Oregon State’s Jesse Legree leads FBS with 1,110 receiving yards and 14 touchdown catches, and Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith (1,067) and Miami’s Malachi Toney (1,027) are the only other receivers past 1,000 yards. No book’s Biletnikoff market is listed on ESPN now, so this page quotes no current price.
ESPN’s college football futures list carries 12 markets as of November 1, the Heisman Trophy among them, and the Fred Biletnikoff Award is not one. The DraftKings board this page used in September is below as the record, next to what each receiver has done since.
The FBS receiving leaders
| Receiver | School | Games | Catches | Yards | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jesse Legree | Oregon State | 8 | 53 | 1,110 | 14 |
| Jeremiah Smith | Ohio State | 8 | 62 | 1,067 | 13 |
| Malachi Toney | Miami | 8 | 73 | 1,027 | 13 |
| Umari Hatcher | Syracuse | 8 | 60 | 952 | 8 |
| Easton Messer | Florida Atlantic | 8 | 74 | 898 | 9 |
| Charlie Becker | Indiana | 9 | 50 | 875 | 9 |
| Isaiah Myers | Missouri State | 8 | 41 | 873 | 8 |
| Carlos Hernandez | Wake Forest | 8 | 57 | 856 | 5 |
| Reed Harris | Arizona State | 8 | 48 | 804 | 8 |
| Gavin Freeman | Baylor | 8 | 63 | 792 | 3 |
These are ESPN’s top ten in receiving yards, read November 1. Legree’s 14 touchdown catches lead FBS, one more than Smith and Toney. Florida Atlantic’s Easton Messer leads in catches with 74, one ahead of Toney.
Indiana’s Charlie Becker has played nine games, one more than anyone else in the ten. Baylor’s Gavin Freeman, tenth in yards, has 63 catches and three touchdowns.
The September board, and where those names are now
| Receiver | School | DraftKings, Sept. 24 | Then | Now: games, catches, yards, TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeremiah Smith | Ohio State | +170 | 21 catches, 400 yards, 3 TD | 8, 62, 1,067, 13 |
| Malachi Toney | Miami | +184 | 28 catches, 444 yards, 5 TD | 8, 73, 1,027, 13 |
| Jesse Legree | Oregon State | +1000 | 17 catches, 476 yards, 4 TD | 8, 53, 1,110, 14 |
| KJ Duff | Rutgers | +1300 | 24 catches, 419 yards, 6 TD | 8, 45, 774, 9 |
| Charlie Becker | Indiana | +1500 | 12 catches, 272 yards, 6 TD | 9, 50, 875, 9 |
These are the five shortest of the 33 prices this page listed from ESPN on September 24, 2026, with each receiver’s figures on that day; that market is no longer posted. Four of the five are in the yardage top ten. Legree, third on the board at +1000, has since passed both favorites in yards.
Rutgers’ KJ Duff, fourth on the board at +1300, has 774 yards and nine touchdowns, outside the top ten in yards.
When the award is decided
- Vote for semifinalists: November 9 to 15, 2026
- Semifinalists announced: November 16
- Vote for three finalists: November 16 to 22
- Finalists announced: November 24
- Final vote: November 24 to December 5
- Winner announced: December 11, on The Home Depot College Football Awards
- Presentation: March 20, 2027, in Tallahassee, Florida
The semifinalists had not been named on November 1. When the semifinal vote opens, any receiver on the watch list who is not in the top 100 in receiving yards comes off the ballot, and a watch list player needs at least five games to appear on it.
The award is presented by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation to the season’s outstanding college receiver. Any FBS player who catches a forward pass is eligible: tight ends, running backs and slot backs as well as wide receivers. The foundation’s criteria say the vote is on actual on-field performance, not potential, and any voter may write in a receiver who is not on the ballot through the vote for the three finalists.
Recent Fred Biletnikoff Award winners
| Year | Winner | School | Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Makai Lemon | USC | Skyler Bell (UConn), Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State) |
| 2024 | Travis Hunter Jr. | Colorado | Tetairoa McMillan (Arizona), Nick Nash (San Jose State) |
| 2023 | Marvin Harrison Jr. | Ohio State | Malik Nabers (LSU), Rome Odunze (Washington) |
| 2022 | Jalin Hyatt | Tennessee | Marvin Harrison Jr. (Ohio State), Xavier Hutchinson (Iowa State) |
| 2021 | Jordan Addison | Pittsburgh | David Bell (Purdue), Jameson Williams (Alabama) |
| 2020 | DeVonta Smith | Alabama | Elijah Moore (Ole Miss), Kyle Pitts (Florida) |
| 2019 | Ja’Marr Chase | LSU | CeeDee Lamb (Oklahoma), Michael Pittman Jr. (USC) |
| 2018 | Jerry Jeudy | Alabama | Andy Isabella (Massachusetts), Tylan Wallace (Oklahoma State) |
Smith was one of the two finalists behind Lemon last season. A Smith win would give Ohio State its second winner in four seasons, after Harrison in 2023.
Alabama has three winners since 2014, the most of any school on the foundation’s list over that span. Week-by-week calls on college games are on our college football predictions hub, and our Heisman Trophy odds, Doak Walker Award odds and Davey O’Brien Award odds pages cover the other individual races. Award prices differ from book to book, so compare them in our sportsbook reviews.
Sources: ESPN college football 2026 FBS leaders, athlete statistics and futures list, read November 1, 2026, 14:18 to 14:24 UTC; the Biletnikoff Award (biletnikoffaward.com: important dates, eligibility and voting criteria, finalists), read November 1, 2026; DraftKings prices and September figures as this page published them from ESPN on September 24, 2026.