#15

Sam Pinckney

Senior wide receiver for Coastal Carolina. 2023: 72 catches, 1,027 receiving yards, 8 TD.

WR · Coastal Carolina · Sr. · #15

6′4″ · 220 lb · Greenwood, SC

CFB Index 84 · #23 of 497 WRsHigh confidenceAll-ConferenceCoastal Carolina 2023 alumnus

Recruiting

3★

WR recruit

No. 1546 nationally · Signed with Georgia State

Statement game6 rec · 146 yds · 3 TDat Arkansas State (FBS) · L 52-59

Top 1% receiving yards game since 2021.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 wide receiver for Coastal Carolina. 2023: 72 catches, 1,027 receiving yards, 8 TD.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Georgia State in 2018.
Transferred from Georgia State to Coastal Carolina in 2022.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Six seasons at Coastal Carolina, 3,706 receiving yards — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

The week the volume broke through — put up 176 yds at South Alabama.South Alabama · W 31-142020

20183 games

Signed with Georgia State3-star out of Greenwood

20209 games

The role got bigger.

All-Sun Beltsecond

202110 games

Signed with Coastal Carolina3-star out of Boiling Springs
All-Sun Belt

202213 games

Entered the portal
All-Sun Beltthird

202313 games

All-Sun Beltsecond

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#1546 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2018–2023

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

9 honors · 1 category

🎖

ALL-SUN BELT · 2ND TEAM

All-Sun Belt 2nd team (2023)

Coaching lineage · 2018–2023

4 coaches

2018

Joe Moglia

Coastal Carolina

2019–2021

Jamey Chadwell

Coastal Carolina

era →

2022

Chad Staggs

Coastal Carolina

era →

2023

Tim Beck

Coastal Carolina

era →

Played under 4 different head coaches: Joe Moglia, Jamey Chadwell, Chad Staggs, and Tim Beck. Multi-era developmental context.

2023 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2018Georgia State2-10HC: Shawn Elliott · Run-leaning

2019Georgia State7-6HC: Shawn Elliott · Run-heavy

2020Georgia State6-4HC: Shawn Elliott · Run-leaning, fast tempo

2021Georgia State8-5HC: Shawn Elliott · Run-heavy

2022Coastal Carolina9-4HC: Chad Staggs · Run-leaning

2023Coastal Carolina8-5HC: Tim Beck · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

84All-Conference level #23 of 497?

High confidence12 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: rec yards (95th percentile). Strength: receptions (94th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

EPA / target#145 / 639 · 77th pct

1.00

Yards / catch#182 / 639 · 72nd pct

14.2

Explosive rate#209 / 639 · 67th pct

16.9%

TD rate#225 / 639 · 65th pct

7.8%

Catch rate#367 / 639 · 43rd pct

80.5%

Box-score rates (7)

Rec yards#29 / 566 · 95th pct

1027

Receptions#33 / 566 · 94th pct

Rec TDs#33 / 566 · 93rd pct

Yards / catch#193 / 566 · 66th pct

14.3

Long catch#221 / 566 · 60th pct

Rush TDs#54 / 294 · 41st pct

Rush yards#171 / 294 · 41st pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

53rd → 77th percentile

Explosive rate

83rd → 67th percentile

Catch rate

42nd → 43rd percentile

TD rate

24th → 65th percentile

Yards / catch

73rd → 72nd 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

2023 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home6g	4.0	60.7	16.9	0.3
Road7g	6.9	94.7	13.2	0.9

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	6.1	95.4	16.0	0.6
Weeks 8+6g	4.8	59.8	13.5	0.7

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Ryan Beard

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

Awards

Player standing · 2023

All-Conference

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

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

84 · #23 of 497 WRs

Three-star recruit. Now #23 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2023	Coastal Carolina	72	1,027	14.3	8	--
2022	Coastal Carolina	72	1,011	14.0	3	--
2021	Georgia State	27	311	11.5	1	--
2020	Georgia State	47	815	17.3	7	--
2019	Georgia State	36	460	12.8	5	--
2018	Georgia State	3	82	27.3	0	--
Career		257	3,706	14.4	24	--

Season	Team
2023	Coastal Carolina	1	7	2	--	--
2022	Coastal Carolina	--	--	--	--	--
2021	Georgia State	1	12	--	--	--
2020	Georgia State	--	--	--	--	--
2019	Georgia State	--	--	--	--	--
2018	Georgia State	--	--	--	--	--
Career		2	19	2	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 7 · 2023

W 27–24

at App State

7 rec · 102 yds

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 3 on the road.

With G. McCall — 373 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 78.5 · -2 rush yds (5 car) · B. Bennett — 64 rush yds (15 car) · 1 TD

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 12 · Army · 3&11 · Q4 · EPA +4.33Jarrett Guest pass complete to Sam Pinckney for 31 yds for a TD (Kade Hensley KICK)
Week 1 · UCLA · 3&7 · Q3 · EPA +4.32Grayson McCall pass complete to Sam Pinckney for 52 yds to the UCLA 20 for a 1ST down
Week 3 · Duquesne · 3&7 · Q2 · EPA +3.31Grayson McCall pass complete to Sam Pinckney for 31 yds to the DUQ 23 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · UCLA · 3&4 · Q1 · EPA +3.24Grayson McCall pass complete to Sam Pinckney for 31 yds to the UCLA 28 for a 1ST down
Week 11 · Texas State · 2&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.15Ethan Vasko pass complete to Sam Pinckney for 25 yds for a TD (Kade Hensley KICK)
Week 8 · Arkansas State · 3&7 · Q2 · EPA +2.90Grayson McCall pass complete to Sam Pinckney for 8 yds for a TD (Kade Hensley KICK)
Week 2 · Jacksonville State · 3&6 · Q3 · EPA +2.87Grayson McCall pass complete to Sam Pinckney for 16 yds to the JVST 42 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · San José State · 3&4 · Q4 · EPA +2.75Ethan Vasko pass complete to Sam Pinckney for 8 yds for a TD (Kade Hensley KICK)
Week 1 · UCLA · 2&9 · Q3 · EPA +2.74Sam Pinckney 9 Yd pass from Grayson McCall (Liam Gray Kick)
Week 2 · Jacksonville State · 3&8 · Q1 · EPA +2.58Grayson McCall pass complete to Sam Pinckney for 33 yds to the JVST 8 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2023 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	L 13-27@ UCLA	9	139	15.4	1	52	Season-high 139 yds
Wk 2	W 30-16vs Jacksonville State	4	63	15.8	0	33
Wk 3	W 66-7vs Duquesne	2	42	21.0	1	31
Wk 4	L 17-30vs Georgia State	6	67	11.2	0	20
Wk 5	L 28-38@ Georgia Southern	7	132	18.9	1	42	132-yard receiving day
Wk 7	W 27-24@ App State	7	102	14.6	0	31
Wk 8	W 27-17@ Arkansas State	4	20	5.0	1	9
Wk 9	W 34-6vs Marshall	2	48	24.0	0	31
Wk 10	W 28-24@ Old Dominion	7	69	9.9	1	16
Wk 11	W 31-23vs Texas State	6	81	13.5	1	25
Wk 12	L 21-28@ Army	6	78	13.0	1	31
Wk 13	L 14-56vs James Madison	4	63	15.8	0	26
Bowl	W 24-14@ San José State	8	123	15.4	1	22
Total		72	1027	14.9	8	52

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

Sam Pinckney

20183 games

20209 games

202110 games

202213 games

202313 games

2023 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

All-Conference

Career stats

Signature game

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Possession Receiver

Players who play like Sam Pinckney