The 2025 college football season is just weeks away, leading to college football analysts getting in their last-minute predictions and rankings.
This is no different with SEC Network analyst Chris Doering, who ranked his top-five wide receivers in the SEC on Friday. Doering would certainly know about stellar wide receiver play, as he was a First Team All-SEC selection and a Second Team All-American at the position in 1995. Doering, who has been with the SEC Network since 2015, is also enshrined in the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame.
Doering’s complete top-five list is below.
Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams needs no introduction, as he burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2024 with 865 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. His signature moment came in Alabama‘s 41-34 win over Georgia last season, as he hauled in game-winning 75-yard touchdown with just 2:18 remaining. Williams holds high expectations this season as one of the best receivers in the country, as he has been named to Preseason Watch Lists for the Maxwell Award, the Paul Hornung Award, the Walter Camp Award and the Biletnikoff Award.
“He’s dynamic, he’s fast and his body control is outstanding,” college football analyst Joel Klatt said about Williams. “The way that he can, as a young player, understand his position on the field and also where he’s at in relation to the defender? His body control, yes, but it’s more his spatial awareness. How many times were you able to see Ryan Williams understand his spatial awareness when the ball was still in the air and he was slowing himself down or turning himself in a fashion where he could either absorb the hit or he was putting himself in a better position to make a move after the catch? He’s sure-handed. He’s electric.”
Sophomore wide receiver Cam Coleman is one of two Auburn players present in Doering’s top-five SEC receiver rankings. This should make life blissful for quarterback Jackson Arnold, who transferred from Oklahoma in the offseason. As a freshman in 2024, Coleman hauled in 37 receptions for 598 yards and eight touchdowns. Due to Auburn‘s disappointing 5-7 season however, the Phenix City, AL native is likely one of the most underrated playmakers in the country.
“Cam is such a likable kid,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said. “And so coachable… length first, and speed. Then he has these natural ball skills that just, it seems, I don’t care what’s around him. He just feels like that ball is his, and he’s naturally on the timing where you’ve seen some receivers before they’re in the right position, but they’re covered, but the timing of the jump is a little off. They’re not high pointing it. Man, you don’t ever feel like that’s the case for him.”
After originally committing to Alabama out of Edna Karr (New Orleans, LA) High School, Anderson has spent the past two seasons at LSU. He hauled in 12 receptions for 59 yards as a redshirt freshman, but really burst onto the scene as a redshirt sophomore last season. With Garrett Nussmeier behind center, Anderson caught 61 passes for 884 yards and five touchdowns. His signature moment came in LSU‘s regular season finale against Oklahoma, where he ran back a 100-yard kickoff return to propel the Tigers back in front. Expect a monster year from Anderson as Nussmeier chases the Heisman Trophy.
Although he has been limited early on in camp as a result of some knee inflammation, the injury isn’t expected to cost him any playing time during the season. “We’re going to be very careful with him,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said on Monday. “This is the result of — he was great this summer in his training, never missed a day. Probably a little bit of too much work in that sense, where he had some inflammation in the knee. We took an MRI, bone scan. Everything looks really good.”
While the first two receivers on this list started their careers at their current school, the final three transferred in from another school. This is no different with talented wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr., who transferred to Auburn from Georgia Tech this offseason. In 2024, Singleton Jr. hauled in 56 receptions for 754 yards and three touchdowns. In two collegiate seasons, the Alexander High (Douglasville, GA) alum boasts 104 catches, 1,468 yards and nine scores. Paired with Cam Coleman, Auburn boasts the No. 6 ranked receiving room in the nation per Phil Steele.
“Eric Singleton? I’m really interested to see this guy at Auburn this year, okay,” NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay said in July. “(He is) 5’10, 180 pounds. Dude, he’s estimated to run like a 4.25, 4.28. We’ll see. He’s a state champion in the 100, 200, and 400 meter in track and field…Eric Singleton – known as one of the fastest players in all of college football, okay. Pint-sized. He’s a slot receiver, just like you talked about Makai Lemon but (Singleton) is 5’10, 180, Lemon is like 5’11, 190.”
Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch rounds out the top-five of Doering’s rankings. Branch came to Georgia from USC via the Transfer Portal this offseason. In his first two seasons of collegiate football played in Los Angeles, Branch boasts 78 career receptions for 823 yards and three touchdowns. The Las Vegas native caught four passes for 56 yards in his lone career game against SEC competition in the 2024 season opener against LSU.
“A lot of things impacted me to come to Georgia,” Branch said following his commitment. “First and foremost, I’d say the culture that Coach Kirby Smart and the coaching staff have established. I feel like it’s a real brotherhood and not just words. Just to be surrounded by a lot of likeminded players as well, all trying to get toward the same goal is something that’s really important to me as well. Once I got into that portal, it was pretty easy to make my decision from there.”
