OSU Has Three of the Top-50 Receivers of the Past 50 Years
STILLWATER – The general consensus the past several years in and around Stillwater is that Oklahoma State is Wide Receiver University, or for those in the know, WRU.
It’s an argument which can be backed up by stats and awards as OSU is the only school in the country to have three Biletnikoff Award winners, two of which have been coached by Kasey Dunn.
And let’s be real, Tylan Wallace should’ve won the award in 2018. That’s not an OSU bias, that’s just stats and fact, but I digress.
Now, this might be a little bit of bias, but I feel that if Tylan wouldn’t have gotten hurt and missed the last half of the 2019 season, he’d have a very good chance of making the list as well.
ESPN staff writer Bill Connelly dropped his list of the top 50 wide receivers over the past 50 years and Oklahoma State has three on the list, all within the top 20.
Let’s start with the third Cowboy on this list, Hart Lee Dykes, who was electric for the Pokes during his last three seasons in Stillwater. His 1988 campaign was one of the best in the country as he hauled in 74 passes for 1,278 yards and 14 touchdowns, or as Connelly alludes to, it’s equivalent to 100 catches for 1,700 yards. Goodness.
He’d finish his time in Stillwater with 211 catches for 3,275 yards and 30 touchdowns.
Just a few spots up at No. 16 is James Washington.
Washington became the third Cowboy to win a Biletnikoff Award following his electric 2017 season where he hauled in 74 passes for 1,549 yards and 31 touchdowns. During his four years, he hauled in 226 passes for 4,472 yards and 39 touchdowns, averaging 19.8 yards a catch. Three of those seasons he recorded at least 1,000 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns.
Checking in as the No. 4 receiver of the past 50 years, you guessed it, Justin Blackmon. Easily one of the most explosive and impressive playmakers in Oklahoma State history, Blackmon is one of just two players since the inception of the Biletnikoff Award to win it twice, 2010 and 2011.
After a rather pedestrian freshman season of just 260 yards and two touchdowns, Blackmon exploded onto the scene his sophomore season as he hauled in 111 passes for 1,782 yards and 20 touchdowns, as well as one rushing touchdown and punt return for a score.
He’d follow that season up with another Biletnikoff Award winning performance of 122 catches for 1,522 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2011, helping win the program’s first Big 12 title and the Fiesta Bowl over Andrew Luck and Stanford.
As long as Kasey Dunn is in charge of the receivers room in the West End Zone, I’d fully expect Oklahoma State to continue to churn out some of the top receivers in the country.