Lake McRee

#87 · TE · Sr. · USC6′4″ · 250 lb · Austin, TX · Lake Travis

Lake McRee is a tight end who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at USC.

McRee creates mismatches lined up all over the formation. The five seasons at USC span two head coaches: Donte Williams and Lincoln Riley. The first career honor came in 2025: All-Big Ten. On tape: 72 receiving yards and 2 receptions against Missouri State, Week 1, 2025.

Style of play

Play style

Lined up out wide as often as inline. Creates mismatches downfield.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Coleson ArendsWestern Kentucky · 2026 · 87% season match
Jamel HowseApp State · 2026 · 87% season match
Rivaldo FairweatherFlorida International · 2022 · 80% season match
Mason FairchildKansas · 2022 · 75% season match
Kemore GambleFlorida · 2021 · 74% season match

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2025	USC	30	450	15.0	4	64
2024	USC	24	245	10.2	0	34
2023	USC	26	262	10.1	1	31
2022	USC	10	106	10.6	2	31
2021	USC	7	91	13.0	0	19
Career		97	1,154	11.9	7	64

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 73-13vs Missouri State	2	72	36.0	1	64	Season-high 72 yds
Wk 2	W 59-20vs Georgia Southern	2	34	17.0	0	22
Wk 3	W 33-17@ Purdue	3	67	22.3	0	29
Wk 4	W 45-31vs Michigan State	2	16	8.0	0	10
Wk 5	L 32-34@ No. 23 Illinois	3	59	19.7	0	24
Wk 7	W 31-13vs No. 15 Michigan	2	41	20.5	0	21
Wk 8	L 24-34@ No. 13 Notre Dame	2	18	9.0	1	10
Wk 10	W 21-17@ Nebraska	2	11	5.5	0	6
Wk 11	W 38-17vs Northwestern	3	52	17.3	0	42
Wk 12	W 26-21vs Iowa	3	19	6.3	0	8
Wk 13	L 27-42@ No. 6 Oregon	3	31	10.3	1	13
Wk 14	W 29-10vs UCLA	3	30	10.0	1	14
Total		30	450	15.0	4	64

Signature game

Week 13 · 2025

L 27-42

at Oregon

3 rec · 31 yds · 1 TD

With J. Maiava — 306 yds · 3 TD · 2 INT · QBR 95.8 · 16 rush yds (4 car) · S. Johnson — 45 yards per punt · 3 punts · 1 inside the 20

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 1 · Missouri State · 1st and 10 · Q2 · EPA +5.15Jayden Maiava pass complete to Lake McRee for 64 yds for a TD (Ryon Sayeri KICK)
Week 11 · Northwestern · 1st and 10 · Q2 · EPA +3.17Maiava to McRee: a 42-yard pass.
Week 3 · Purdue · 4th and 4 · Q2 · EPA +3.09Jayden Maiava pass complete to Lake McRee for 12 yds to the PUR 37 for a
Week 7 · Michigan · 3rd and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.85Jayden Maiava pass complete to Lake McRee for 20 yds to the USC 45 for a
Week 8 · Notre Dame · 2nd and 10 · Q1 · EPA +2.80Jayden Maiava pass complete to Lake McRee for 10 yds for a TD (Ryon Sayeri KICK)
Week 13 · Oregon · 2nd and 7 · Q4 · EPA +2.63Maiava to McRee: a 9-yard pass.

4 more plays

Week 3 · Purdue · 1st and 10 · Q3 · EPA +2.53Jayden Maiava pass complete to Lake McRee for 29 yds to the PUR 46 for a
Week 14 · UCLA · 2nd and 2 · Q4 · EPA +2.07Maiava to McRee: a 2-yard touchdown pass.
Week 4 · Michigan State · 3rd and 5 · Q2 · EPA +1.99Jayden Maiava pass complete to Lake McRee for 6 yds to the MSU 40 for a
Week 2 · Georgia Southern · 1st and 10 · Q2 · EPA +1.93Jayden Maiava pass complete to Lake McRee for 22 yds to the USC 45 for a

Receiving profile

Receiver profile · Targets, catch rate, and throw depth

How often he's targeted, and how well it works

30 rec · 450 yds · 4 TD

27 of 30 receptions matched to play-by-play

22 of 46 targets charted for true throw depth

Targets

4613% of team targets

Catch rate

59%27 of 46 targets

Behind LOS · Negative air yds

18% of targets (4)

50%catch rate

Air -2.0 · YAC 11.5 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

55% of targets (12)

58%catch rate

Air 4.4 · YAC 0.4 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

23% of targets (5)

40%catch rate

Air 12.6 · YAC 2.5 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

5% of targets (1)

100%catch rate

Air 23.0 · YAC 19.0 avg

59% catch rate on 46 targets · 13% of the team's targets.

Situational

Situational · Share of own targets (PBP, 2025)

Third-down role

11%5 of his 45 targets came on third down · TE median is 22%

Teams and coaches

2021USC4-8HC: Donte Williams · Balanced, fast tempo

2022USC11-3HC: Lincoln Riley · Balanced

2023USC8-5HC: Lincoln Riley · Pass-leaning, slow tempo

2024USC7-6HC: Lincoln Riley · Pass-leaning

2025USC9-4HC: Lincoln Riley · Balanced

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 62 (#33 of 156). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles · 2025 season

62Quality starter #33 of 156 · 2025?

Ascending11 metrics · season cumulative

2025 score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Elite: yards / catch (90th percentile). Strength: explosive rate (89th percentile). Concern: catch rate (17th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / catch#82 / 798 · 90th pct

15.7

Explosive rate#92 / 798 · 89th pct

17.8%

TD rate#191 / 798 · 76th pct

4.4%

EPA / target#283 / 798 · 65th pct

0.51

Catch rate#659 / 798 · 17th pct

57.8%

Box-score rates (6)

Yards / catch#9 / 175 · 95th pct

15.0

Long catch#14 / 175 · 92nd pct

Rec yards#23 / 175 · 87th pct

450

Rec TDs#27 / 175 · 80th pct

Receptions#53 / 175 · 69th pct

Fumbles lost#18 / 33 · 27th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

28th → 65th percentile

Explosive rate

55th → 89th percentile

Catch rate

91st → 17th percentile

TD rate

7th → 76th percentile

Yards / catch

37th → 90th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps in 2025. 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

2025 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home7g	2.4	37.7	16.4	0.3
Road5g	2.6	37.2	13.4	0.4

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	2.3	48.2	20.6	0.2
Weeks 8+6g	2.7	26.8	9.7	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Lincoln Riley

Pass share

50.4%

420 pass / 414 run

Plays / game

64.2

13 games

Team sack rate

2.9%

421 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

All-Conference

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

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

62 · #33 of 156 TEs · 2025

Three-star recruit. Now #33 at the position.

2026 outlook

In the mix to repeat All-Big Ten

Based on 2025: #4 of 26 Big Ten TEs

How the All-Big Ten base rate is computed

A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 35% of returning players who ranked #4–10 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 31–38%).