Tyreek Hill. Adam Thielen. Vincent Jackson.

What do those three names have in common? Being former NCAA Division II wide receivers who went on to be Pro Bowlers in the NFL. 

There are more stars of the NFL than you may think that comes out of levels beside D-I, and D-II — with its depth of talent and historical pedigree — is no exception. Receiver, however, is a position where numerous former D-II athletes have especially seen high degrees of success in the pros.

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The question now heading into the 2024 season, however , is who’s next to join them.

Here’s a look ahead at 10 wide receivers to watch in D-II football this season, with games from numerous conferences being streamed live and exclusively on FloFootball all season long:

Max McLeod, Colorado School Of Mines

If there’s a current D-II wideout most likely to be playing on Sundays very soon, it might be McLeod. 

A back-to-back All-American during the two greatest seasons in Orediggers history, he and 2022 Harlon Hill Trophy winner John Matocha were the most unstoppable QB-WR duo in all of D-II for each of the past two years as Mines made consecutive national championship games. 

The Seattle native’s already-stellar 2022 stats of 79 catches for 1,492 yards were shattered last year as he bumped up his numbers to 115 catches for 1,656 yards in 2023, both of which led D-II with his receptions tying for the most by any receiver in any NCAA division last season. 

With 218 catches, 44 touchdowns, and over 3,600 yards to his name in his career, the talent is unquestionably there, but there’s a burning question for McLeod entering this season; how will he handle not having Matocha (who graduated and was last with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts) under center? Chemistry will be important as the Orediggers try to follow up on the successes of the past few years, but whoever is throwing the ball when Mines opens its season against West Texas A&M, they’ll have the country’s best wideout to rely on when they do go airborne. 

DeAree Rogers, Lenoir-Rhyne

With respect to the other fantastic receivers the Bears have including senior Kelin Parsons (1,780 yards, 16 touchdowns in career), Rogers was awesome in his freshman season and should be one of the primary weapons once again for what should be one of the top contenders in the South Atlantic Conference (and potentially the country). 

The South Carolina native was Lenoir-Rhyne’s top wideout before and through its run to the national semifinals, catching 53 balls for 690 yards and six touchdowns along the way, and his explosiveness in the return game added another dangerous edge to his skillset. Rogers took three punt returns back for touchdowns in 2023 — including two in one game against Erskine in the regular season — and was additionally a difference-maker on kickoff returns, too, making him a big-play machine for the Bears a season ago. 

A new coach in Doug Socha, hired from NAIA Keiser after Mike Jacobs left to take the job at FCS Mercer, will have plenty of ways to utilize Rogers on the football field as he could be poised for a breakout year to put himself into the category of elite pass-catchers of D-II.

Gage Florence, Minnesota State Moorhead

A big-time target from tiny Sawyer, North Dakota (pop. 319), Florence, just a junior, already has back-to-back 100-catch seasons under his belt and broke his own school record for catches during his sophomore campaign with 108, ranking him second in D-II at the end of the year. 

Together with an excellent quarterback in Jack Strand, who also returns to Moorhead after being the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year, they make up perhaps one of the most underrated passing pairs in all of D-II, considering that the Dragons are historically not a power and haven’t clinched a playoff berth since doing so in the NAIA ranks in 1994.

That could change this season as MSUM continues to ride with Strand and Florence as the cornerstones of its offense, and though the NSIC is a tough league with the likes of Augustana, Minnesota State, and Minnesota Duluth within it, the Dragons have the fire on offense to beat anyone. Augustana and Minnesota State know that well after last season when MSUM only lost their games to them by a combined seven points. 

Jack Pospisil, Central Missouri

Though Mules quarterback Zach Zebrowski was absolutely deserving of last year’s Harlon Hill Trophy after putting up one of the greatest individual seasons by a quarterback ever seen at any level of college football, someone had to catch his passes, after all. 

One of the men who did that most often was Pospisil, who played an effective second fiddle to All-American wideout and UCM all-time receptions leader Arkell Smith (now with the CFL’s Edmonton Elks) as he managed to grab 71 catches for 815 yards and 10 touchdowns — numbers that would make him the clear No. 1 option on the vast majority of D-II teams. Now, with Zebrowski back to contend for both another Harlon Hill Trophy and to try and get UCM to the playoff in consecutive years for the first time in school history, Pospisil (even while listed on the team’s roster at just 5-foot-7 and 171 pounds) will get that shot as the Mules’ top guy this season. 

Some of his top performances from 2023, such as a three-touchdown game against Henderson State in the first round of the playoffs and a 10-catch, 88-yard, one-touchdown showing in UCM’s first win over six-time national champ Northwest Missouri State in 11 years, indicate that he’s ready. 

Tyler Kahmann, Emporia State

Emporia State was one of the most pass-happy offenses in D-II last season, only finding itself behind Central Missouri in total pass attempts with 556 on the year with most of them being from the hands of Harlon Hill Trophy finalist Braden Gleason at quarterback. 

Gleason has now graduated and is a graduate assistant on the ESU staff, where he’ll be helping out on the sidelines all members of the Hornets’ passing game — including his returning top target from last season in Kahmann. A good year in 2022 became a great one in 2023 for the Haysville, Kansas native as he more than doubled his numbers in all three major receiving statistics: receptions (47 to 101), receiving yards (536 to 1,234) and receiving touchdowns (nine to 20), the latter of which was the most in all of D-II. 

