Wisconsin Football: Top Five Big Ten Wide Receivers

Does Wisconsin Football’s Quintez Cephus rank among the top five wide receivers in the Big Ten?

I wrote a piece a few weeks ago in which I ranked the Big Ten’s top running backs and touched on the conference’s storied history of talented players at that position.

Well, it’s safe to say that the Big Ten has not been quite as successful at producing elite wide receivers.

It is a league dominated by run-oriented offenses that tend to stifle the kind of receiving numbers that players often put up in other Power 5 conferences. It can be a brutal cycle, as top receiving recruits seeking different styles of play decide to play their college ball elsewhere, leading to a shortage of talent at the position in the Big Ten that gives coaches even more of an incentive to focus on the run game.

Last year’s group of receivers in the Big Ten, while solid, did not stray much from the narrative of the conference lagging behind others in terms of production at the position. Indiana’s Simmie Cobbs, Maryland’s D.J. Moore, and Penn State’s DaeSean Hamilton were arguably the three best receivers in the conference last season, but none of those players really garnered much national attention.

A telling statistic: Moore was the only1,000-yard receiver in the Big Ten last season, barely surpassing that mark with 1,003 yards. In comparison, seven players reached that milestone in the Big 12.

That being said, there are a number of talented receivers returning in 2018, both proven upperclassmen and young guys that are potential breakout candidates to keep an eye on. The potential is certainly there for there this collection of players to far surpass the accomplishments of last year’s group.

Let’s take a look at the best wide receivers the Big Ten has to offer in 2018, and see where any Wisconsin football receivers fall.