Coleman, Ryan Coleman-Williams, T.J. Moore and Ryan Wingo were all impact starters from day one at their respective schools.
Now, two years into their careers and with draft eligibility looming, the hype has given way to serious questions for many of them.
My take on this class after summer scouting was that outside of Jeremiah Smith, this class could be special, but at the moment it still has a lot to prove.
Positional rankings: IOL • S • LB • DT • TE • OT • RB • CB • EDGE • WR • QB Note: ⭐️ represents each player’s 247Sports star rating as a high school recruit
There’s not much more to say about Jeremiah Smith at this point. He’ll be the first non-quarterback drafted this year. Truthfully, he likely would have been the first non-quarterback drafted in each of the past two years had he been able to declare. He’s a freak athlete with elite ball skills (three drops on 166 career catchable passes) and refined route-running chops. Not much more you could want.
— Football Performances (@NFLPerformances) April 29, 2026
Cam Coleman is yet another size-speed outlier at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds with tape that shows him consistently striding away from cornerbacks. He moves like a gazelle with ridiculous bounce out of his breaks and flexibility in his lower half to run the route tree of an undersized receiver. Then there’s the body control to do mind-melding things when the ball is in the air.
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) August 8, 2026
While he may be the closest receiver in this class to Jeremiah Smith physically, there are two areas where Coleman doesn’t hold a candle to Smith: physicality and route salesmanship. Veteran corners often snuffed out where Coleman was headed well before he got there. The Auburn offense and quarterback situation the past two years was the primary reason for his lack of production, but it wasn’t the only reason. Coleman has top-10 talent, but not quite top-10 tape yet.
Indiana wasn’t simply a fun story last year; they had some legit high-end weapons as well with Charlie Becker cementing himself as Fernando Mendoza’s favorite target down the stretch. After barely playing to start the season, from Week 11 on Becker racked up 522 yards on 27 catches to take home a national title. On true dropback passes (no screens and no RPO’s), Becker averaged 4.2 yards per route (157 routes). Jeremiah Smith was second among Power Four wide receivers last year in that stat at 3.68 yards per route. That’s some insane production in categories that can translate well in the NFL.
Becker is a former high school track star whose explosiveness shows from his first step off the line. It’s why he averaged 20.0 yards per reception last year — a ridiculous number for a 6-foot-4 receiver. On top of that, Becker didn’t drop a single pass on 34 catchable throws. Becker could very easily end up a top-10 pick if he puts up those numbers for a full season with TCU transfer Josh Hoover at quarterback
Jordan Faison came to Notre Dame as a lacrosse recruit and walked onto the football team in the fall of his freshman season. He pulled double duty his first two years playing football in the fall and lacrosse in the spring before finally deciding to focus solely on football this offseason. That time away from the game makes his meteoric rise to Notre Dame’s top receiver all the more impressive because he’s already the best route-runner I watched on tape this summer. He’s got exceptional footwork for the position with the ability to stop and start with ease. That’s often what separation looks like in the NFL more than raw speed.
This is an encouraging route from Jordan Faison – he turns the corner right around and gets huge separation.#NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/XaIuYsqHIr
— Paul Emery (@UKDraftFan) August 19, 2026
Even though his frame is on the smaller side for the position, his lacrosse background shows how well he still fights through contact. He may not have the pure traits of a traditional first round wide receiver, but he’s a high floor option, nonetheless.
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) November 30, 2025
Watching Nick Marsh‘s game reminded me of a bygone era of wide receivers. His size and play strength would have fit perfectly into the early 2000s NFL when the question of whether a wide out could “go over the middle of the field” or not was a valid concern with head-hunting safeties looming. While rule changes have caused size to fall out of style in favor of speed, there’s still a place for receivers with Marsh’s skillset in today’s NFL. It just may come more in the slot.
There’s not a receiver in this class that broke tackles more consistently after the catch. Cornerbacks shed off him on tape like water off a duck. My guess is he’ll get far more schemed touches this season in Indiana’s offense than he did at Michigan State to take advantage of that skillset. The biggest knock is easily his route-running consistency. I’m not sure how much of that was being on a hapless 4-8 Michigan State team or how much was general inexperience as he doesn’t even turn 20 until October. Disgusting route from Nick Marsh. He’s in line for a huge season at Indiana. https://t.co/oJlZEYeGXV pic.twitter.com/WYkXLNRFda
— Drew Collings (@DrewMCollings) July 29, 2026
It seems like a lifetime ago that Ryan Coleman-Williams was the talk of college football after he made the biggest play of the 2024 season.
— College Football Zone (@CollegeFBonX) June 15, 2026
The then 17-year-old seemed destined to be a top-10 pick playing in Kalen DeBoer’s offense. That came crashing down last fall in a season that can only be described as bizarre. Mental mistakes and drops galore saw Coleman-Williams finish with fewer yards (689 vs. 865) and scores (four vs. eight) in his sophomore season than he had as a freshman. The talent most certainly didn’t go away, though, especially when you consider that he won’t even turn 20 until February. That also means that barring a monster turnaround this fall, Coleman-Williams will likely be back in school in 2027.
