Cole Keller

TE · James Madison · R-Sr.

6′4″ · 250 lb · Grain Valley, MO

He has 5 touchdown catches, tied for 2nd among FBS tight ends.

Worth knowing

Cole Keller has 36.5 receiving yards a game at home, 48.5 on the road.

His biggest play this season

Q1, 11:04 · James Madison tiedCamden Coleman finds Cole Keller for a 3-yard touchdownJames Madison at Old Dominion, week 4Q1, 11:04 · James Madison 7, Old Dominion 0James Madison opened the scoringJames Madison opened the scoringC.Coleman pass complete short right to C.Keller caught at ODU02, for 3 yards to the ODU00 touchdown, 1ST DOWN, kick goodWatch from this play Sun Belt Conference

All 4 of his plays on video

Cole Keller

TE · James Madison

Filling the Shoesas of 2026-10-24

Cole Keller steps into Lakota Dippre's shoes — the gap is the story.

340REC YDS20REC5REC TD

TEAM RECEIVING YARDS LEADER

340

Team leader in receiving yards (340).

Read the story so far

He lines up at TE for James Madison.

On the field, the headline is 340 rec yds, with 20 rec.

He inherited the TE job from Lakota Dippre.

The number to watch: 340 — team receiving yards leader.

TE successionleap of faith

Inherited fromLakota Dippre

AI-generated narrative · may contain errors · not journalism · updated 2026-10-24

How he plays

Play style

Creates mismatches lined up all over the formation.

Players he’s like

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Austin TraylorWisconsin · 2015 · 75% season match
Garrett GriffinAir Force · 2015 · 72% season match
Micky CrumLouisville · 2015 · 72% season match
Cheyenne O'GradyArkansas · 2018 · 69% season match
Collin ReedApp State · 2018 · 68% season match

How he played

Against App State on Oct. 22: 2 catches for 25 yards. In the 8 games drawn here: 20 catches for 340 yards. James Madison has thrown to him 25 times in 247 passes.

First quarterSecond quarterThird quarterFourth quarter

L 31-34 at App State2 catches, 25 yds, 1 TD
W 49-22 vs Georgia State2 catches, 54 yds
W 27-24 at Georgia Southern4 catches, 108 yds, 1 TD
W 45-17 vs Marshall3 catches, 35 yds
W 46-20 at Old Dominion3 catches, 21 yds, 1 TD
W 26-13 at San Diego State3 catches, 40 yds, 2 TD
W 87-3 vs Wagner2 catches, 27 yds
W 20-13 vs Liberty1 catch, 30 yds

a catch, by its yardsa touchdownthrown to him, incomplete

Each game is split into its four quarters, so the columns line up from game to game; inside a quarter, plays keep their order. Third and fourth downs are marked under the line, bold when he moved the chains.

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2026	James Madison	20	340	17.0	5
Career		20	340	17.0	5

Last game (Wk 8): 25 receiving yards, 2 catches, 1 receiving TD.

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2026 season · 8 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 20-13vs Liberty	1	30	30.0	0	30
Wk 2	W 87-3vs Wagner	2	27	13.5	0	15
Wk 3	W 26-13@ San Diego State	3	40	13.3	2	20	2 TD catches
Wk 4	W 46-20@ Old Dominion	3	21	7.0	1	11
Wk 5	W 45-17vs Marshall	3	35	11.7	0	25
Wk 6	W 27-24@ Georgia Southern	4	108	27.0	1	57	Season-high 108 yds
Wk 7	W 49-22vs Georgia State	2	54	27.0	0	41
Wk 8	L 31-34@ App State	2	25	12.5	1	19
Total		20	340	17.0	5	57

Signature game

Week 6 · 2026

W 27-24

at Georgia Southern

4 rec · 108 yds · 1 TD

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 3 on the road.

With P. Rea — 42 yards per punt · 4 punts · 1 inside the 20 · G. Pettaway — 151 rush yds (21 car) · 2 rec · 13 yds

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 6 · Georgia Southern · 4th and 1 · Q3 · EPA +6.37Evans to Keller: a 57-yard touchdown pass.
Week 7 · Georgia State · 2nd and 13 · Q2 · EPA +3.64Evans to Keller: a 41-yard pass.
Week 6 · Georgia Southern · 3rd and 11 · Q4 · EPA +3.43Coleman to Keller: a 21-yard pass.
Week 1 · Liberty · 2nd and 9 · Q2 · EPA +3.14J.Evans pass complete deep middle to C.Keller caught at LU 41, for 30 yards to the LU 34 (D.Hopkins)
Week 8 · App State · 2nd and 8 · Q3 · EPA +2.84Coleman to Keller: a 19-yard touchdown pass.
Week 6 · Georgia Southern · 2nd and 7 · Q4 · EPA +2.70Coleman to Keller: a 27-yard pass.

