These are the glamour boys. Fast. Safe. Spectacular. Groundbreaking forces.
Netflix is so excited about Recipient that they have created a show that revolves entirely around the position, producing flashy, loud players who catch the ball and score touchdowns.
California has some of the best wideouts, if not the most productive receivers, in NFL history, including Lynn Swann (Serra), James Lofton (Washington), Tom Fears (Manuel Arts), Amani Toomer (De La Salle), Henry Ellard (Hoover-Fresno) and the Long Beach Poly trio of Gene Washington, DeSean Jackson and Mark Carrier.
In addition to Jackson, other current top wide receivers in the NFL come from California: Brandin Cooks (Lincoln-Stockton), Davante Adams (Palo Alto), Robert Woods (Serra-Gardena), Marvin Jones (Etiwanda), Michael Thomas (Taft), JuJu Smith-Schuster (Long Beach Poly), Amon and Equanimeous St. Brown (Mater Dei) and Drake London (Moorpark).
The state also boasts some of the game’s best tight ends, including perhaps the best Tony Gonzalez (Huntington Beach), as well as Brent Jones (Leland), Charles Young (Edison-Fresno) and Delanie Walker (Pomona).
Other top NFL tight ends from the Golden State include all-time players Marcedes Lewis (Long Beach Poly) and Zach Ertz (Monte Vista), as well as Austin Hooper (De La Salle) and Colby Parkingson (Oaks Christian).
The receiver position is absolutely filled for the 2024 high school season. Of California’s top 245 recruits in the senior class (2025), 26 are wide receivers and in the junior class (2026), 37 wideouts are among the top 172 recruits, all according to 247Sports.
Among the tight ends, 24 are considered top recruits for the 2025 and 2026 age groups.
That’s a total of 87 top receivers from the two classes. The second class (2027) also boasts a lot of top pass catchers, including Orange Lutheran wideouts Nico Bland and Chris Flores and Mater Dei tight end Mark Bowman (6-4, 225).
(Recruiting rankings according to 247Sports)
Yes, the best pass catcher is a tight end and he’s catching passes from Ryder Lyons, the top junior QB recruit in the country. The three-sport star caught 44 passes for 828 yards and seven touchdowns in 13 games last season. Overall, he’s the state’s 10th-best recruit.
A very new transfer out of Oklahoma, Nickens is a name and player that should quickly appear on SoCal’s radar. He is ranked No. 12 overall in the state by 247Sports and has 13 college offers, including Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Michigan State. He is also a top basketball recruit.
The fourth-year college player is also considered a promising cornerback and caught 68 balls for 969 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. In his career, he has recorded 167 catches and 32 touchdowns. His statistics
Chose the Sooners despite 30 other offers, including Georgia, Alabama and UCLA. This season, he’ll be thrown a new quarterback in Dash Beierly, who committed to Washington. He’s a touchdown machine with 18 career points on 68 catches.
With nearly 40 offers, Bell should have a great final season after modest numbers in his freshman season at Mission Viejo with 56 catches for 644 yards and seven touchdowns. He was invaluable to the D1-AA state champions with 15 total catches and two touchdowns in his final two games. He has visited USC, Ohio State, Penn State and Washington.
Ploog’s unique skills match his unique name, as the three-sport star is a great jumper and pass catcher. Last season he had 61 catches for 1,047 yards and 12 touchdowns. His first love is probably basketball, last season he averaged 12.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.
Waller is one of the state’s leading college prospects with 44 offers and appears to be slowly hitting his stride. Over the past three seasons, Waller has caught 161 passes for 2,500 yards and 31 touchdowns.
Butler, a slot receiver with sprinter speed, caught 51 passes for 837 yards and six touchdowns from the state’s top senior recruit, quarterback Husan Longstreet.
It’s not often that teammate receivers are so coveted and catch passes from the same quarterback. McNair is quickly rising in the recruiting rankings after playing only half a season for the Huskies last season due to transfer rules. He was impressive in 7-on-7 games all summer.
