The 2024 rookie WR class is loaded at the top. We have not seen an elite duo at the top of the NFL Draft quite like Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers since A.J. Green and Julio Jones back in 2011. Let’s focus on Nabers and go back through his footballing history, discovering how he became a borderline generational prospect.
Where Did Malik Nabers’ Football Career Start?
Nabers has spent his entire football career in Louisiana. He attended Ovey Comeaux High School in Lafayette, La. As a junior, Nabers caught 58 passes for 1,223 yards and 21 touchdowns. Unsurprisingly, he was an incredibly dominant high school player.
Ahead of his senior year, Nabers transferred to Southside High School in Youngsville, La. Unfortunately, due to an issue with his transfer waiver, he was unable to play football that year. The good news is it didn’t seem to negatively impact his recruiting profile at all.
As a four-star recruit, Nabers received no shortage of offers. He had 32 of them to sort through. Initially, Nabers committed to Mississippi State. But in the end, Nabers chose to stay home and enroll at LSU.
Revisiting Nabers’ College Career
Nabers did not redshirt as a freshman, but he wasn’t a prominent part of the offense right away. He played in 11 games, catching 28 passes for 417 yards and four touchdowns.
Although Nabers did play alongside current NFL players Kayshon Boutte and Trey Palmer, Nabers should have easily been able to surpass them … and he did in short order.
MALIK NABERS IS FEELING THE CHEEZIEST 🐯🧀pic.twitter.com/7Q2Hu3CxWA
— College Football Network (@CFN365)
In his sophomore season, Nabers claimed his rightful spot as LSU’s WR1. He played 14 games, catching 72 balls for 1,017 yards and three touchdowns.
Nabers’ progression continued in his junior year. It was in 2023 that he truly became a top prospect and one of the best receivers in the nation. Nabers hauled in 89 receptions for 1,569 yards and 14 touchdowns. Despite only starting for two years and leaving after his third, Nabers finished his college career as LSU’s all-time receiving yardage leader with 3,003.
Nabers’ Potential in the NFL
Nabers is everything an NFL team looks for in a top wide receiver, as NFL Draft Analyst Ian Cummings pointed out.
“Malik Nabers grades out as a top-10 and blue-chip prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft,” Cummings noted. “He’s my WR2 behind Marvin Harrison Jr., and in most other WR classes, the 20-year-old would be a viable WR1 candidate.
“With his gliding explosiveness, agility and twitch, physicality, vision, and contact balance, he’s a weapon with the ball in his hands who can both create and elongate space, as well as navigate through congestion.”
KEEP READING: Ian Cummings’ Full Scouting Report of Malik Nabers
As Cummings stated, in just about any other year, Nabers would be the clear WR1. The fact that he will be the second WR selected in this year’s draft should not detract at all from how good he is.
If Nabers lands in a better location than Harrison, he could easily outperform Harrison in their rookie years. Regardless, both should be top-tier NFL receivers for the better part of the next decade. It would be a major upset if we weren’t talking about Nabers as one of the 10 best WRs in the NFL within a couple of years.
Highlights, Records, and More
Due to Harrison’s existence, Nabers left college without much in the way of personal accolades. While he did break the aforementioned LSU receiving yardage record, his only other major individual accomplishments were being named a first-team All-SEC member and a Unanimous All-American in 2023.
In his final season at LSU, Nabers’ 1,569 receiving yards ranked second among all FBS receivers. A big part of that was his career-best outing against the team he almost played for, Mississippi State. In Week 3, Nabers caught 13 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns against the Bulldogs. Unsurprisingly, those numbers all represented career bests for Nabers. He went over 100 yards in nine of his final 11 college games.
Nabers’ performance earned him the honor of being named CFN’s Wide Receiver of the Year. He was also part of the WR trio on CFN’s First-Team All-American Offense.
MORE: Top WRs in the 2024 NFL Draft
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