Naseim Brantley has not yet played a down of football in the Big Ten, and yet the Rutgers football playmaker is already being regarded as one of the top wide receivers in the conference.
In fact, a recent ranking by USA TODAY Sports Media Group has Brantley as the tenth-best wide receiver in the country. Brantley joined Rutgers this offseason via the transfer portal, filling a big need at wide receiver.
At Western Illinois, he was an FCS All-American who had 53 catches for 909 receiving yards with nine touchdowns in 2022. In coming up with the top wide receivers in the Big Ten, College Football News writer Cam Mellor had this to say about Brantley:
“Get to know the name Naseim Brantley, folks. The well-traveled big man enters the Rutgers lineup after dominating every year prior. Brantley has stops at Sacred Heart and Western Illinois in his bag, proving to be too much to handle at both levels.”
While he played at the FCS level, his ability against Power Five competition isn’t in question.
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In the second game of the 2022 season at Minnesota, Brantley had 50 receiving yards and a touchdown. Compare that to Rutgers loss at Minnesota in October where no Scarlet Knights player had more than 46 receiving yards.
In the second week of spring, wide receivers coach Dave Brock talked about the impact Brantley is projected to have on the offense.
“I think players are players. I think you know, when he gets rolling, I think, you know, the traits that he has, which certainly his size and really, really good hands, and he’s got good movement,” Brock two weeks ago.
“I think as he gets rolling, I think he’ll be a plug-and-play player, you know, we’ll be able to put them in and put them in one of the outside receiver positions, get them going and then again, like everybody else, kind of find out okay, where’s his strength? You know, what does he do best and then try to formulate a way to make sure that he’s doing those things more often than the things that maybe aren’t what he does at an elite level. But again, very excited about coaching him and working with him just like I am all these guys.”
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