Mario Craver already has about as high of a grade as I can in good conscience give to a 5-foot-9, 165-pound wide receiver. Craver is among a new mold of undersized speed receivers who have high-end explosiveness. He’s the kind of receiver that looks unstoppable in a Showcase Bowl practice 1-on-1. In full 11-on-11, however, some challenges arise at that size. Finishing at the catch point, fighting through route contact, staying health and hauling in off-target passes are a lot more difficult for Craver than everyone else on this list. However, Craver is so dynamic and generates so much separation that I’m obviously not terribly worried about it with this ranking.
Texas A&M WR Mario Craver has some CRAZY movement! This is what an explosive human being looks like⬇️ pic.twitter.com/4vAWBfefsQ
— LandonTengwall (@LandonTengwall) March 8, 2026
KJ Duff is precisely what you want in a 6-foot-5, 225-pound receiver: big catch radius, physicality, strong hands and enough flexibility in his lower half to get out of route breaks efficiently. He’s not the kind of dynamic athlete that’s going to run away from corners consistently, but at his size he’s open if he’s between the defender and quarterback at all.
KJ Duff (6’6″ 225) Rutgers
✅ Length and catch radius — Bengals & Brews (@BengalsBrews) June 2, 2026
The biggest improvement area Duff can make himself more money is as a run blocker. With borderline tight end size already, Duff will be an offensive coordinator’s dream if he can routinely dig out linebackers in the run game from the slot or reduced split. If you didn’t watch Texas Rio Grande Valley play football last season (or even know it existed), don’t feel bad because I didn’t either. It wasn’t until very late this summer when rolling deep into draft prospects that I came across Tony Diaz‘s tape for the Vaqueros. To say I was floored was an understatement. You rarely see athletes as gifted as him at the FCS level.
New Iowa WR Tony Diaz is obviously a high-end athlete, but what really makes him special is his body control. Makes everything about the position look easy https://t.co/aOurSeWnGC pic.twitter.com/quGJEJUykA
— Mike Renner (@mikerenner_) August 18, 2026
He’s a dynamic weapon who is a pain to stick with in space. He’s now at Iowa, and here’s hoping he gets featured more than any Hawkeyes receiver in recent memory, as he has a good chance to be the school’s first top-100 pick at the position in nearly 30 years.
After finishing with the third-most yards in the FBS last year (1,264), Wyatt Young followed his head coach and quarterback from North Texas to Oklahoma State. That bodes well for his future production because he was far and away quarterback Drew Mestemaker‘s favorite target down the stretch last season. And it’s easy to see why when watching Young’s tape. He’s got the tailor-made slot skillset with light feet, strong hands, creative route-running and post-catch YAC-ability. It’s easy to see him making a living on option routes underneath in the NFL. While he’s not a burner and is unlikely to thrive as a true outside receiver, that’s not why you’re drafting him.
New #OklahomaState WR Wyatt Young is such a dynamic weapon with elite production at North Texas.
Phenomenal after the catch as he fights for every single yard and adds true explosiveness. Potential 1st round pick. pic.twitter.com/Z8YSeig6MT
— Andy (@AndyyNFL) June 1, 2026
Note: These aren’t necessarily the next three players in my rankings, but rather three prospects who caught my eye for one reason or another.
The number one player on Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List for two years running, Nyck Harbor is one of the rarest size-speed athletes you’ll ever see. At 243 pounds, Harbor has run a 10.1 100-meter dash. To put that in perspective, DK Metcalf ran a 10.36 at 235 pounds back in 2021. Unfortunately, Harbor’s tape to date doesn’t come close to Metcalf’s at Ole Miss. He’s a very clunky route-runner with only a career high 30 catches for 618 yards as a junior last year. At his size, I wonder if his future is at tight end where his speed would be a much bigger weapon in an offense.
Yannick Smith may not jump off the tape as an athlete, but he has what I’d call a “translatable” game. That’s because he has the kind of size and wingspan that gets more important at the next level, along with efficient footwork at the top of his routes. I don’t think he’ll be a massive riser even after transferring from ECU to SMU this fall, but he’ll play on Sundays.
WHAT A GRAB BY YANNICK SMITH 😱#AmericanWay x @ECUPiratesFB pic.twitter.com/O1wwhuqOwR
— The American (@American_Conf) September 28, 2024
Bryant Wesco and T.J. Moore were both top-75 recruits in Clemson‘s 2024 class. They go about their business distinctly differently as Moore trends toward being a possession receiver, while Wesco is a big-play threat. On tape Wesco looks like the better prospect as of now as he only really has one glaring weakness — his play strength. He was 180 pounds last spring although Clemson has him now listed at 195. If he can fix that, he’ll soar up boards.
Class strength rating: 9/10
✅ Contested catch ability
✅ 5.4% drop rate in 2025
✅ 2.47 yards per route ran
✅ Ball tracking down the field
✅ Strong hands in congestion
✅ Over 1,000 receiving yards and 7 receiving touchdowns during 2025 pic.twitter.com/WteQzqiUwE
Three names to watch
Nyck Harbor (South Carolina)
Yannick Smith (SMU)
Bryant Wesco + T.J. Moore (Clemson)
Superlatives
