At some point this weekend (maybe Friday), Southern Cal wideout Brenden Rice will hear his name called. He won't be mentioned without his Hall of Fame father Jerry Rice being discussed, but the college background also looks fairly encouraging.
Back in 1996, Keyshawn Johnson was drafted No. 1 overall out of the school. That was followed by a string of disappointments taken in the first two rounds: Keary Colbert, Mike Williams (Seattle version), Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith (Giants version). Smith had a Pro Bowl season in 2009 (107 catches, 1,220 yards and 7 TDs), but was out of the league three years later. Collectively, those four wide receivers otherwise failed to produce even an 800-yard season in their careers, and had only one other campaign with more than 3 TDs.
But the Trojans are on a roll right now. In the last decade, there have been 7 wide receivers drafted out of the school: two 1sts, four 2nds and a 4th. That later pick has been about the best (Amon-Ra St. Brown, signed to a huge contract yesterday), but Michael Pittman isn't far behind.
Four of those players have had at least one top-15 season (PPR) so far, and two others had a top-30 finish. Nice little run.
Table shows the best seasons (so far) from each of those seven wide receivers. Lee will go in the books as a miss and neither Agholor nor Smith-Schuster has been as good as hoped, but not a bad track record.
| SOUTHERN CAL WRS, 2013-2023 (BEST SEASONS) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rd | Year | Player | Tgt | No | Rec | TD | FF |
| 4 | 2023 | Amon-Ra St. Brown, Det. | 164 | 119 | 1515 | 10 | 3 |
| 2 | 2018 | JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pitt. | 166 | 111 | 1426 | 7 | 8 |
| 2 | 2018 | Robert Woods, LAR | 130 | 86 | 1219 | 7 | 11 |
| 2 | 2023 | Michael Pittman, Ind. | 156 | 109 | 1152 | 4 | 13 |
| 1 | 2017 | Nelson Agholor, Phil. | 95 | 62 | 768 | 9 | 23 |
| 1 | 2022 | Drake London, Atl. | 117 | 72 | 866 | 4 | 28 |
| 2 | 2017 | Marqise Lee, Jac. | 96 | 56 | 702 | 3 | 40 |
Rice was one of Caleb Williams' top targets last year, and best in terms of scoring. He caught 12 of the soon to be top pick's 30 touchdown passes. But aside from the pedigree (Dad and school), not a lot catches the eye. Good size (6-2, 208) but ordinary speed (4.5) and his other numbers (vertical, broad jump, bench) weren't among the better ones for the position. Teammate Tahj Washington outproduced him the last two years, as did Jordan Addison a year ago, and Washington isn't a highly regarded prospect either (probably be a Day 3 pick).
I wouldn't consider Rice a player to get excited about, but will be interesting to see where he ends up. San Francisco, for example, has a lot of picks and could use another wide receiver, especially if there's any truth to the Brandon Aiyuk rumor mill.
Speaking of the NFL Draft, I'll be live-blogging the first round here tonight, with rapid reactions to each pick after it's made, discussing both players and team fits. Other Index folk, including Ian Allan, will be weighing in in the comments, and readers are welcomed to do the same. Talk to you all tonight!
--Andy Richardson