Marcus Sanders Jr.

Senior wide receiver for Georgia Southern. 2025: 50 catches, 797 receiving yards, 5 TD.

WR · Georgia Southern · Sr. · #5

6′1″ · 190 lb · Montezuma, GA

CFB Index 72 · #64 of 485 WRsHigh confidenceReturning to Georgia Southern for 2026

How he plays

Beats you over the top.

EPA / target: 96th percentile.

The full scouting read

The numbers

797

receiving yards · 2025

50 catches · 5 TD · 15.9 per catch

Best game: 8 rec, 135 yds, 1 TD, at Marshall

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 wide receiver for Georgia Southern. 2025: 50 catches, 797 receiving yards, 5 TD.

Signed with Georgia Southern in 2022.

His career, year by year

Marcus Sanders Jr.

WR · Georgia Southern · Sr · #5

Beats you over the top. This is his fourth year in the same receiving corps at Georgia Southern. The receipt on tape: 135 rec yds, 8 receptions against Marshall, Week 14, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
seasons on the roster
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

4 seasons under Clay Helton — 27-25 over that span.

2022Georgia Southern6-7HC: Clay Helton · Pass-heavy, fast tempo

2023Georgia Southern6-7HC: Clay Helton · Pass-leaning

2024Georgia Southern8-5HC: Clay Helton · Balanced

2025Georgia Southern7-6HC: Clay Helton · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

72Quality starter #64 of 485?

High confidenceBreakout11 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: epa / target (96th percentile). Strength: explosive rate (88th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

EPA / target#36 / 798 · 96th pct

0.87

Explosive rate#93 / 798 · 88th pct

17.7%

Yards / catch#138 / 798 · 83rd pct

14.7

Catch rate#223 / 798 · 72nd pct

74.2%

TD rate#478 / 798 · 40th pct

1.6%

Box-score rates (6)

Rec yards#70 / 558 · 87th pct

797

Yards / catch#93 / 558 · 83rd pct

15.9

Fumbles lost#1 / 218 · 81st pct

Receptions#118 / 558 · 79th pct

Rec TDs#96 / 558 · 78th pct

Long catch#217 / 558 · 60th 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

24%15 of his 62 targets came on third down · Receiver median is 24%

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home6g	3.8	59.8	15.5	0.2
Road7g	3.9	62.6	14.9	0.6

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	3.3	44.1	12.7	0.3
Weeks 8+6g	4.5	81.3	18.2	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Clay Helton

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

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Part-time starter

Splitting first-team reps — starts some weeks, rotates others.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

72 · #64 of 485 WRs

Unranked recruit. Now #64 at the position.

2026 outlook

In the mix for All-Sun Belt

Based on 2025: #7 of 51 Sun Belt WRs

How the All-Sun Belt estimate is computed

35% estimated, 95% confidence interval 31–38%. 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	Georgia Southern	50	797	15.9	5	--
2024	Georgia Southern	9	158	17.6	1	--
2023	Georgia Southern	6	91	15.2	1	--
2022	Georgia Southern	20	171	8.6	1	--
Career		85	1,217	14.3	8	--

Season	Team
2025	Georgia Southern	--	--	--	--	--
2024	Georgia Southern	2	14	--	--	--
2023	Georgia Southern	--	--	--	--	--
2022	Georgia Southern	--	--	--	--	--
Career		2	14	--	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 4 · 2025

W 45–17

vs Maine

5 rec · 68 yds

Dominant 28-point win at home against Maine.

With J. French — 253 yds · 1 TD · 1 INT · QBR 35.4 · 42 rush yds (6 car) · D. Cobb — 44 yds · 0 TD · 0 INT · QBR 100.0 · 8 rush yds (3 car) · 1 TD

