Hamze Elzayat

Senior wide receiver for Eastern Michigan. 2023: 27 catches, 360 receiving yards, 2 TD.

WR · Eastern Michigan · Sr. · #1

5′8″ · 182 lb · Dearborn, MI

CFB Index 37 · #342 of 497 WRsHigh confidenceEastern Michigan 2023 alumnus

The story

4 wide receiver for Eastern Michigan. 2023: 27 catches, 360 receiving yards, 2 TD.

Transferred from Fordham to Eastern Michigan in 2022.

His career, year by year

How it ended

One season at Eastern Michigan, 360 receiving yards — his college career is complete.

His career

He barely played early on. Then he did not come off the field.

The week the volume broke through — put up 92 yds vs Akron.Akron · W 30-272023

2022

Entered the portal

Career arc

Recruit

—

No recruit profile

CFB

College

Eastern Michigan

2023

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

2023 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2023Eastern Michigan6-7HC: Chris Creighton · Run-leaning, slow tempo

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

37Below cohort / limited sample #342 of 497?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: yards / catch (81st percentile). Concern: catch rate (6th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / catch#124 / 639 · 81st pct

15.2

EPA / target#310 / 639 · 52nd pct

0.77

TD rate#330 / 639 · 48th pct

5.3%

Explosive rate#344 / 639 · 46th pct

13.2%

Catch rate#599 / 639 · 6th pct

63.2%

Box-score rates (8)

Long catch#250 / 566 · 55th pct

Yards / catch#254 / 566 · 55th pct

13.3

Rec yards#313 / 566 · 45th pct

360

Rec TDs#267 / 566 · 43rd pct

Receptions#316 / 566 · 43rd pct

Rush TDs#54 / 294 · 41st pct

Rush yards#171 / 294 · 41st pct

Fumbles lost#203 / 227 · 6th pct

Season trend

EPA / target— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Catch rate— first qualifying season

TD rate— first qualifying season

Yards / catch— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2023 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home7g	2.6	36.9	13.5	0.3
Road5g	1.8	20.4	10.1	0.0

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	1.9	25.1	12.7	0.3
Weeks 8+5g	2.8	36.8	11.4	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Chris Creighton

Pass share

58.2%

107 pass / 77 run

Plays / game

61.3

3 games

Team sack rate

5.1%

117 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Pass-leaning, slow tempo.

Awards

Player standing · 2023

Rotational

Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

37 · #342 of 497 WRs

Career stats

Season	Team
2023	Eastern Michigan	27	360	13.3	2	--
Career		27	360	13.3	2	--

Season	Team
2023	Eastern Michigan	2	7	208	142	--
Career		2	7	208	142	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2023

W 33–23

vs Howard

6 rush yds (1 car)

With A. Smith — 175 yds · 1 TD · 1 INT · QBR 43.2 · 27 rush yds (4 car) · J. Jackson — 18 rush yds (7 car)

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 3 · Massachusetts · 2&10 · Q4 · EPA +4.96Austin Smith pass complete to Hamze El-Zayat for 50 yds for a TD (Jesus Gomez PAT MISSED)
Week 6 · Ball State · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +3.84Austin Smith pass complete to Hamze El-Zayat for 50 yds for a TD (Jesus Gomez KICK)
Week 8 · Northern Illinois · 3&6 · Q2 · EPA +3.27Austin Smith pass complete to Hamze El-Zayat for 36 yds Hamze El-Zayat fumbled, recovered by EMU for a 1ST down
Week 12 · Akron · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.46Austin Smith pass complete to Hamze El-Zayat for 32 yds to the AKR 35 for a 1ST down
Week 8 · Northern Illinois · 3&4 · Q4 · EPA +2.32Austin Smith pass complete to Hamze El-Zayat for 11 yds to the NIU 48 for a 1ST down
Week 12 · Akron · 2&10 · Q4 · EPA +2.30Austin Smith pass complete to Hamze El-Zayat for 34 yds to the AKR 15 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Howard · 3&4 · Q4 · EPA +2.22Austin Smith pass complete to Hamze El-Zayat for 12 yds to the HOW 40 for a 1ST down
Week 8 · Northern Illinois · 3&6 · Q3 · EPA +2.09Austin Smith pass complete to Hamze El-Zayat for 11 yds to the EMU 40 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Ball State · 2&9 · Q3 · EPA +2.04Austin Smith pass complete to Hamze El-Zayat for 13 yds to the EMU 44 for a 1ST down
Week 12 · Akron · 3&4 · Q4 · EPA +1.92Austin Smith pass complete to Hamze El-Zayat for 6 yds to the AKR 49 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2023 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 33-23vs Howard	1	12	12.0	0	12
Wk 2	L 6-25@ Minnesota	1	7	7.0	0	7
Wk 3	W 19-17vs Massachusetts	3	62	20.7	1	50
Wk 5	L 23-26@ Central Michigan	1	13	13.0	0	13
Wk 6	W 24-10vs Ball State	2	63	31.5	1	50
Wk 7	W 28-14vs Kent State	3	29	9.7	0	12
Wk 8	L 13-20@ Northern Illinois	6	74	12.3	0	36
Wk 9	L 21-45vs Western Michigan	1	10	10.0	0	10
Wk 11	L 23-49@ Toledo	1	8	8.0	0	8
Wk 12	W 30-27vs Akron	6	92	15.3	0	34	Season-high 92 yds
Wk 13	W 24-11@ Buffalo	—	—	—	—	—
Bowl	L 10-59vs South Alabama	2	-10	-5.0	0	0
Total		27	360	12.2	2	50

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology