River Helms

#87 · TE · Georgia Southern6′4″ · 230 lb · Lester, AL · West Limestone

Receiving yards31220th of 107 tight ends Last gameW 19–3vs App State · Oct 31

Nextvs MarshallSat Nov 7 · 3:30 pm ET

via gseagles.com ↗

Worth knowing

River Helms has 26.8 receiving yards a game at home, 51.2 on the road.
River Helms has 30 catches, tied for 13th among FBS tight ends.

His most important play this season

Q4, 14:14 · Georgia Southern breaks the tieMax Johnson finds River Helms for a 16-yard touchdownGeorgia Southern at Coastal Carolina, week 5Q4, 14:14 · Georgia Southern 24, Coastal Carolina 17Go-ahead touchdown for Georgia Southern in the fourth quarterGo-ahead touchdown for Georgia Southern in the fourth quarterM. Johnson pass to R. Helms for 16 yds, for a TD (T. Bryant kick)Watch from this play Sun Belt Conference

All 2 of his plays on video

River Helms

TE · Georgia Southern · #87

Filling the Shoesas of Nov 4

River Helms takes over from Ahmon Green at Georgia Southern.

312receiving yards30catches2receiving TD

TEAM RECEIVING YARDS LEADER

312

Team leader in receiving yards (312).

Read the story so far

River Helms arrived as a 3-star prospect. River Helms lines up at TE for Georgia Southern.

On the field, the headline is 312 rec yds, with 30 rec.

River Helms inherited the TE job from Ahmon Green (3-star).

The number to watch: 312 — team receiving yards leader.

TE successionleap of faith

Inherited fromAhmon Green 3★

AI-generated narrative · may contain errors · not journalism · updated 2026-11-04

Style of play

Play style

Shows up in the passing game from any alignment.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Jake DuzeyIowa · 2014 · 87% season match
Joel RuizGeorgia State · 2014 · 86% season match
Henry Krieger-CobleIowa · 2015 · 85% season match
Cane BerrongCoastal Carolina · 2024 · 81% season match
Grayson BarnesWest Virginia · 2025 · 78% season match

The latest game

Against App State on Oct. 31: 3 catches for 19 yards, 1 of 2 on third and fourth down. In the 8 games drawn here: 30 catches for 312 yards. Georgia Southern has thrown to him 39 times in 324 passes.

First quarterSecond quarterThird quarterFourth quarter

W 19-3 vs App State3 catches, 19 yds
W 23-15 at Old Dominion4 catches, 57 yds
L 24-27 vs James Madison3 catches, 33 yds
W 31-24 at Coastal Carolina4 catches, 89 yds, 1 TD
L 28-42 vs Houston5 catches, 25 yds, 1 TD
L 27-31 at Jacksonville State3 catches, 36 yds
L 7-22 at Clemson5 catches, 23 yds
W 31-0 vs Charleston Southern3 catches, 30 yds

a catch, by its yardsa touchdownthrown to him, incomplete

Each game is split into its four quarters, so the columns line up from game to game; inside a quarter, plays keep their order. Third and fourth downs are marked under the line, bold when he moved the chains.

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2026	Georgia Southern	30	312	10.4	2	32
2025	Georgia Southern	1	4	4.0	1	4
2024	Western Kentucky	19	228	12.0	2	33
2023	Western Kentucky	22	289	13.1	3	63
Career		72	833	11.6	8	63

Last game (Wk 9): 19 receiving yards, 3 catches.

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2026 season · 8 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 31-0vs Charleston Southern	3	30	10.0	0	15
Wk 2	L 7-22@ Clemson	5	23	4.6	0	8
Wk 3	L 27-31@ Jacksonville State	3	36	12.0	0	17
Wk 4	L 28-42vs No. 25 Houston	5	25	5.0	1	11
Wk 5	W 31-24@ Coastal Carolina	4	89	22.3	1	32	Season-high 89 yds
Wk 6	L 24-27vs James Madison	3	33	11.0	0	15
Wk 7	W 23-15@ Old Dominion	4	57	14.3	0	32
Wk 9	W 19-3vs App State	3	19	6.3	0	10
Total		30	312	10.4	2	32

Signature game

Week 4 · 2026

L 28-42

vs Houston

5 rec · 25 yds · 1 TD

With M. Johnson — 284 yds · 3 TD · 0 INT · QBR 70.3 · A. Taylor — 6 rec · 119 yds · 2 TD

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 6 · James Madison · 3rd and 4 · Q3 · EPA −4.03Johnson to Helms: a 15-yard pass.
Week 5 · Coastal Carolina · 3rd and 4 · Q3 · EPA +3.54Johnson to Helms: a 32-yard pass.
Week 7 · Old Dominion · 2nd and 11 · Q4 · EPA +3.42T.Bradshaw pass complete short right to R.Helms caught at GS 46, for 32 yards (M.Easterly; B.Crutchfield)
Week 4 · Houston · 4th and 3 · Q4 · EPA +2.96Johnson to Helms: a 5-yard touchdown pass.
Week 4 · Houston · 4th and 4 · Q4 · EPA +2.69Johnson to Helms: a 5-yard pass.
Week 5 · Coastal Carolina · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.57M. Johnson pass to R. Helms for 16 yds, for a TD (T. Bryant KICK)

4 more plays

Week 1 · Charleston Southern · 3rd and 8 · Q1 · EPA +2.56Johnson to Helms: a 9-yard pass.
Week 7 · Old Dominion · 3rd and 7 · Q3 · EPA +2.29T.Helton pass complete short right to R.Helms caught at GS 41, for 8 yards to the GS 45 (M.Thompson), out of bounds
Week 1 · Charleston Southern · 2nd and 10 · Q1 · EPA +2.25Johnson to Helms: a 15-yard pass.
Week 7 · Old Dominion · 2nd and 10 · Q3 · EPA +2.14Helton to Helms: a 13-yard pass.

Where he ranks

Rec yards31220thAmong 107 tight ends with 12 or more catches

Receptions30tied for 13thAmong 107 tight ends with 12 or more catches

Yards / catch10.4tied for 62ndAmong 107 tight ends with 12 or more catches

Rec TDs2tied for 35thAmong 107 tight ends with 12 or more catches

Long catch32tied for 51stAmong 107 tight ends with 12 or more catches

Fumbles lost1tied for 7thAmong 15 tight ends with 12 or more catches

236th in receiving yards, among all 2,086 FBS players with a receiving row this season, any position

Opponents faced, by strength

Ratings of the games shown run from -15 to +13 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).

Receiving profile

Receiver profile · Targets, catch rate, and throw depth

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

30 rec · 312 yds · 2 TD

30 of 30 receptions matched to play-by-play

37 of 39 targets charted for true throw depth

Targets

3912% of team targets

Catch rate

77%30 of 39 targets

Behind LOS · Negative air yds

5% of targets (2)

100%catch rate

Air -3.5 · YAC 9.0 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

62% of targets (23)

87%catch rate

Air 4.2 · YAC 3.1 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

22% of targets (8)

62%catch rate

Air 12.8 · YAC 8.0 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

11% of targets (4)

25%catch rate

Air 24.0 · YAC 3.0 avg

77% catch rate on 39 targets · 12% of the team's targets.

Teams and coaches

2023Western Kentucky8-5HC: Tyson Helton · Pass-leaning

2024Western Kentucky8-6HC: Tyson Helton · Balanced

2025Georgia Southern7-6HC: Clay Helton · Balanced

2026Georgia Southern4-4HC: Clay Helton · Pass-leaning

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 66 (#20 of 132). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

66Quality starter #20 of 132?

11 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: catch rate (87th percentile). Strength: epa / target (85th percentile). Concern: yards / catch (23rd percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Catch rate#73 / 569 · 87th pct

76.9%

EPA / target#84 / 569 · 85th pct

0.71

TD rate#226 / 569 · 60th pct

5.1%

Explosive rate#413 / 569 · 27th pct

7.7%

Yards / catch#438 / 569 · 23rd pct

10.4

Box-score rates (6)

Receptions#13 / 107 · 87th pct

Rec yards#20 / 107 · 82nd pct

312

Rec TDs#35 / 107 · 57th pct

Long catch#51 / 107 · 50th pct

Yards / catch#62 / 107 · 42nd pct

10.4

Fumbles lost#7 / 15 · 33rd 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

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2026 season · 8 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home4g	3.5	26.8	8.1	0.2
Road4g	4.0	51.2	13.3	0.2

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	3.9	41.9	11.3	0.3
Weeks 8+1g	3.0	19.0	6.3	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Clay Helton

Pass share

59.2%

327 pass / 225 run

Plays / game

69.0

8 games

Team sack rate

2.0%

355 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Pass-leaning.

Awards

Player standing · 2026

Impact starter

30 catches in 8 games, more catches a game than most FBS tight ends who play every week.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

66 · #20 of 132 TEs

Three-star recruit. Now #20 at the position.

River Helms

This week

Worth knowing

His most important play this season

Style of play

Similar players

What fans said

In the game threads

Where to follow

The latest game

Career stats

Game log

Signature game

Signature plays

Where he ranks

Receiving profile

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Awards

Impact starter

Six seasons, two schools

Moves

2021

2025