Jalen Royals

#1 · WR · Sr. · Utah State6′0″ · 205 lb · Powder Springs, GA

Jalen Royals: WR · Utah State · #1.

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Jalen Royals

WR · Utah State · Sr · #1

Moves the chains on third down. Played for two head coaches in two seasons at Utah State. All-Mountain West in 2024 made it two straight seasons on the honors list. On tape: 211 receiving yards and 9 receptions against Boise State, Week 6, 2024.

Style of play

Play style

Reliable target who converts on critical downs. Not flashy; consistently productive.

Fans

No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.

Utah State in the news

Utah State superfan Steve McBride diesNov 2

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2024	Utah State	55	834	15.2	6	75
2023	Utah State	71	1,080	15.2	15	71
Career		126	1,914	15.2	21	75

Season	Team
2024	Utah State	1	3	184
2023	Utah State	--	--	--
Career		1	3	184

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2024 season · 7 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 36-14vs Robert Morris	5	77	15.4	1	30
Wk 2	L 0-48@ No. 13 USC	6	47	7.8	0	13
Wk 3	L 21-38vs No. 12 Utah	4	44	11.0	0	35
Wk 4	L 29-45@ Temple	10	112	11.2	1	26
Wk 6	L 30-62@ No. 21 Boise State	9	211	23.4	2	75	Season-high 211 yds
Wk 7	L 34-50vs UNLV	10	155	15.5	1	27	155-yard receiving day
Wk 8	L 45-50vs New Mexico	11	188	17.1	1	59	188-yard receiving day
Total		55	834	15.2	6	75

Signature game

Week 6 · 2024

L 30-62

at Boise State

9 rec · 211 yds · 2 TD

With S. Petras — 372 yds · 3 TD · 0 INT · QBR 74.8 · S. Kotsanlee — 46 yards per punt · 5 punts · 2 inside the 20

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 6 · Boise State · 2nd and 10 · Q2 · EPA +6.78Spencer Petras pass complete to Jalen Royals for 75 yds for a TD (Tanner Cragun KICK)
Week 6 · Boise State · 4th and 2 · Q2 · EPA +6.58Spencer Petras pass complete to Jalen Royals for 59 yds for a TD (Tanner Cragun KICK)
Week 4 · Temple · 3rd and 2 · Q2 · EPA +3.07Spencer Petras pass complete to Jalen Royals for 26 yds for a TD (Elliott Nimrod KICK)
Week 7 · UNLV · 2nd and 12 · Q3 · EPA +2.93Spencer Petras pass complete to Jalen Royals for 13 yds for a TD (Tanner Cragun KICK)
Week 8 · New Mexico · 3rd and 13 · Q1 · EPA +2.85S.Petras pass complete. Catch made by J.Royals for 18 yards. Tackled by NM at NM 23.
Week 6 · Boise State · 3rd and 9 · Q2 · EPA +2.79Spencer Petras pass complete to Jalen Royals for 23 yds to the USU 44 for a

4 more plays

Week 3 · Utah · 3rd and 6 · Q2 · EPA +2.69Bryson Barnes pass complete to Jalen Royals for 35 yds to the UTAH 12 for a
Week 1 · Robert Morris · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.63Bryson Barnes pass complete to Jalen Royals for 21 yds for a TD (Elliott Nimrod KICK)
Week 1 · Robert Morris · 1st and 10 · Q3 · EPA +2.34Bryson Barnes pass complete to Jalen Royals for 30 yds to the USU 45 for a
Week 7 · UNLV · 3rd and 3 · Q2 · EPA +2.28Spencer Petras pass complete to Jalen Royals for 14 yds to the USU 46 for a

Teams and coaches

2023Utah State6-7HC: Blake Anderson · Run-leaning

2024Utah State4-8HC: Nate Dreiling · Balanced

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 88 (#17 of 497). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles · 2024 season

88All-Conference level #17 of 497 · 2023?

12 metrics · season cumulative

2023 score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Elite: catch rate (91st percentile). Strength: epa / target (89th percentile). Concern: rush yards (23rd percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Catch rate#1 / 610 · 91st pct

100.0%

EPA / target#70 / 610 · 89th pct

1.29

Explosive rate#106 / 610 · 83rd pct

22.4%

TD rate#122 / 610 · 80th pct

10.2%

Yards / catch#132 / 610 · 78th pct

14.7

Box-score rates (7)

Long catch#42 / 541 · 91st pct

Rec yards#61 / 541 · 89th pct

834

Rec TDs#65 / 541 · 85th pct

Receptions#83 / 541 · 84th pct

Yards / catch#150 / 541 · 72nd pct

15.2

Rush TDs#55 / 299 · 41st pct

Rush yards#224 / 299 · 23rd pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

91st → 89th percentile

Explosive rate

79th → 83rd percentile

Catch rate

70th → 91st percentile

TD rate

98th → 80th percentile

Yards / catch

81st → 78th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps in 2024. 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

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2024 season · 7 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home4g	7.5	116	14.8	0.8
Road3g	8.3	123	14.1	1.0

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	7.3	108	14.0	0.8
Weeks 8+1g	11.0	188	17.1	1.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2024 season

Head Coach

Nate Dreiling

Pass share

51.1%

458 pass / 438 run

Plays / game

74.7

12 games

Team sack rate

4.6%

438 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Awards

Player standing · 2024

All-Conference

Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Jalen Royals

Similar players

Style of play

Fans

Utah State in the news

Where to follow

Career stats

Game log

Signature game

Signature plays

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Awards

All-Conference

Three seasons at Utah State, drafted

Moves

2022

2023 13 games

2024 7 games

2025