Colbie Young is a 6 ‘4, 215-pound wide receiver from Binghamton High in Binghamton, New York, who played for the Miami Hurricanes in 2022 and 2023 before transferring to Georgia to play for Kirby Smart in 2024 and 2025. He was recruited and undervalued as a three-star when he enrolled at Miami and was a big reason for Miami’s success and direction of the program, winning ACC receiver of the week in 2022. Young has had some serious injury concerns throughout his career collegiately that has capped his development and success at both universities, but he does have some real talent on tape.
Young’s athletic ability is driven by his body frame and speed, which are among his best traits. He has the body frame of a physical wide receiver, which he uses to become a serious vertical threat and a reliable red-zone fade option, erasing smaller cornerbacks from the play. On the other hand, when matched up against physical corners, it becomes a difficult task, and his body frame is no longer an advantage, as he has to catch a contested ball in traffic. As you saw in a high-stakes game against Alabama this year, Young’s body frame did not bode well for him, and Alabama capitalized on it by forcing the turnover. His speed is also notable, as he performed best in the gauntlet combine test and ran a 4.49 40-yard dash as a bigger receiver. Young’s hands are good, too, but there are some moments that make you question his ability to catch easy throws, as he is known to drop wide-open perfect throws at times because of his tendency to start moving before hauling in the football. His catch percentage is good overall, though there are some moments that need to be hashed out. His route-running ability is good; he uses his speed and frame to get ahead of defenders, especially on digs and slants, where he has seen most of his success, and he can be elite on vertical routes. His competitive toughness comes into play on digs and slants, showing the ability to make defenders miss and generate great yards after catch (YAC).
Blocking is one of the weaker traits, as he is a liability in the blocking, more so in the passing game. Young does not have the strength to maintain and halt his defender on screen plays, which is what he was used in as a blocker, and the defender has the leverage in every screen play, easily moving Young off balance, creating an easy path to the ball carrier. It is concerning for a wide receiver with such an elite body frame to have a negative blocking technique in addition to having some serious injury history concerns. A big reason for this is his mental ability and processing of plays, as he lacks the scheme identification of the defense, especially in screen plays, but he is good at diagnosing the defense when being used as a wide receiver on the outside, which is a good reason why his success in the redzone is one of the best.
Overall, Young has all the physical characteristics to be a successful wide receiver at the next level such as body frame, speed, play speed, YAC ability, and catching, but he will need to work on the physicality and mental processing to be able to elevate to the next level. The injury history is a big concern as well, but teams will adapt to what he has done on the field when evaluating him.
Scheme Fit and Team Fit:
Young’s scheme fit is to fit a pro-style offense, which is a formation that uses deep, slow-developing, play action fakes, and tries to get ahead of the chains to gain by implementing a run-first approach. For Young, it is a perfect fit for him because of his ability to go deep in addition to his catching, his body frame, and his YAC ability. The formation will force defenders into non-favorable matchups because of the use of tight ends and fullbacks and not having four to five receivers on the field. The teams that I think are perfect for Young are the Baltimore Ravens, San Francisco 49ers, and Rams. Starting with the Ravens, the attention to detail will be to Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers, and even Derrick Henry. So for Young, using him as a vertical and outside threat, especially in redzone downs, teams will blitz to stop Henry while trying to put their best coverage specialists on Andrews, giving Young the ability to use his body frame to catch a fade touchdown against a weaker defender, something he excels at. For the 49ers, they run a pro offense formation and like to use their speedy wide receivers for screens and vertically, so it can create opportunities for Young because of how many weapons they have, with Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, and Ricky Pearsall. For the Rams, he would fit their pro style offense because of his vertical ability, but with his contested catch win rate, and athleticism, as the Rams have had some great development receivers over the years, such as Tutu Atwell, Puka Nacua, Cooper Kupp, and Tory Holt. A lot of these fits support Young’s athletic ability and contested catch ability, which is what teams will love in Young.
NFL Player Comparison: Kenny Golladay
Much like Golladay, Young supports a bigger frame and has a good catch radius, while Golladay has an elite catch radius. They both are vertical threats and can use their body to become a fade redzone target because of their frame and physicality.
Projection: League Average Starter – Boundary X Receiver
For Young, my projection is that he can become a reliable boundary X receiver that excels in the red zone because of his body frame, but he is not limited to that. He can also become an occasionally vertical deep threat because of his good speed and body frame. He will need to work on the physicality of bigger defenders when up against them, but he should be a good receiver in the X position if healthy.
Grade and Round Projection: 4.30, Round 5 Pick
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