ESPN ranks the 10 best wide receivers in college football ahead of 2023 season
Ahead of the 2023 season, ESPN decided to rank the 10 best wide receivers in college football, including players from both the Power Five and the Group of Five.
There is a method behind this list. ESPN had 10 of its writers vote on a ballot. They were given 10 points to assign to first place through one point to assign to last place on the list. From those ballots, this list of wide receivers was derived.
ESPN’s 10 best receivers
So, here are the 10 best wide receivers in college football ahead of the 2023 season, according to ESPN:
1. Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State
2. Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State
T-4. Dorian Singer, USC
T-4. Xavier Worthy, Texas
6. Johnny Wilson, Florida State
7. Malik Nabers, LSU
8. Jalen McMillan, Washington
9. Zakhari Franklin, UTSA
10. Malachi Corley, Western Kentucky
Unsurprisingly, ESPN has two Ohio State wide receivers on its list. There isn’t much debate that Marvin Harrison Jr. is the best wide receiver in college football. To an extent, Harrison can overshadow Emeka Egbuka on that roster but that isn’t fair to Egbuka, who is a dominant wide receiver in his own right.
That dominance at the wide receiver position by Ohio State isn’t anything new. The Buckeyes have recruited the position incredibly well and arguably have produced more talent at wide receiver than any other school over the last five years. Still, Ohio State isn’t the only program with two wide receivers on ESPN’s list. The Washington Huskies, sitting a little bit under the radar, do as well.
Dorian Singer and Xavier Worthy managed to tie because ESPN’s methodology was essentially counting votes and points. Since ESPN didn’t use any kind of tiebreaker, the two ended up sharing the fourth spot on the list. Interestingly, they’re both on programs that will be trying to get over the hump in 2023.
For some fans, it might be surprising to see that the SEC only has one wide receiver on ESPN’s list. That’s despite the SEC producing more talent in the NFL Draft than any other conference. Schools like Alabama are going to need lesser known wide receivers to step up to help compete at the national level.
Finally, ESPN rounded out its list with two Group of Five wide receivers, both of whom are expected to put up massive numbers in 2023.