College Football Targets Leaders

Targets count passes directed toward a receiver. Last updated

What Are Targets?

Targets count passes directed toward a receiver. This table ranks college football players for the selected season and displays the applicable minimum qualifier where one is used.

Who leads college football in targets in 2026?

Through games played October 31, 2026, Easton Messer of Florida Atlantic & Umari Hatcher of Syracuse are tied for the college football lead in targets at 91. Gavin Freeman of Baylor is third with 89 and Kelby Valsin of Florida Atlantic & Chance Morrow of Buffalo are tied for fourth with 83. Twenty-three targets separate the leaders from the 25th-ranked player.

Florida Atlantic has two players inside the top ten. Collin Dixon of Illinois & Reed Harris of Arizona State are tied for sixth with 82, Chris Durr Jr. of Maryland & Chase Hendricks of California tied for eighth with 81 and Carson Clark of San José State & Charlie Becker of Indiana tied for tenth with 80.

Three targets separate 12th from 14th, the widest single step anywhere below the top four. KJ Duff of Rutgers & Joseph Williams of Colorado are tied 12th with 79, Malachi Toney of Miami ranks 14th with 76, Carlos Hernandez of Wake Forest 15th with 74 & Isaiah Sategna III of Oklahoma, Matt Coleman of Sacramento State and Mario Sanders of Southern Miss are tied 16th with 73.

All 10 players are within 4 targets of each other. Deuce Alexander of Ole Miss, Jeremiah Smith of Ohio State & DeAree Rogers of Northern Illinois are tied 19th with 72, Onterrio Smith Jr. of Sacramento State is 22nd with 69 & Omarion Miller of Arizona State, Jaden Barnes of Charlotte and Chris Marshall of Arkansas are tied 23rd with 68. Arizona State, Florida Atlantic & Sacramento State are the only programs with two players in the top 25. Nine ranks inside the top 25 are shared by more than one player.

How this ranking is measured

The ranking above covers the top 25 of 2,083 college football players with at least one recorded reception in the 2026 regular season. No minimum reception threshold is applied. Targets count passes directed toward a receiver. Figures are as of October 31, 2026 & are recalculated on StatRankings after each game's play-by-play is processed.