College Football Yards Per Catch Leaders

Yards per catch is receiving yards divided by receptions. Last updated

What Does Yards Per Catch Measure?

Yards per catch is receiving yards divided by receptions. This table ranks college football players for the selected season and displays the applicable minimum qualifier where one is used.

Which players lead college football in yards per catch in 2026?

DJ Epps of West Virginia is the 2026 college football leader in yards per catch at 25.3, through games played October 29, 2026. Second is Makai Jackson of Liberty at 23.5, then Jesse Legree of Oregon State third at 22.6, Tim Burns Jr. of Sam Houston fourth at 21.8 & Isaiah Myers of Missouri State fifth at 21.3. Epps's average puts him 1.8 yards clear of second place & 7.1 ahead of the 25th-ranked player.

Luke Gilbert of Jacksonville State is the highest-ranked tight end on the board at 19.5 yards, tenth overall. Sixth is Cataurus Hicks of Pittsburgh at 20.9, then Kayden McGee of UNLV seventh at 20.6, Lawayne McCoy of Louisville eighth at 20.5, Damarion Witten of Miami (OH) ninth at 20.4 & Devin Alves of Hawai'i tenth at 19.5.

A gap of 0.9 yards separates ninth from tenth, the widest single step anywhere below the top four. Koby Young of Houston & Audric Harris of Hawai'i are tied 12th at 19.3, then Deondre Johnson of Jacksonville State 14th at 19.0, Jeremiah Smith of Ohio State 15th at 18.9, Dom Dorwart of Ohio 16th at 18.8, Jack Foley of Wake Forest 17th at 18.7 and Nik McMillan of Kansas & Micah Gilbert of Notre Dame are tied 18th at 18.6.

Nine players sit inside 0.5 yards of each other from 17th to 25th, the tightest stretch of the ranking. Jayvan Boggs of Florida State & Duce Robinson of Florida State are tied 20th at 18.5, then CJ Smith of UAB 22nd at 18.4, Taz Reddicks of UNLV & Isaiah Mizell of Arizona are tied 23rd at 18.3 & Derrick Eley of Charlotte is 25th at 18.2. Florida State, Hawai'i, Jacksonville State & UNLV are the only programs with two players in the top 25. Twenty-four of the 25 are wide receivers; the only tight end is Gilbert 10th. Five ranks inside the top 25 are shared by more than one player.

How this ranking is measured

These 25 are drawn from 424 college football players with at least one recorded reception ranked in the 2026 regular season. A minimum of 16 receptions is applied. Yards per catch is receiving yards divided by receptions. Figures are as of October 29, 2026 & are recalculated on StatRankings after each game's play-by-play is processed.