Top NCAA Wide Receiver Props in sportsbooks; What’s the Best Pick for Each?

• Sportsbooks are offering 2019 season prop wagers on five of the top NCAA receivers
• The markets are total wagers on touchdown receptions and receiving yardage
• The WRs are Jerry Jeudy (Alabama), Justyn Ross (Clemson) CeeDee Lamb (Oklahoma), Rondale Moore (Purdue) and Tylan Wallace (Oklahoma State)

There was a time when NCAA wide receivers were nothing more than decoys. But the days of three yards and a cloud of dust are long gone. Many of the top colleges today are as likely to throw deep as they are to run the option.

NCAA Receiver Props

Sportsbooks are offering prop wagers on some of the NCAA’s better pass catchers. The markets available are total wagers covering touchdown receptions and receiving yardage.

Jerry Jeudy Total Receiving TDs

*Odds taken 8/23/19.

Last season, Jeudy caught 14 TD passes in 15 games while winning the Biletnikoff Award as the NCAA’s best wide receiver. That’s the most of any returning receiver in college football.

His quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is back in search of the Heisman Trophy. So is perhaps the deepest, most talented corps of receivers in college football history. Potentially, Alabama could have four future NFL first-round picks at wideout this year. They’re that good.

Returning Crimson Tide receivers caught 39 TD passes last season. Tagovailoa’s best option remains Jeudy and with all that talent around him, it’s going to be difficult for teams to put double coverage on him.

Jeudy was on the other end of TD passes in 10 of 15 games last season. Four times, he made two TD receptions in a game. He was good in the clutch, catching five TD passes in the red zone.

Jerry Jeudy is straight out of a video game @jerryjeudy pic.twitter.com/DSbnLl4qjT

— Total CFB (@totalcfb) July 30, 2019

But Jeudy was also a dangerous deep threat. Six of his TDs went for 40 yards or more. That included TD receptions of 60, 79 and 81 yards.

Jeudy is a disciplined receiver who runs precise routes, enabling him to shake defenders. ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. rates Jeudy the #1 pro prospect in the NCAA this season.

Pick: Over 11.5 (-115)

Tylan Wallace Total Receiving Yards

Oklahoma State’s Wallace was second in the nation in receiving yardage last year, catching 86 balls for 1491 yards. He’s a speedy, physical receiver who was selected first-team All-America last season and was a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award.

However, there are changes afoot with the Cowboys offense. New offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson likes to mix in more quarterback run option plays. Redshirt freshman QB Spencer Sanders, expected to be the starter, fits that style of offense.

Wallace was one of just two NCAA wideouts to surpass 1410 yards last season. In this new scheme, he may be hard-pressed to get over 1450.

Pick: Under 1450 (-115)

Rondale Moore Total Receiving Yards

As a true freshman in 2018 Moore caught 114 passes and went for 1258 yards. He’s equipped with the speed to burn through a 4.3 40 and the power to squat 600 pounds. Moore finished with 2215 all-purpose yards and was awarded consensus All-American honors.

Perhaps the best news for him is that new Boilermakers QB Elijah Sindelar is a prototypical traditional pocket passer.  He’s got a 6-foot-4 frame. Sindelar is also a former pitcher whose fastball hit into the 90s, so you know he can fling a football.

Moore figures to be on the other end of plenty of those balls.

Pick: Over 1200 yards (-115) 

CeeDee Lamb Total Receiving Touchdowns

A second-team All-Big 12 selection last season, Oklahoma’s Lamb caught 65 passes for 1158 yards and 11 touchdowns. He ranked among the NCAA top 20 in both TD catches (15th) and yardage (18th).

The Sooners run game helps open up downfield opportunities for Lamb. Trey Sermon and Kennedy Brooks combined for 25 TDs and 2003 yards on the ground in 2018.

Oh, and the new Oklahoma QB doesn’t hurt, either. Actually, he’s Hurts – Alabama grad transfer Jalen Hurts, who led the Crimson Tide to the 2017 NCAA title.

Lamb’s TD numbers improved each season. He caught seven TD passes from Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield as a freshman in 2017.  Kyler Murray, the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner, threw 11 TD passes to Lamb last year.

Anticipate more forward motion.

Pick: Over 10 (-115)

Justyn Ross Total Receiving Yards

Ross saved the two best games of his freshman season for Clemson’s two biggest games of the season. He caught six balls for a 148 yards and two touchdowns, all season highs, in the Tigers’ 30-3 playoff semifinal win over #3 Notre Dame.

In the NCAA championship game against #1 Alabama, Ross was again a receiver of note. He snared six passes for a season-best 153 yards and a TD in the 44-16 drubbing of the Crimson Tide. He’d gone over 100 receiving yards just once in 12 regular-season games.

He accounted for one-third of his nine TD catches and 301 of his season total of 1000 receiving yards in the final two games of the year. For much of the season, Ross was deployed in a receiver rotation. He didn’t really explode as a star until the postseason.

Making an assessment on what to anticipate this season from Ross a bit more challenging is the fact that junior Tee Higgins is back on the other side of the field. He caught 59 balls for 936 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2018.

Justyn Ross was literally a cheat code last season. He averaged nearly 10 yards AFTER the catch per reception, best mark in the ACC. pic.twitter.com/VDmMFxgyc7

— PFF Draft (@PFF_College) August 22, 2019

How will his presence impact the opportunities for Ross to shine and rack up numbers? It my be immaterial. Clemson figures to blow out a lot of teams this season. They’ll be plenty of gravy to go around.

Pick: Over 1100 (-115)