30 best college football wide receivers of the 21st century

12. Ja’Marr Chase – LSU Tigers

Ja’Marr Chase is just a few months away from being taken (likely) in the top 10 of the NFL Draft. This comes off as one of the best wide receiver seasons ever. His 1780 receiving yards with the National Champion LSU Tigers in 2019 is the 13th most ever. It all culminated in a monster performance on the biggest stage. In the National Championship Game against a great Clemson defense, Chase had 9 catches for 221 yards and two touchdowns.

Chase falls this far down the list because he only really dominated that one season. He only had 313 yards in his freshman season and he decided to opt-out of his junior season to prepare for the NFL. After the disaster that was the LSU season this year, it was probably the right decision.

However, his place in college football lore cannot be denied. That one season was one of the best. He’s one of 15 receivers in history to score 20 touchdowns in a season. There was no player in college football last season that could hit the big play as Chase could.

He rose Joe Burrow to a Heisman candidate and the number-one overall pick in the NFL Draft. Burrow is likely just a very good quarterback without Chase instead of one of the top players in recent memory. Chase can elevate an entire offense and it’s rare to get that from the wide receiver position.