CARR’S PROSPECT CORNER
Rashod Bateman (WR-Minnesota)
Age: 21 (DOB: 11/29/99)
Class: Junior (Opted Out)
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 209 lbs
BMI: 26.8
Breakout Age: 18.9
24/7 Sports 0.8914 (4 Star)
Injury History: NONE
Awards/Records:
2019 Richter Howard Award Winner (Big-10’s WR of the year)
All-Big 10 First Team (2019)
All-Big 10 Third Team (2020)
Biletnikoff Award Semi-Finalist (2019)
AP 2nd Team All-American Team (2019)
Most receiving yards and touchdowns as a freshman in school history
Most receiving yards and touchdowns as a sophomore in school history
Rashod Bateman in high school was the 61st WR in the country and the 40th ranked player from the state of Georgia. Bateman received a 4 star rating from 24/7 Sports’ composite rankings. He made an early decision to commit to Minnesota after his junior season of high school and stuck with that commitment even after a dominant senior season where he caught 83 passes for 1,539 yards and 21 touchdowns.
Bateman would go on to start right away as a true freshman with the Golden Gophers where from there, he would go on to have a great career with the Gophers, finishing 6th all time in school receiving yards and 5th all time in school receiving touchdowns.
When you look at Bateman he has the physical profile you're looking for, he’s 6’2 209 lbs which puts him at a solid BMI of 26.8. Along with that size, he has what you want in an early breakout age with a 18.9 breakout age his freshman year that saw him reach a 28% dominator rating.
Despite Bateman having to compete with an upperclassman in Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Tyler Johnson, Johnson operated mostly in the slot while Bateman asserted his dominance on the outside seeing number one corners constantly. It is also impressive enough that Bateman had relatively average to mediocre QB play in Tanner Morgan and Zack Annexstad. Bateman in his career saw 67.2% of his total passes thrown his way to be deemed “catchable” according to PFF.
SMOOTH ROUTE RUNNING
UNDERRATED YAC ABILITY
STICKY HANDS
Bateman’s film I was really intrigued by, when watching him I saw a lot of Michael Thomas/Keenan Allen to his game, I feel like he’s one of the more polished route runners in this class. I would describe him as smooth. While his YAC numbers have never been out of this world (Ranked 63rd in total YAC according to PFF) he flashes the YAC potential on a lot of plays. He does so many things well, I didn’t see really any glaring weaknesses when I was watching him. All I can say is he may not be the most explosive athlete but everything else he’s good at I think trumps his lack of elite athleticism.
VERDICT: I really like this player a lot, I know some people won’t be bullish enough to put him in that top echelon of wide receivers in this class, but I really believe he deserves to be in that conversation. I think he’s a relatively safe bet to be a good wide receiver in the NFL and it’s suspected at this point and time he will go in the mid-late first round of the NFL draft so it may be likely he ends up in a situation with good quarterback play.