There is a strong crop of wide receiver prospects in the NCAA this season. TCU’s Josh Doctson, Ball State’s Jordan Williams, and Rutgers’ Caroo Leonte are just a few names showcasing the kind of skills NFL executives love to see. But in the midst of all this talent, one playmaker from a little-regarded UMass program is quietly leading the nation in receptions and trying to dispel any doubts he lacks the talent to succeed in the pros.
By: Cory Burrell
Enter Tajae Sharpe, a senior for the Minutemen and one of the most successful wide receivers to ever play for the school. UMass’s lackluster offense and general struggles to be competitive may raise questions as to how talented Sharpe is, especially compared to some of his gifted peers in the 2016 draft class, but Sharpe’s production on the field should not be overlooked by NFL teams looking for a reliable weapon to add to their passing attack.
Sharpe was a solid, if not particularly flashy, player in high school. He was noted as a three-star recruit, but did not crack the top 100 WR of his recruiting class in the eyes of most scouts. Still, Sharpe possessed a strong frame and decent body of work, which attracted the attention of the University of Massachusetts. Sharpe committed to UMass and would begin his collegiate career in 2012 – an interesting time for the UMass program.
UMass had a tradition for football dating back to the late 1800s and was a strong team in the Football Championship Subdivision (aka Division I-AA). But in 2011, the school chose to enter Division I-A (formerly known as the Football Bowl Subdivision) as a member of the Mid-Atlantic Conference (MAC), effective the following year.
Unsurprisingly, the jump to the highest level of collegiate play caused the Minutemen to stumble. In their first two seasons in Division I-A, UMass suffered two 1-11 seasons under the helm of head coach Charley Molnar. Sharpe was able to find time on the field in both of his initial seasons. After a low-impact freshman debut (20 catches for 206 yards), Sharpe made significant strides in his production. He caught 61 passes for 680 yards and four touchdowns, giving the Minutemen a promising young player for the future.
UMass decided to make changes to its struggling in-transition program. Molnar was fired and replaced by Mark Whipple. Whipple coached the Minutemen previously from 1998 to 2003, some of the most successful years of football in the school’s history. He also coached in the NFL as an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he played a major role in developing star QB Ben Roethlisberger in his early years in the league.
UMass saw some slight yet noticeable improvements in the first year under Whipple. The Minutemen won multiple games for the first time since its division jump, going 3-9, and the passing game threw for nearly 2,000 more yards than the previous season.
Sharpe had a breakout season because of (or perhaps fueling) the enhanced passing game. He caught 85 passes for 1,281 yards and seven touchdowns. His receiving yards and total receptions were both good for second in the conference.
This season, Sharpe has picked up where he left off last season, and then some. He has only been held to less than 100 yards or single-digit receptions twice – in an eight catch, 83 yard game against Notre Dame and a seven catch, 46 yard game against Kent State. He is on pace to surpass his junior season in almost every statistical category. With nearly half of the season remaining, Sharpe is just nine catches away from breaking his total from last year. If he stays close to his current production, he will easily surpass his receiving yards total from last season by at least several hundred yards.
He has already made his mark in school history as the leader in career receptions, receiving yards, and receptions per game, while also having a very realistic shot at climbing as high as third all-time in receiving touchdowns (he needs only two more to claim the third spot on the all-time receiving touchdowns list).
Despite the hefty production Sharpe is putting forth is his collegiate farewell, Sharpe’s draft stock has a few notable red flags – most pressingly, the fear of Sharpe being a dreaded “good stats on a bad team” player. However, with a closer look, Sharpe’s “red flags” are should not dissuade teams from completely dismissing the playmaking talent.
No one could expect the UMass football team, still just a few years removed from playing in Division I-AA, to be able to compete with most FBS schools yet. That said, UMass plays one of the most pass-happy offenses in the country; only two teams in the entire nation (Texas Tech and Washington State) throw the ball more often than the Minutemen, who average more than 47 passes per game. Despite this, the teams ranks in the bottom half of the nation in completion percentage and points per game. Most of those passes go in the direction of Sharpe . The player with the second-most receptions on UMass this season, Marken Michel, has 29 catches, less than half of Shape’s 77 receptions.
Of course, the offense is not made solely to help Shape put up big numbers. Whipple is noted as a quarterback guru, so it is unsurprising the offense gears toward passing. While the volume of throws certainly helps Sharpe’s stats, Sharpe is also the best target on the Minutemen – it would be unwise for Whipple not to make Sharpe the focal point of any offense.
The unusual way some teams have played against Sharpe also give some credence to doubt on his talent. Conventional football wisdom says Sharpe, as one of the few weapons on a below-average offense, would constantly be pressed, double and even triple teamed, and otherwise not allowed any space whatsoever. But in some matchups, most notably the game against Florida International, Sharpe was faced single coverage and man-to-man schemes.
On the surface, a team playing against Sharpe seems to be a knock against him. But rarely do teams play a full game against Sharpe this way. When teams like Florida International do, they tend to be punished heavily; Sharpe tallied 159 yards and a touchdown on 15 catches against the porous defense, helping UMass to their first (and so far only) win of the season.
Sharpe’s teammates have nothing but praise for their teammate, especially in the way he improves the play of his teammates.
“It’s huge because just the fact that sometimes teams try to cover Tajae and they can’t do it when Marken’s out there making plays,” Blake Frohnapel, the starting quarterback for UMass this season, said in an interview to Masslive.com. “He was over 100 yards too. There’s too many mismatches there with those two guys.”
The negative with the most weight behind it are question about Sharpe’s speed. While far from slow, Sharpe lacks the uncatchable speeds some of the deadliest receivers in the NFL rely on. However, Sharpe makes up for this downside with a strong frame, good hands, and a willingness to make catches in traffic and crossing the field.
Before this season, Sharpe was predicted to be a mid-to-late round draft pick in the NFL by Optimum Scouting. Optimum Scouting’s review of the MAC had Sharpe as the third-best senior wideout in the conference, praising his “[use of] his body to box out defenders and make difficult plays in traffic.” The overall wide receiver rankings from Optimum Scouting have him as the 13th-best senior prospect available, grading out as a sixth-round pick.
There is no such thing as a “sure thing” in the NFL draft. Every potential NFL player faces at least some scrutiny, whether in terms of styles of play, body types, or lack of success and wins in college – the latter most applicable to Sharpe. But while Sharpe may lack an impressive, win-laden résumé in college, he has proven his talent merits at least a chance for the UMass product to take his game to the next level.
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