Rosenthal is the benchmark in productivity, hauling in an incredible 122 catches for 1,947 yards and 21 touchdowns last season after hauling in 89 and 1,334 as a sophomore. He also caught 16 interceptions during that time. With quarterback Brady Smigiel, who is transferring to Florida State, throwing passes to him, there’s no reason to believe Rosenthal won’t reach triple figures in catches again. Rosenthal has 17 offers, including from most Ivy League schools.
Brown chose the Bruins despite 11 offers, including Arizona, Fresno State, Minnesota and Kansas. Last season, he had 46 catches for 560 yards and six touchdowns.
Butler, a transfer from Kansas, sat out much of last season after hauling in 20 catches for 328 yards as a sophomore. He has offers from Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Missouri and Colorado, among others.
Caught 62 passes for 564 yards and 13 touchdowns in his career, earning 18 offers, including from Auburn, Boston College and Texas A&M.
The nation’s No. 48-ranked senior tight end has 28 catches for 308 yards and four touchdowns in his career. He chose BYU despite 15 other offers, including Duke, Oregon State, Stanford and UCLA.
Had 35 catches for 429 yards and six touchdowns as a junior. Has 16 college offers including Baylor, Boston College, Cal, Texas Tech, Oregon State and Washington State.
Fresno State has a long tradition of recruiting talented and productive wide receivers, and Dillon is no exception. A three-sport star, Dillon averaged more than 20 points per game on the floor and is a sprinter. In 2023, he had 52 catches for 1,094 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Another sprinter, the speedy Nix has caught an impressive 161 passes for 2,341 yards and 34 touchdowns in his brilliant three-year career. Fresno State, Nevada and San Diego State have also coveted Nix.
Led the Wildcats to the CIF State D3-A title with 42 catches for 853 yards and 12 touchdowns, including four receptions for 132 yards and two TDs in a 38-18 victory over Mayfair.
Small school, big talent. Houseworth is a standout in three sports for the Northern California powerhouse. Last season, he had just 13 catches for 60 yards, but also ran the ball 93 times for 778 yards.
Jones, a transfer from St. John Bosco, has 13 college offers, including Georgia and Louisville.
Henry transferred to Mater Dei from Withrow High in Ohio in February and immediately became one of California’s 5-star prospects for the class of 2026. He is hailed as the best wide receiver in the country.
How many top options will Beierly get? Dixon-Wyatt has offers from Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Ohio State.
Spafford caught 83 passes for 1,576 yards and 22 touchdowns as a sophomore last season and has since become one of the most coveted wide receiver prospects on the West Coast. He’s fast, agile, strong and catches everything. Spafford has offers from Georgia, Auburn, Ole Miss, Oregon and Miami.
The four-star prospect has 26 offers, including from Arizona, Michigan, Auburn, Florida and LSU. Last season, he had 36 catches for 540 yards and eight touchdowns.
A completely unknown talent across the state, Briggs has quickly worked his way up the recruiting ranks with offers from Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Kentucky and Texas A&M. He is a standout in three sports and is remarkably agile for his size, which shows in his track and field ability. Last season, he had 44 catches for 571 yards and eight touchdowns.
Another Central Section standout, Watson had 61 catches for 967 yards and 11 touchdowns in his career. Has offers from Washington, Fresno State and Colorado State.
Odom, a 4-star talent, had a great sophomore season with 36 catches for 548 yards and seven touchdowns. He has 18 offers, including from Georgia and Florida State.
Opponents of the Braves will think they’re seeing double when they see Williams and Odom, who are nearly identical in size, speed and athleticism. Williams has 29 offers, including from Auburn, Cal, Florida State, Georgia and Ohio State. The strong offseason should translate into much higher numbers than last season: 42 catches, 496 yards, five touchdowns.
There are 15 more offers for another California receiver, Moore, who had 26 catches for 506 yards and six touchdowns as a sophomore.
Another Northern California standout, Thomas has 18 offers, including from Arkansas, Cal, Arizona, Duke and Oregon. Had an impressive sophomore season, recording 41 catches for 679 yards and seven touchdowns.
