Auburn Tigers 2015 NFL Draft Prospect Sammie Coates

Sammie Coates, Wide Receiver

Sammie was one of the most electric players on the Auburn Tigers football team over the past two seasons. He gave Tigers fans great highlights such as his tossing of a Texas A&M defender to the ground, his burst of speed on the tunnel screen in the same game, the pure-strength of his catch and touchdown against LSU, and other memories. SB Nation projects Sammie will go to the New England Patriots with the 64th pick.

By The Numbers

Stats

His stats weren't as high in 2014 due to the addition of Duke Williams and an injury that limited him in a few early season games, but he still put up some pretty good numbers.

We can all agree to ignore 2012, right? For one, he was a redshirt freshman. For another, it's not like the offense was anything spectacular capable of utilizing Sammie's abilities.

2013 is where Sammie burst onto the scene. It happened early, with a 68 yard touchdown reception from Nick Marshall. He did not play in the Western Carolina game, which is almost a shame since Jeremy Johnson started that game. If you look at one of his best games of the season, it's against Florida Atlantic, where he had a 67 yard touchdown reception to go along with a shorter one. Jeremy to Sammie is just a beautiful thought that we'll never really see.

In 2014, he missed the San Jose State game, and was very limited against Kansas State and Louisiana Tech. He was thrown to in the Arkansas game on what could have been a deep bomb touchdown pass, but the connection wasn't made. I believe that was the play he was injured on, as well. He had a big game in his first game back against LSU, but the highlight of the season for Sammie was the 5 receptions, 206 yards, and 2 touchdowns performance against Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Those would be Iron Bowl records if it weren't for Amari Cooper's night.

Measureables

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Sammie's speed wasn't quite what everyone expected it would be in the 40 yard dash, but his other numbers were still good. His bench press numbers were very impressive. He tied with Kevin White of West Virginia and Geremy Davis of UCONN for the most reps by a wideout. He tied for fourth highest vertical jump, was third in the broad jump, and second in the 20 yard shuttle. He may not be the most physically gifted athlete at the wide receiver position, but he's close.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strength

His overall physicality. If he's in a fight with a DB for the ball, my money is on Sammie. His bench press reps show his arm strength. His speed wasn't the best, but it was still tied for 11th best among wideouts in the 40 yard dash. Maybe Sammie isn't the fastest straight-line receiver when it comes to running the 40 in the draft, but I'd put him up against almost anyone in pads on the football field. He will burn your DBs deep, and if the ball is put in the sweet spot, Sammie is going to come down with it.

Weakness

Catching the football. Sammie has had some issues with catching what appear to be some of the more routine catches. I'm no expert on football (I've admitted my lack of knowledge plenty of times), so I really don't know what the reasons for that are. It also seemed to me like he was often hesitant to lay out for balls that were just out of reach. CBSSports.com says he's a "work in progress" who needs to work on pass catching and some of his route work. I'll trust to the experts on that.

Highlights

Do we really need anything more than this?

Ok, let's watch some more.

The NFL Draft begins Thursday, 30 April 2015, at 8pm EST / 7pm CDT. Auburn isn't projected to have a 1st round pick this season, but Sammie is the best bet.