James BlackStrain

Senior wide receiver for Missouri State. 2025: 22 catches, 224 receiving yards, 1 TD.

WR · Missouri State · Sr. · #5

6′2″ · 180 lb · Cocoa, FL

CFB Index 30 · #404 of 485 WRsHigh confidenceReturning to Missouri State for 2026

The numbers

224

receiving yards · 2025

22 catches · 1 TD · 10.2 per catch

Best game: 3 rec, 47 yds, 1 TD, vs UT Martin

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 wide receiver for Missouri State. 2025: 22 catches, 224 receiving yards, 1 TD.

Signed as a 4-star recruit to Georgia Tech in 2021.
Transferred from Georgia Tech to Missouri State in 2024.

His career, year by year

How he plays

Moves the chains on third down.

TD rate: 57th percentile.

The full scouting read

James BlackStrain

WR · Missouri State · Sr · #5

Moves the chains on third down. Across two seasons and two programs, two head coaches: Brent Key and Nick Petrino. One game to point at: 47 rec yds, 3 receptions against UT Martin — Week 4, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2023Georgia Tech7-6HC: Brent Key · Run-leaning

2025Missouri State7-6HC: Nick Petrino · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

30Below cohort / limited sample #404 of 485?

High confidence10 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: long catch (17th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

TD rate#337 / 798 · 57th pct

2.9%

Explosive rate#454 / 798 · 43rd pct

8.8%

Yards / catch#488 / 798 · 39th pct

10.6

Catch rate#492 / 798 · 38th pct

64.7%

EPA / target#548 / 798 · 31st pct

0.29

Box-score rates (5)

Receptions#383 / 558 · 30th pct

Rec TDs#373 / 558 · 24th pct

Rec yards#434 / 558 · 22nd pct

224

Yards / catch#457 / 558 · 18th pct

10.2

Long catch#462 / 558 · 17th 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).

Situational

Situational · Share of own targets (PBP, 2025)

Third-down role

9%3 of his 34 targets came on third down · Receiver median is 24%

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 10 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home5g	2.2	25.4	11.2	0.2
Road5g	2.2	19.4	9.1	0.0

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-74g	2.2	25.5	10.8	0.2
Weeks 8+6g	2.2	20.3	9.7	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Casey Woods

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Rotational

Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

30 · #404 of 485 WRs

Former four-star. Now #404 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-Conference USA

Based on 2025: #43 of 52 Conference USA WRs

How the All-Conference USA estimate is computed

15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Missouri State	22	224	10.2	1	--
2023	Georgia Tech	--	--	--	--	--
Career		22	224	10.2	1	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 4 · 2025

W 42–10

vs UT Martin

3 rec · 47 yds · 1 TD

Dominant 32-point win at home against UT Martin.

With J. Clark — 271 yds · 3 TD · 0 INT · QBR 72.5 · 22 rush yds (7 car) · 2 TD · S. McDonald — 43 AVG · 3 IN 20 · 48 LONG

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 4 · UT Martin · 2&10 · Q3 · EPA +2.58Jacob Clark pass complete to James BlackStrain for 18 yds to the MOST 49 for a 1ST down
Week 4 · UT Martin · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +2.06Jacob Clark pass complete to James BlackStrain for 23 yds to the UTM 46 for a 1ST down
Week 4 · UT Martin · 1&6 · Q1 · EPA +2.05Jacob Clark pass complete to James BlackStrain for 6 yds for a TD (Yousef Obeid KICK)
Week 3 · SMU · 2&5 · Q4 · EPA +2.02Jacob Clark pass complete to James BlackStrain for 19 yds to the MOST 47 for a 1ST down
Week 11 · Liberty · 3&5 · Q1 · EPA +1.94(09:28) No Huddle-Shotgun #12 J.Clark pass complete short middle to #5 J.BlackStrain caught at MOST44, for 5 yards to the MOST46 (#29 A.Jones), 1ST DOWN
Week 11 · Liberty · 2&8 · Q2 · EPA +1.92(13:03) No Huddle-Shotgun #12 J.Clark pass complete short middle to #5 J.BlackStrain caught at LU36, for 18 yards to the LU34 (#33 A.Vaughan), 1ST DOWN
Week 3 · SMU · 2&10 · Q1 · EPA +1.72Jacob Clark pass complete to James BlackStrain for 21 yds to the SMU 23 for a 1ST down
Week 13 · Kennesaw State · 2&2 · Q4 · EPA +1.58(00:10) No Huddle-Shotgun #12 J.Clark pass complete deep middle to #5 J.BlackStrain caught at KSU27, for 32 yards to the KSU26 (#1 J.Washington Jr.), 1ST DOWN
Week 1 · Arkansas State · 2&5 · Q2 · EPA -1.37(00:40) No Huddle-Shotgun #12 J.Clark pass complete short right to #5 J.BlackStrain caught at MOST45, for 1 yard loss to the MOST44 (#9 A.Dickerson), out of bounds
Week 10 · Florida International · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +1.24Shotgun #12 J.Clark pass complete short left to #5 J.BlackStrain caught at MSU30, for 13 yards to the MSU45 (#22 S.Sterlin), 1ST DOWN

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 10 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 3	L 10-28vs SMU	2	40	20.0	0	21
Wk 4	W 42-10vs UT Martin	3	47	15.7	1	23	Season-high 47 yds
Wk 7	W 22-20@ Middle Tennessee	2	12	6.0	0	11
Wk 9	W 24-17@ New Mexico State	3	19	6.3	0	15
Wk 10	W 28-21vs Florida International	2	23	11.5	0	13
Wk 11	W 21-17@ Liberty	2	23	11.5	0	18
Wk 12	W 38-24vs UTEP	3	12	4.0	0	10
Wk 13	L 34-41@ Kennesaw State	2	40	20.0	0	32
Wk 14	L 30-42vs Louisiana Tech	1	5	5.0	0	5
Bowl	L 28-34@ Arkansas State	2	3	1.5	0	4
Total		22	224	10.2	1	32

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

James BlackStrain

2021

2024

2025 snapshot

Situational

Splits & context

Awards

Rotational

Career stats

Signature game

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Possession Receiver

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