4 more plays

Week 4 · Old Dominion · 3rd and 3 · Q1 · EPA +2.62Coleman to Keller: a 3-yard touchdown pass.
Week 2 · Wagner · 3rd and 7 · Q1 · EPA +2.62Coleman to Keller: a 12-yard pass.
Week 3 · San Diego State · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.62Coleman to Keller: a 20-yard touchdown pass.
Week 3 · San Diego State · 2nd and 7 · Q2 · EPA +2.61Coleman to Keller: a 7-yard touchdown pass.

Where he ranks

Rec yards3407thAmong 82 tight ends with 12 or more catches

Receptions20tied for 31stAmong 82 tight ends with 12 or more catches

Yards / catch17.04thAmong 82 tight ends with 12 or more catches

Rec TDs5tied for 3rdAmong 82 tight ends with 12 or more catches

Long catch57tied for 9thAmong 82 tight ends with 12 or more catches

128th in receiving yards, among all 1,995 FBS players with a receiving row this season, any position

Receiving yards34010th in the Sun Belt this season.

Receiving touchdowns5tied for 2nd in the Sun Belt this season.

Conference ranks count every player in the conference with a row in that stat, any position. Career ranks count current FBS players, from the games in our log.

Who he played, by opponent strength

Ratings of the games shown run from -13 to +8 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).

Receiving profile

Receiver profile · Targets, catch rate, and throw depth

How often he's targeted, and how well it works

20 rec · 340 yds · 5 TD

20 of 20 receptions matched to play-by-play

25 of 25 targets charted for true throw depth

Targets

2510% of team targets

Catch rate

80%20 of 25 targets

Behind LOS · Negative air yds

4% of targets (1)

100%catch rate

Air -1.0 · YAC 16.0 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

48% of targets (12)

92%catch rate

Air 3.1 · YAC 6.7 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

32% of targets (8)

62%catch rate

Air 14.0 · YAC 5.4 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

16% of targets (4)

75%catch rate

Air 23.0 · YAC 19.7 avg

80% catch rate on 25 targets · 10% of the team's targets.

Teams and coaches

2026James Madison7-1HC: Billy Napier · Run-leaning

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 77 (#7 of 122). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

77All-Conference level #7 of 122?

10 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: td rate (100th percentile). Strength: epa / target (100th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

TD rate#1 / 439 · 100th pct

20.0%

EPA / target#2 / 439 · 100th pct

1.34

Explosive rate#10 / 439 · 98th pct

28.0%

Catch rate#31 / 439 · 92nd pct

80.0%

Yards / catch#54 / 439 · 88th pct

17.0

Box-score rates (5)

Rec TDs#3 / 82 · 96th pct

Yards / catch#4 / 82 · 96th pct

17.0

Rec yards#7 / 82 · 92nd pct

340

Long catch#9 / 82 · 89th pct

Receptions#31 / 82 · 62nd pct

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

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2026 season · 8 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home4g	2.0	36.5	20.6	0.0
Road4g	3.0	48.5	14.9	1.2

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	2.6	45.0	18.5	0.6
Weeks 8+1g	2.0	25.0	12.5	1.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Billy Napier

Pass share

45.5%

248 pass / 297 run

Plays / game

68.1

8 games

Team sack rate

3.0%

267 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning.

Awards

Player standing · 2026

20 catches in 8 games

About as many catches a game as a typical FBS tight end who plays every week.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

77 · #7 of 122 TEs

Cole Keller

This week

Worth knowing

His biggest play this season

How he plays

Players he’s like

How he played

Career stats

Game log

Signature game

Signature plays

Where he ranks

Receiving profile

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Awards

20 catches in 8 games

What fans said

In the game threads

Named in

Where to follow him

Two seasons, two schools

This week

Worth knowing

His biggest play this season

13% of the catches, 17% of the yards, 24% of the touchdowns

His share of the team's receiving yards, game by game

Who caught the team's passes

How he plays

Players he’s like

How he played

Career stats

Game log

Signature game

Signature plays

Where he ranks

Receiving profile

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Awards

20 catches in 8 games

What fans said

In the game threads

Named in

Where to follow him

Two seasons, two schools