Zakhari Franklin

Former wide receiver at Illinois. 2024: 56 catches, 658 receiving yards, 4 TD.

WR · Illinois · Sr. · #4

6′1″ · 190 lb · Cedar Hill, TX

CFB Index 64 · #122 of 466 WRsHigh confidenceIllinois 2024 — college career complete

Recruiting

2★

WR recruit

No. 2722 nationally · Signed with UTSA

Statement game10 rec · 144 yds · 3 TDvs North Texas (FBS) · W 48-27

Top 1% catches game since 2021.

Franklin: "I will simply just run past the secondary"r/CFB game thread · ▲ 8His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former wide receiver at Illinois. 2024: 56 catches, 658 receiving yards, 4 TD.

Signed as a 2-star recruit to UTSA in 2019.
Transferred from Ole Miss to Illinois in 2024.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Six seasons at Illinois, 4,045 receiving yards, a first-team All-Conference season (2021) — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

The week the volume broke through — put up 155 yds at Illinois.Illinois · W 37-302021

20199 games

Signed with UTSA2-star out of Cedar Hill

20209 games

All-Conference USAhonorable_mention

202112 games

All-Conference USAfirst

202214 games

All-Conference USAfirst

20233 games

The snaps went the other way.

Entered the portal

202412 games

The role got bigger.

Entered the portal

Career arc

Recruit

★★

#2722 national

CFB

College

3 teams

2019–2024

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

5 honors · 1 category

🥈

ALL-CONFERENCE USA · 1ST TEAM

All-Conference USA 1st team (2022)

Coaching lineage · 2019–2024

3 coaches

2019

Lovie Smith

Illinois

2020

Rod Smith

Illinois

era →

2021–2024

Bret Bielema

Illinois

era →

Played under 3 different head coaches: Lovie Smith, Rod Smith, and Bret Bielema. Multi-era developmental context.

2024 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2019UTSA4-8HC: Frank Wilson · Run-leaning

2020UTSA7-5HC: Jeff Traylor · Run-leaning, fast tempo

2021UTSA12-2HC: Jeff Traylor · Run-leaning, fast tempo

2022UTSA11-3HC: Jeff Traylor · Balanced

2023Ole Miss11-2HC: Lane Kiffin · Run-leaning

2024Illinois10-3HC: Bret Bielema · Run-leaning, slow tempo

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

64Quality starter #122 of 466?

High confidence11 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: epa / target (84th percentile). Strength: receptions (85th percentile). Concern: explosive rate (25th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

EPA / target#100 / 610 · 84th pct

1.21

Catch rate#291 / 610 · 52nd pct

90.5%

TD rate#294 / 610 · 52nd pct

6.3%

Yards / catch#370 / 610 · 39th pct

11.2

Explosive rate#453 / 610 · 25th pct

9.5%

Box-score rates (6)

Receptions#77 / 541 · 85th pct

Rec yards#133 / 541 · 76th pct

658

Rec TDs#140 / 541 · 69th pct

Long catch#316 / 541 · 40th pct

Fumbles lost#90 / 221 · 36th pct

Yards / catch#363 / 541 · 32nd pct

11.8

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 & context

Splits · Per-game

2024 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home8g	4.8	54.1	12.1	0.5
Road4g	4.5	56.2	13.1	0.0

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	4.7	55.9	12.2	0.3
Weeks 8+5g	4.6	53.4	12.7	0.4

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Bret Bielema

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

Awards

Player standing · 2024

Part-time starter

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

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

64 · #122 of 466 WRs

Two-star recruit. Now #122 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2024	Illinois	56	658	11.8	4	--
2023	Ole Miss	4	38	9.5	1	--
2022	UTSA	93	1,137	12.2	15	--
2021	UTSA	81	1,027	12.7	12	--
2020	UTSA	49	694	14.2	7	--
2019	UTSA	38	491	12.9	3	--
Career		321	4,045	12.6	42	--

Season	Team
2024	Illinois	--	--	--	--	--
2023	Ole Miss	--	--	--	--	--
2022	UTSA	--	--	--	--	--
2021	UTSA	--	--	--	--	--
2020	UTSA	1	8	--	--	--
2019	UTSA	--	--	--	--	--
Career		1	8	--	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 18 · 2024

W 21–17

vs South Carolina

4 rec · 39 yds · 1 TD

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 4 at home.

With L. Altmyer — 174 yds · 1 TD · 1 INT · QBR 87.7 · -2 rush yds (3 car) · H. Beatty — 4 rec · 90 yds

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 2 · Kansas · 3&5 · Q2 · EPA +3.97Luke Altmyer pass complete to Zakhari Franklin for 42 yds to the KU 28 for a 1ST down
Week 14 · Northwestern · 2&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.88Luke Altmyer pass complete to Zakhari Franklin for 43 yds to the NU 30 for a 1ST down
Week 7 · Purdue · 3&20 · Q2 · EPA +3.41L.Altmyer pass complete. Catch made by Z.Franklin for 27 yards. Tackled by PUR at PUR 8.
Week 10 · Minnesota · 3&11 · Q4 · EPA +3.29Luke Altmyer pass complete to Zakhari Franklin for 16 yds to the MINN 39 for a 1ST down
Week 8 · Michigan · 3&12 · Q2 · EPA +3.20Luke Altmyer pass complete to Zakhari Franklin for 13 yds to the MICH 40 for a 1ST down
Week 3 · Central Michigan · 3&13 · Q1 · EPA +3.19Luke Altmyer pass complete to Zakhari Franklin for 13 yds to the CMU 36 for a 1ST down
Week 2 · Kansas · 3&12 · Q4 · EPA +3.15Luke Altmyer pass complete to Zakhari Franklin for 12 yds to the KU 45 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · South Carolina · 2&8 · Q1 · EPA +2.77Luke Altmyer pass complete to Zakhari Franklin for 15 yds for a TD (David Olano KICK)
Week 10 · Minnesota · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA +2.63Luke Altmyer pass complete to Zakhari Franklin for 21 yds for a TD (David Olano KICK)
Week 3 · Central Michigan · 2&14 · Q3 · EPA +2.49Luke Altmyer pass complete to Zakhari Franklin for 23 yds to the ILL 41 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2024 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 45-0vs Eastern Illinois	2	28	14.0	0	16
Wk 2	W 23-17vs Kansas	9	99	11.0	0	42	Season-high 99 yds
Wk 3	W 30-9vs Central Michigan	5	66	13.2	0	23
Wk 4	W 31-24@ Nebraska	5	50	10.0	0	17
Wk 5	L 7-21@ Penn State	4	49	12.3	0	18
Wk 7	W 50-49vs Purdue	4	60	15.0	1	27
Wk 8	W 21-7vs Michigan	2	26	13.0	0	13
Wk 9	L 9-38@ Oregon	6	72	12.0	0	44
Wk 10	L 17-25vs Minnesota	5	71	14.2	1	21
Wk 12	W 38-16vs Michigan State	7	44	6.3	1	15
Wk 14	W 38-28@ Northwestern	3	54	18.0	0	43
Bowl	W 21-17vs South Carolina	4	39	9.8	1	15
Total		56	658	12.4	4	44

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

Zakhari Franklin

20199 games

20209 games

202112 games

202214 games

20233 games

202412 games

2024 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

Career stats

Signature game

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Slot Technician

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