#13

Sam James

Senior wide receiver for West Virginia. 2022: 46 catches, 745 receiving yards, 6 TD.

WR · West Virginia · Sr. · #13

6′0″ · 176 lb · Richmond Hill, GA

CFB Index 66 · #100 of 488 WRsHigh confidenceWest Virginia 2022 alumnus

Recruiting

3★

WR recruit

No. 847 nationally · Signed with West Virginia

Statement game14 rec · 223 ydsvs Texas Tech (FBS) · L 17-38

Top 0.1% catches game since 2021.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 wide receiver for West Virginia. 2022: 46 catches, 745 receiving yards, 6 TD.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to West Virginia in 2018.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at West Virginia, 2,229 receiving yards — his college career is complete.

His career

He barely played early on. Then he did not come off the field.

The week the volume broke through — put up 223 yds vs Texas Tech.Texas Tech · L 17-382019

2018

Signed with West Virginia3-star out of Richmond Hill

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#847 national

CFB

College

West Virginia

2018–2022

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2018–2022

2 coaches

2018

Dana Holgorsen

West Virginia

2019–2022

Neal Brown

West Virginia

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Dana Holgorsen → Neal Brown. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

2022 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2018West Virginia8-4HC: Dana Holgorsen · Balanced

2019West Virginia5-7HC: Neal Brown · Pass-leaning

2020West Virginia6-4HC: Neal Brown · Balanced, fast tempo

2021West Virginia6-7HC: Neal Brown · Balanced

2022West Virginia5-7HC: Neal Brown · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

66Quality starter #100 of 488?

High confidence12 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: explosive rate (90th percentile). Strength: yards / catch (86th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Explosive rate#61 / 636 · 90th pct

23.3%

Yards / catch#92 / 636 · 86th pct

15.9

EPA / target#104 / 636 · 84th pct

0.99

TD rate#139 / 636 · 77th pct

10.0%

Catch rate#324 / 636 · 49th pct

78.3%

Box-score rates (7)

Long catch#81 / 550 · 85th pct

Rec TDs#73 / 550 · 83rd pct

Rec yards#92 / 550 · 83rd pct

745

Yards / catch#92 / 550 · 83rd pct

16.2

Receptions#146 / 550 · 73rd pct

Rush yards#135 / 275 · 50th pct

Rush TDs#48 / 275 · 41st pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

77th → 84th percentile

Explosive rate

57th → 90th percentile

Catch rate

82nd → 49th percentile

TD rate

80th → 77th percentile

Yards / catch

48th → 86th percentile

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 & context

Splits · Per-game

2022 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home6g	3.5	80.5	24.4	0.7
Road6g	4.2	43.7	10.7	0.3

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	3.8	59.5	16.9	0.3
Weeks 8+6g	3.8	64.7	18.2	0.7

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Rich Rodriguez

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

Awards

Player standing · 2022

Part-time starter

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

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

66 · #100 of 488 WRs

Three-star recruit. Now #100 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2022	West Virginia	46	745	16.2	6	--
2021	West Virginia	42	505	12.0	5	--
2020	West Virginia	31	300	9.7	2	--
2019	West Virginia	69	677	9.8	2	--
2018	West Virginia	2	2	1.0	0	--
Career		190	2,229	11.7	15	--

Season	Team
2022	West Virginia	3	9	214	--	--
2021	West Virginia	2	9	--	-2	--
2020	West Virginia	1	4	--	--	--
2019	West Virginia	4	19	273	--	--
2018	West Virginia	--	--	--	--	--
Career		10	41	487	-2	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 11 · 2022

W 23–20

vs Oklahoma

5 rush yds (1 car)

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 3 at home.

With G. Greene — 138 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 95.4 · 119 rush yds (14 car) · 2 TD · O. Straw — 43 AVG · 4 IN 20 · 51 LONG

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 12 · Kansas State · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +5.78Garrett Greene pass complete to Sam James for 71 yds for a TD, (Casey Legg PAT MISSED)
Week 2 · Kansas · 2&4 · Q1 · EPA +4.84Sam James 59 Yd pass from JT Daniels (Casey Legg Kick)
Week 11 · Oklahoma · 3&12 · Q2 · EPA +3.92JT Daniels pass complete to Sam James for 29 yds to the Okla 31 for a 1ST down
Week 11 · Oklahoma · 2&15 · Q4 · EPA +3.88Garrett Greene pass complete to Sam James for 35 yds to the Okla 31 for a 1ST down
Week 5 · Texas · 4&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.50JT Daniels pass complete to Sam James for 21 yds to the Texas 20 for a 1ST down
Week 10 · Iowa State · 3&9 · Q2 · EPA +3.04JT Daniels pass complete to Sam James for 17 yds to the 50 yard line for a 1ST down
Week 5 · Texas · 3&8 · Q1 · EPA +2.73JT Daniels pass complete to Sam James for 18 yds to the WVirg 45 for a 1ST down TEXAS Penalty, Defensive Offside ( Yards) declined for a 1ST down
Week 12 · Kansas State · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +2.72Garrett Greene pass complete to Sam James for 26 yds for a TD, (Casey Legg KICK)
Week 4 · Virginia Tech · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.68JT Daniels pass complete to Sam James for 24 yds for a TD, (Casey Legg KICK)
Week 5 · Texas · 2&13 · Q1 · EPA +2.52JT Daniels pass complete to Sam James for 27 yds to the WVirg 41 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2022 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	L 31-38@ Pittsburgh	5	50	10.0	0	21
Wk 2	L 42-55vs Kansas	4	91	22.8	1	59
Wk 3	W 65-7vs Towson	2	53	26.5	0	51
Wk 4	W 33-10@ Virginia Tech	2	25	12.5	1	24
Wk 5	L 20-38@ Texas	7	86	12.3	0	27
Wk 7	W 43-40vs Baylor	3	52	17.3	0	32
Wk 8	L 10-48@ Texas Tech	6	44	7.3	0	19
Wk 9	L 31-41vs TCU	6	95	15.8	0	36
Wk 10	L 14-31@ Iowa State	3	38	12.7	1	17
Wk 11	W 23-20vs Oklahoma	3	90	30.0	0	35
Wk 12	L 31-48vs Kansas State	3	102	34.0	3	71	Season-high 102 yds
Wk 13	W 24-19@ Oklahoma State	2	19	9.5	0	15
Total		46	745	17.6	6	71

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

Sam James

2018

2022 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

Career stats

Signature game

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Deep Threat

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