How Florida State breakout star Keon Coleman stacks up to Marvin Harrison Jr., other top wide receivers as NFL draft prospect

Shortly after Keon Coleman decided to leave Michigan State and enter the NCAA transfer portal in April, a Big Ten staffer reached out to me with a question about Coleman before then adding a funny separate message.

“Glad he’s leaving!” he said.

You could see why Sunday night.

Coleman’s final stat line during Florida State’s win over LSU: Nine catches, 122 yards and three touchdowns. In a matchup between two top-10 teams that was full of future NFL players, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Coleman was far and away the biggest star of the night. And it wasn’t just people around the college football space that took notice. NFL scouts did, too.

While at least some scouts already had first round grades on Coleman prior to Sunday night, it’s safe to say that the performance has his NFL draft stock continuing to move in a good direction.

“You don’t want to overreact to last night, but is he now the next best (NFL receiver prospect) after Marvin Harrison Jr.? That’s probably a legitimate question,” an NFL scouting source told On3.

Coleman, a Class of 2021 four-star recruit who was also a college prospect in basketball, had been committed to play both football and basketball at Kansas before ultimately ending up at Michigan State. 

After playing both sports as a freshman for the Spartans, he focused strictly on football last year and went from posting just seven catches in 2021 to finishing last season with 58 catches, 798 yards and seven touchdowns. Based on that 2022 tape from Michigan State, a good amount of NFL scouts already viewed Coleman as an early-round prospect for next year’s draft, which led to On3 listing him this summer as the top prospect for the 2024 NFL draft among players that transferred this offseason. 

Now, Coleman is very clearly a possibility to go in the top 20 picks. 

On his first touchdown against LSU, Coleman caught a slant, eluded two Tigers defenders and ran the rest of the way for a 41-yard score. The second and third touchdowns both came on jump balls during which he showcased some of the attributes that have NFL scouts most intrigued — his length, catch radius and ball skills. Scouts were impressed with other areas of his game against LSU, too.

“Keon was not a refined route runner last year,” an NFL scouting source said. “It looked, and it was just the TV copy, but he looked much crisper (against LSU). I always talk about speed at the top of the route, like how do they get in and out of their breaks and how do they create separation at the top of the route? Last year, he would just kind of round things off and just trust that he could go get it and make the play or use his body or physicality. He was very physical, but he wasn’t as refined. It seemed like he was much better and sharper running routes last night. And then the size and strength after the catch was equally impressive.”

It’s all why beating out Ole Miss for Coleman in May was such a big deal for Florida State. With Coleman, fellow early-round receiver prospect Johnny Wilson and others like South Carolina tight end transfer Jaheim Bell, FSU has surrounded All-ACC QB Jordan Travis with plenty of talented pass-catchers and helped put him in position to throw for 342 yards and four TDs in the win over LSU.

In terms of Coleman individually though, FSU may now have its best NFL prospect at wide receiver since Javon Walker more than 20 years ago. Walker, who went No. 20 overall in the 2002 NFL draft, and Kelvin Benjamin, who was picked No. 28 overall in 2014, are the Seminoles’ last two first-round wide receivers.

Coleman may soon change that, though.

“I think he’s going to be trending up as the year goes on for sure,” an NFL scouting source said.