Top 5 Wide Receiver Performances of Week 4 College Football: Naiem Simmons, Lideatrick Griffin, more

Justin's NCAA college football top wide receivers from Week 4 of the 2023 season. Top WR performers include Naiem Simmons and Lideatrick Griffin.

Week 4 of college football is over and we saw a number of impressive performances this week. That includes three wide receivers who went over 200 yards, plus another eight with over 150 yards. Some big-time performances from the wide receiver position this weekend.

One thing I want to do every week here (since there's not an article specifically for them) is shout out the top tight end of the week. This week, that honor goes to Brock Bowers of Georgia, who caught nine passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns in a win over UAB. Arkansas' Luke Hasz also reserves recognition for catching six passes for 116 yards and two scores of his own against LSU.

Below are the top five wide receiver performances from Week 4 of the college football season. These are judged through a combination of statistics, fantasy scoring, and game context, with consideration also given based on the team's offensive systems. Let's take a look at this week's top performances.

5.  Xavier Legette - South Carolina

For the second time this season, South Carolina's Xavier Legette finds himself on this list of the top five wide receiver performances. He made it in Week 1 when he had nine catches for 178 yards in a loss to North Carolina. Now, he's back after this week's showing against Mississippi State.

Legette caught five passes in this one, finishing with a season-high 189 yards and two touchdowns in the 37-30 win over Mississippi State. It marked the third 100-yard game this season for Legette. His worst game was against Georgia when he had a solid outing, catching seven passes for 71 yards.

The fifth-year senior is now up to 27 catches for 556 yards and three touchdowns. The first two things are already career highs. The touchdowns have tied his career high. It's been great to see a player who's stuck around so long as a role player for the Gamecocks get a chance to break out.

4. Josh Kelly - Washington State

Washington State's Josh Kelly was one of two wide receivers to score three touchdowns this week, with Toledo's Jerjuan Newton joining him. Newton caught just four passes for 72 yards though, while Kelly had eight receptions for 159 yards. It was part of a big day for the Cougars offense, led by the strong play of quarterback Cameron Ward.

Kelly now has five touchdown receptions this season, surpassing his previous career high from 2021 when he caught three scores while at Fresno State. He's cruising his way to the best season of his college career at this point. The move to Wazzu was a great fit for Kelly, who is exactly one yard behind Lincoln Victor for the team lead.

3. Bryce Kirtz - Northwestern

Northwestern came in as double-digit underdogs against Minnesota, but the Wildcats pulled off the 37-34 upset victory, with wide receiver Bryce Kirtz playing a key role in the victory. Kirtz finished Saturday's victory with 10 catches for 215 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Kirtz, a fourth-year player for the Wildcats, has already set career highs in receiving yards and touchdown receptions. In fact, if we erase his first two games of the year and look exclusively at his Week 4 performance, those facts would still be true. His previous season high in yardage came last year when he finished with 212 yards.

Will this end up just being a blip? Or is Kirtz going to turn into quarterback Ben Bryant's top weapon going forward? South Carolina's Xavier Legette has proven this year that a role player can break out late in his career. Can Kirtz follow that path?

2. Lideatrick Griffin - Mississippi State

Last week, Lideatrick Griffin caught four passes for just 16 yards in a loss to LSU, though he did add 24 rushing yards and a score. This week, the fourth-year receiver bounced back in a big way, as he caught seven passes for 256 yards and a touchdown.

This was the first time in Griffin's career that he's even surpassed 100 yards, much less 200. In fact, earlier this month when he caught five passes for 83 yards and two scores against Arizona, that was his previous best game in terms of yardage.

We've seen a lot of senior wideouts making big plays this season, especially in Week 4. Griffin had the best week out of all of them.

1. Naiem Simmons - South Florida

But the best week overall at wide receiver? It didn't come from someone in his fourth or fifth season with his current team. Instead, it came from an FCS transfer in his first season at the FBS level. Naiem Simmons played two seasons at Wagner before transferring to USF this offseason. Over the first three weeks of the season, he caught seven passes for 85 yards.

And then came the offensive shootout between South Florida and Rice on Saturday, with both teams throwing for over 400 yards. Rice's Luke McCaffrey deserves some attention here for what he did on the losing side, as he caught nine passes for 199 yards. McCaffrey, a quarterback early in his career, switched to wide receiver last year and has provided the Rice offense with a boost.

But it was Simmons who had the biggest showing on Saturday, catching eight passes for 273 yards and a touchdown. He was unstoppable in the contest. It's why he's got the No. 1 spot among Week 4 wide receiver performances.

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