Redshirt senior Chase Ricke looks in line to start under center post-Gleason as he was the only other signal-called to throw a pass in 2023, and there are few receivers better in D-II for a first-year starter to trust than Kahmann.

Yogi Flager, Jr., McKendree

Set for big things a season ago after a monster 2022 season in which he caught 75 balls for 1,144 yards and 10 scores, Flager was en route to another great year in 2023 before a season-ending injury cut his campaign short after five games, seeing him end his season with 41 catches for 406 yards and five touchdowns. But now that he’s back for the Bearcats and ready to rock for his redshirt senior season, Flager (who started his career at FCS Butler) will be set to make up for lost time and get McKendree rolling — even potentially back up to the thick of the Great Lakes Valley Conference title race. 

Finding footing early on with whoever his quarterback is will be crucial as Flager and Turner Pullen (the unanimous GLVC Player of the Year and D-II’s leader in total offense per game in 2022) were instantly connected during Flager’s first season with the Bearcats two years ago, resulting in one of the top passing duos in all of D-II that year. 

Returning starting quarterback Caleb Fisher, formerly a receiver earlier in his career, began to establish rapport with Flager in 2023 before his injury, and the extra reps and good health from his top wideout in the offseason will go a long way this fall.

Rashawn Harvey, Slippery Rock

Fans of a Mountain East Conference program (or diehard D-II fans) may remember Harvey as one of the bright spots of an otherwise below-average West Liberty team over the past two seasons, with his 71 grabs for 971 yards and eight touchdowns in 2023 propelling him to eighth in D-II in receiving yards per game (97.1). Well, Harvey transferred to Slippery Rock in the offseason, and with one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Brayden Long now throwing to him, the stakes have been raised for the Pittsburgh native as he gives the Harlon Hill Trophy finalist a major weapon on offense. 

With two major pieces from last year in All-American wideout Kyle Sheets and fellow 1,000-yard receiver Cohen Russell both now out of the picture, Harvey should get a massive amount of targets in The Rock’s lethal pass game and has serious All-American potential for one of the most consistently-strong programs in all of D-II. We could see some school records broken between Long and Harvey if things go well, which is saying something considering the amount of star power that’s come out of Slippery Rock over the years.

Preston Smith, Davenport

Smith’s career numbers at Davenport may not jump off of the page, having recorded a total of 77 receptions for 1,065 yards and 12 touchdowns over his two years with the Panthers, but his intangibles do, making him one of the most watched players by pro scouts in all of D-II entering this season. 

A lanky 6-4, 212-pound receiver with good speed who came to Davenport from D-III Adrian, Smith’s best games at DU thus far have come in bursts. He had nine catches for 112 yards and three touchdowns in a game against Wayne State in 2022 and five catches for 51 yards and two touchdowns in a game against Thomas More last season, showing up for the Panthers as they started 8-0 in 2023 and just missed out on the playoffs. 

Named to an All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference team in each of the past two years, Smith should continue to give secondaries in the league fits in 2024, even with powerhouses Ferris State and Grand Valley State both likely slated to be preseason top-10 teams.

Jeremiah Taylor, Shepherd

Shepherd’s passing game was expected to drop off dramatically in 2023 after 2021 Harlon Hill Trophy winner and now-Chicago Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent left and the receiving corps he tossed 159 touchdowns to across his storied career was decimated by graduation. Taylor, who transferred in from Fairmont State last offseason, helped ensure that things were going to be OK despite the Rams’ massive losses on offense. 

A major reason why Shepherd managed to go 9-3 and make the playoffs last season, was Taylor had 63 catches for 820 yards and eight scores as he managed to break out with a new program after just 21 catches in two seasons at Fairmont State. He’ll have to build a relationship with a new quarterback as last season’s main man under center, Seth Morgan, transferred to FCS New Hampshire, but names battling for the Rams’ starting quarterback job include Ezra Bagent, a redshirt freshman who threw a few passes in 2023 and is the younger brother of Tyson. 

Regardless of who it is, however, expect another big year from Taylor, who has emerged as a potential pro prospect in the eyes of scouts and can bump his stock up by impressing again. 

Da’Mani Brown, West Florida

Receivers with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons to their names don’t fall off of trees, but in West Florida’s case, they do arrive via the transfer portal. Brown, a Florida native, had a tremendous past two seasons with D-III Loras College in Iowa as he caught a combined 159 balls for a total of 2,126 yards and 33 touchdowns, with his 20 scores last year putting him tied for second in D-III. 

Getting back closer to his hometown of Fort Myers by transferring to West Florida, the Argonauts have lost a lot from a group that made the playoffs once again in 2023, but Brown appears at first glance to be the John Jiles replacement UWF sorely needed after he put up an All-America campaign at wideout for the Argos last season. 

West Florida’s brutal schedule both in the Gulf South Conference and in nonconference play (which includes a trip to Grand Valley State on Sept. 28) will unquestionably be a step up in talent for Brown, but the Argos — who haven’t won fewer than eight games in any of their past four seasons — should remain competitive, especially if new additions like Brown get to cooking right away.

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