No, Alabama’s WR group isn’t better than the Clemson WRs

Bleacher Report published an article last week detailing the historic nature of the Alabama wide receivers, seemingly forgetting about Clemson.

Bleacher Report published an article last week analyzing the talent that Alabama possessed in its wide receiver unit in 2019. And, no doubt, it’s impressive.

The article deemed Alabama’s wide receivers the “Scariest Unit in all of College Football.”

The Crimson Tide return Jerry Jeudy, who is considered one of the top two wide receivers in the country. Jeudy was the Biletnikoff Award winner in 2018 and certainly was a dominant force against those SEC defensive backfields. Jeudy is the type of wide receiver that is dangerous in open space and a threat to take the ball to the end zone any time he gets his hands on it.

Alongside Jeudy, Alabama has Henry Ruggs III, one of the speediest wide receivers in the country, as well as DeVonta Smith and sophomore Jaylen Waddle returning.

This group of Crimson Tide wide receivers are certainly impressive and they have two future first-rounders, potentially three depending on how Smith performs this season.

However, you don’t have to look much further than Clemson to see the best wide receiver unit in the country.

Even with an injury to Amari Rodgers, Clemson possesses something that Alabama just doesn’t have: Dominant size combined with athleticism.

Measurables aren’t everything, but they certainly are something. Here’s a look at Alabama’s wide receivers and their sizes: Jeudy (6-foot-1, 192), Ruggs III (6-foot-0, 190) Smith (6-foot-1, 175) and Waddle (5-foot-10, 182).

Now, here’s Clemson’s: Tee Higgins (6-foot-4, 217), Justyn Ross (6-foot-4, 211), Diondre Overton (6-foot-4, 213). Throw in Joseph Ngata (6-foot-4, 218), Frank Ladson (6-foot-3, 198) and Amari Rodgers (5-foot-10, 208) and you see a big trend.

Alabama may have lethal speed in that wide receiver core, but Clemson has lethal size, physicality and athleticism. No one that watched that National Championship game can argue the effectiveness of Justyn Ross and Tee Higgins just absolutely beating defensive backs.

It’s not to discredit Alabama’s wide receivers. It’s just that analysts don’t realize that Clemson can line up four-wide and all four guys will be 6-foot-4 and more than 210 pounds.

That’s absolutely crazy and unreal. We might even call it historic.

There are plenty of programs across the nation- including Alabama- that don’t have one wide receiver with the athleticism and combined size that Higgins, Ross and Ngata possess, but Clemson can fill out its entire lineup with guys like that. National analysts can continue to sleep on the Tigers’ wide receivers, but don’t be surprised when they’re absolutely dominating again.

Other than size and skill, we should mention that we did see these two wide receiver groups go head-to-head just a few months ago. One group was making highlight-reel catches seemingly every other play while the other group struggled to get on the scoreboard and ended up with just 16 points for the entire game.

But, for some reason, analysts seem to forget about things that happen on the field.