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 11 · App State · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.61(14:19) No Huddle-Shotgun #12 J.French IV pass complete deep left to #5 M.Sanders Jr. caught at APP15, for 47 yards to the APP00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 14:16, 1ST DOWN #9 W.Bryan rush attempt failed
Week 4 · Maine · 2&13 · Q2 · EPA +3.60JC French IV pass complete to Marcus Sanders Jr. for 32 yds to the ME 32 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Fresno State · 3&11 · Q1 · EPA +3.42JC French IV pass complete to Marcus Sanders Jr. for 18 yds to the FRES 41 for a 1ST down
Week 14 · Marshall · 3&11 · Q3 · EPA +3.20(06:46) No Huddle-Shotgun #12 J.French IV pass complete short left to #5 M.Sanders Jr. caught at MAR31, for 32 yards to the MAR14 (#11 J.Pierre-Louis), 1ST DOWN
Week 7 · Southern Miss · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +3.14JC French IV pass complete to Marcus Sanders Jr. for 39 yds for a TD (Tripp Bryant KICK)
Week 11 · App State · 3&11 · Q2 · EPA +3.09(10:08) No Huddle-Shotgun #12 J.French IV pass complete short middle to #5 M.Sanders Jr. caught at APP27, for 29 yards to the APP16 (#5 Z.Gamble; #21 D.Burks), 1ST DOWN
Week 14 · Marshall · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +2.90(07:54) No Huddle-Shotgun #9 W.Bryan pass complete deep left to #5 M.Sanders Jr. caught at MAR00, for 33 yards to the MAR00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 07:53, 1ST DOWN #95 T.Bryant kick attempt good (H: #25 A.Smith, LS: #89 J.Wheeler)
Week 1 · App State · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +2.87(08:50) Shotgun #12 J.French IV pass complete deep middle to #5 M.Sanders Jr. caught at ASU00, for 32 yards to the ASU00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 08:50, 1ST DOWN #95 T.Bryant kick attempt good (H: #25 A.Smith, LS: #89 J.Wheeler) #95 T.Bryant kick attempt good (H: #25 A.Smith, LS: #89 J.Wheeler) PENALTY #95 T.Bryant kick attempt good (H: #25 A.Smith, LS: #89 J.Wheeler) PENALTY ASU Running Into The Kicker declined
Week 12 · Coastal Carolina · 2&9 · Q4 · EPA +2.86(09:54) No Huddle-Shotgun #12 J.French IV pass complete short left to #5 M.Sanders Jr. caught at GASO49, for 24 yards to the CCU39 (#9 A.Jones), 1ST DOWN
Week 12 · Coastal Carolina · 3&14 · Q2 · EPA +2.85(14:28) No Huddle-Shotgun #12 J.French IV pass complete short left to #5 M.Sanders Jr. caught at GASO30, for 14 yards to the GASO45 (#6 X.Gordon; #20 L.Murphy), 1ST DOWN

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	L 14-42@ Fresno State	2	22	11.0	0	18
Wk 2	L 20-59@ USC	2	24	12.0	0	13
Wk 3	W 41-34vs Jacksonville State	3	38	12.7	0	14
Wk 4	W 45-17vs Maine	5	68	13.6	0	32
Wk 5	L 10-35@ James Madison	2	15	7.5	0	13
Wk 7	L 35-38vs Southern Miss	4	70	17.5	1	39
Wk 8	W 41-24vs Georgia State	2	28	14.0	0	29
Wk 9	L 24-34@ Arkansas State	2	43	21.5	1	25
Wk 11	W 25-23@ App State	6	127	21.2	1	47
Wk 12	W 45-40vs Coastal Carolina	5	67	13.4	0	24
Wk 13	L 10-45vs Old Dominion	4	88	22.0	0	52
Wk 14	W 24-19@ Marshall	8	135	16.9	1	33	Season-high 135 yds
Bowl	W 29-10@ App State	5	72	14.4	1	32
Total		50	797	15.2	5	52

How he plays

Play style

Stretches the field vertically. Every snap is a potential big play.

CFB Index positional classification

Money down · 3rd-down role

Money down

fact

9/153rd-down conversions

1.433rd-down EPA/target

0.83Other-downs EPA/target

10 of 15 caught on third down (66.7%) — EPA/target 1.43 vs 0.83 elsewhere (9 conversions).

Catch rate is disclosed context only, never the gate — conversions and EPA/target are. Interception targets carry no attribution row at any source, so EPA/target here is unfixably, slightly inflated.

2026 Outlook

Georgia Southern

Preseason read · May 27

2026 Depth chart

Returning starter

Wide receiver · Georgia Southern

Returning around him