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CBS Sports ranks top wide receiver rooms in 2025 ahead of summer workouts

by:Alex Byington•06/12/25•

_AlexByington

top WR rooms

College football media days — the unofficial “start-your-engines” kickoff to the regular season — are still more than a month away. In the meantime, it’s still ranking season for college football fans, this time with wide receiver rooms.

CBS Sports delivered with a ranking of the Top 5 wide receiver rooms before players return to campus for summer workouts later this month. As CBS Sports’ Will Backus acknowledged, “few positions are as valuable as wide receiver in modern college football,” especially given the proliferation of modern-day passing offenses across the sport.

Look no further than reigning national champion Ohio State, which rode an explosive offense fueled by former five-star freshman Jeremiah Smith to sweep its way through the new 12-team College Football Playoff last season. Given that success last year, and the reality that the Buckeyes have at least two more seasons of Smith, it’s no surprise that Ohio State claims the top spot in CBS Sports’ list of top receiver rooms.

Check out the rest of CBS Sports’ list of college football’s top WR rooms entering the 2025 season below:

1. Ohio State Buckeyes

Jeremiah Smith-Ohio State-Ohio State football-Buckeyes
Jeremiah Smith (Adam Cairns-Columbus Dispatch/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

As mentioned above, everything in Columbus revolves around Jeremiah Smith, who more than lived up to the hype as a Five-Star Plus+ prospect and the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2024 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. Smith ranked fourth nationally and led the Buckeyes with 76 receptions for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns, rivaling 2024 Heisman Trophy and Biletnikoff Award winner Travis Hunter‘s season (96 catches for 1,258 yards and 15 receiving TDs).

Of course, Smith isn’t alone in Ohio State’s loaded receiver room. Carnell Tate returns after ranking third on the team with 733 receiving yards and four scores last season, along with fellow junior Brandon Inniss, who added 14 receptions for 176 yards in 2024. CBS Sports also pointed out the offseason addition of transfer TE Max Klare, who added four touchdowns and 685 receiving yards at Purdue last season.

2. Clemson Tigers

While Ohio State can make a case as college football’s real “WR-U,” given the wealth of talent to come out of Columbus of late, CBS Sports suggested Clemson has its own case to make after head coach Dabo Swinney rebuilt the WR room in recent years. That begins with dynamic 5-foot-11 Antonio Williams, who led the Tigers with 75 receptions for 904 yards and an ACC-best 11 touchdowns in 2024.

Clemson senior QB Cade Klubnik has a wealth of riches to throw to this season, including rising sophomores Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore, both of whom were Top 15 receivers in the 2024 recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. Moore and Wesco ranked third and second, respectively, as freshmen, combining for 1,359 yards and 10 touchdowns on 86 catches between them.

3. Alabama Crimson Tide

If Jeremiah Smith was the star of the 2024 receiver class, not far behind him was Five-Star Plus+ Crimson Tide freshman Ryan Williams, who splashed onto the scene with a spectacular game-winning 75-yard touchdown reception against Georgia in late September. Much like Smith at Ohio State, Williams led Alabama as a five-star true freshman with 865 yards and eight touchdowns on 48 receptions in 2024.

Add in senior Germie Bernard, who followed head coach Kalen DeBoer over from Washington and was second on the team with 794 yards and two scores on 50 receptions in 2024, and junior transfer Isaiah Horton, who was Miami‘s third-best receiver with 56 catches for 616 yards and five scores last season, and Alabama is loaded at receiver. And don’t overlook former five-star Jaylen Mbakwe, who moved over from DB this offseason and is already turning heads on offense.

4. Auburn Tigers

Auburn-Texas-A&M
Cam Coleman (Jake Crandall-Montgomery Advertiser/USA TODAY NETWORK)

Hugh Freeze finally has a jam-packed receiver room in his third season at Auburn after landing elite Five-Star Plus+ recruit Cam Coleman, who was 2024’s No. 2 overall receiver according to the On3 Industry Ranking behind Smith. And much like Smith and Williams, Coleman lived up to the hype with 598 yards and a team-leading eight touchdowns on 37 receptions in 2024.

Freeze added one of the transfer portal’s top playmakers at the receiver position in former Georgia Tech transfer Eric Singleton Jr., who led the Yellow Jackets with 754 yards and three scores on 56 catches last season. Add in dynamic sophomores Malcolm Simmons (40 rec., 451 yards, 3 TDs) and Perry Thompson, who averaged 25.2 yards per catch in 2024, as well as Wake Forest transfer Horatio Fields (39 rec., 463 yards, 4 TDs) and new Tigers QB Jackson Arnold has plenty of quality options in 2025.

5. LSU Tigers

Last but certainly not least is LSU, which reloaded an already-talented receiver room with the transfer additions of Oklahoma‘s Nic Anderson and Kentucky‘s Barion Brown, who bring elite playmaking ability to Baton Rouge out of the portal. The 6-foot-4 Anderson missed the entire 2024 season with an injury after ranking second on the Sooners’ 2023 roster with 798 yards and 10 touchdowns as a freshman, while Brown (29 rec., 361 yards, 3 TDs) is a multi-dimensional talent with return potential.

Mix in last season’s leading receiver in junior Aaron Anderson, who hauled in 61 receptions for 884 yards and five touchdowns in 2024, along with senior returners Chris Hilton Jr. and Zavion Thomas and LSU’s WR room is packed to the brim with talent for two-year starting QB and preseason Heisman Trophy favorite Garrett Nussmeier. CBS also acknowledged the potential of 6-foot-7 former Tigers power forward Trey’Dez Green as a tight end in 2025.

Honorable mentions