Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian has successfully utilized a certain type of receiver that bucks the traditional mold.
Most of us were raised in a college football era where large receivers were coveted. I remember covering former Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson, who was once viewed as the gold standard of pass-catchers. Johnson was 6-foot-5, 237 pounds, and most NFL teams searched high and low for a receiver who resembled him.
In fact, I once covered former USC receiver Mike Williams when he played high school football in Tampa. Williams played for Sarkisian at USC. Fun story: I had a great relationship with Williams, and he randomly called me one Sunday night to give me a scoop – he committed to USC. Williams was playing a video game with his friends, and I had to piece together quotes for a story as he yelled “touchdown” numerous times and screamed at his crew while conducting an interview.
However, I noticed Sarkisian has taken a different approach since arriving at Texas and felt compelled to ask him about it on Monday.
The previous coaches at Texas followed the traditional mold and recruited tall and long receivers. They coveted players such as Collin Johnson and Lil'Jordan Humphrey.
Take a look at the height and weight of receivers on the 2017 roster:
In contrast, Sarkisian had a lot of success as a play-caller at Alabama with smaller receivers, such as DeVonta Smith (6-0, 185 pounds), Jerry Jeudy (6-1, 193), Henry Ruggs III (6-0, 190), and Jaylen Waddle (5-9, 180).
Now, take a look at the height and weight of receivers on Sarkisian’s 2024 roster.
Sarkisian only has three receivers on scholarship above 6-0 (Ryan Wingo, Parker Livingstone, and Freddie Dubose).
I asked Sarkisian about his desire to have small/speedy receivers, and his response revealed a shift in philosophy that has made his offense potent.
“I got into this idea that as the game started to kind of spread itself out, and we got out of a little bit of the pro-style, one-on-one, two-back ISO, and one-on-one kind of plays on the perimeter, my big thing was like, hey, I want guys that can catch and run with the ball," Sarkisian said. "We don't throw many stationary throws where guys are standing there catching the ball. We like to catch the ball on the move, so that when they catch it, they can continue to run. That's why quarterback accuracy is so important. Generally speaking, the faster you are on the move, the tougher you are to A, guard, and B, get on the ground once you catch it. It's just been something that we've tried to identify in the recruiting process.
"It kind of started when I was at Washington. We recruited a young man by the name of John Ross. When he got in the program, you could feel the difference in what it looked like. I only had him for a year before I took another job. He went on to be the fastest guy ever at the NFL Combine until Xavier (Worthy) showed up. We started to try to identify more guys like that in the NFL. We had Julio (Jones), who was a little bit of a unicorn because he had the size and the speed. But then we drafted Calvin Ridley from Alabama, and he played that same style, which made sense for what we were trying to do. Then, like you said, I got to Bama and had those five guys. Since I've gotten here, it's been what we've tried to recreate. I think we've got a pretty good group of guys now who understand the style of play we're trying to implement.”
Most of us were raised in a college football era where large receivers were coveted. I remember covering former Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson, who was once viewed as the gold standard of pass-catchers. Johnson was 6-foot-5, 237 pounds, and most NFL teams searched high and low for a receiver who resembled him.
In fact, I once covered former USC receiver Mike Williams when he played high school football in Tampa. Williams played for Sarkisian at USC. Fun story: I had a great relationship with Williams, and he randomly called me one Sunday night to give me a scoop – he committed to USC. Williams was playing a video game with his friends, and I had to piece together quotes for a story as he yelled “touchdown” numerous times and screamed at his crew while conducting an interview.
However, I noticed Sarkisian has taken a different approach since arriving at Texas and felt compelled to ask him about it on Monday.
The previous coaches at Texas followed the traditional mold and recruited tall and long receivers. They coveted players such as Collin Johnson and Lil'Jordan Humphrey.
Take a look at the height and weight of receivers on the 2017 roster:
In contrast, Sarkisian had a lot of success as a play-caller at Alabama with smaller receivers, such as DeVonta Smith (6-0, 185 pounds), Jerry Jeudy (6-1, 193), Henry Ruggs III (6-0, 190), and Jaylen Waddle (5-9, 180).
Now, take a look at the height and weight of receivers on Sarkisian’s 2024 roster.
Sarkisian only has three receivers on scholarship above 6-0 (Ryan Wingo, Parker Livingstone, and Freddie Dubose).
I asked Sarkisian about his desire to have small/speedy receivers, and his response revealed a shift in philosophy that has made his offense potent.
“I got into this idea that as the game started to kind of spread itself out, and we got out of a little bit of the pro-style, one-on-one, two-back ISO, and one-on-one kind of plays on the perimeter, my big thing was like, hey, I want guys that can catch and run with the ball," Sarkisian said. "We don't throw many stationary throws where guys are standing there catching the ball. We like to catch the ball on the move, so that when they catch it, they can continue to run. That's why quarterback accuracy is so important. Generally speaking, the faster you are on the move, the tougher you are to A, guard, and B, get on the ground once you catch it. It's just been something that we've tried to identify in the recruiting process.
"It kind of started when I was at Washington. We recruited a young man by the name of John Ross. When he got in the program, you could feel the difference in what it looked like. I only had him for a year before I took another job. He went on to be the fastest guy ever at the NFL Combine until Xavier (Worthy) showed up. We started to try to identify more guys like that in the NFL. We had Julio (Jones), who was a little bit of a unicorn because he had the size and the speed. But then we drafted Calvin Ridley from Alabama, and he played that same style, which made sense for what we were trying to do. Then, like you said, I got to Bama and had those five guys. Since I've gotten here, it's been what we've tried to recreate. I think we've got a pretty good group of guys now who understand the style of play we're trying to implement.”
