Wide receiver phenoms take Baylor, TCU rivalry to new dimension

By foxsports
Published

Perhaps the most riveting competition between the No. 2 Baylor Bears and No. 3 TCU Horned Frogs isn't in the standings, but in the statistics being put up by each team's star wide receiver.

Both Baylor junior Corey Coleman and TCU senior Josh Doctson are leaving their respective school records in the dust while each sits among the top three in the nation in receiving yards, receiving yards per game and touchdowns. They both are among the top three in three major categories and sit 1-2 in receiving yards per game and touchdowns, with Doctson leading the nation at 152.4 yards, and Coleman second at 146.2; Coleman leads the nation with 16 touchdowns and Doctson has 12.

Doctson recently became TCU's all-time receptions leader, and Coleman last week already set a new Baylor record for touchdown receptions in a single season.

So which player is better, the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Doctson, or the 5-11, 190-pound Coleman?

West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen, fresh off seeing Coleman up close in a three-touchdown, 10-catch, 199-yard performance against his Mountaineers, called Coleman the best player in college football.

Later Saturday evening, Doctson, as if determined to keep up, torched Iowa State for 10 catches, 190 yards and two touchdowns.

"Every time I strap on the pads, I feel like I have to be the best player out there, and the best for my team. So we can win and do what we do,” Coleman said during Monday’s weekly Baylor news conference. “Everyone has their opinion. But you can’t change the way you see yourself. If you look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m the best player,’ nobody can change what you think of yourself.”

Last week, TCU coach Gary Patterson said Doctson was playing as well as anybody in the country, including the two Heisman frontrunners, Horned Frogs quarterback Trevone Boykin and LSU tailback Leonard Fournette.

Baylor and TCU won't meet until Nov. 27. It will be TCU's final regular-season game while Baylor will have one left against Texas the following the week. 

“He’s a special player," Baylor coach Art Briles said of Coleman. "The way he’s come out of the gates, this is not earth-shattering news to us. “It’s his passion, it’s his energy, it’s his toughness and it’s his skill level that allows him to separate himself from other people. But if you don’t have talent, then you’re still going to be normal. He’s got all that with talent.”