#80

Kaleb Smith

Senior wide receiver for Virginia Tech. 2022: 37 catches, 674 receiving yards, 3 TD.

WR · Virginia Tech · Sr. · #80

6′2″ · 222 lb · Bumpass, VA

CFB Index 57 · #151 of 488 WRsHigh confidenceVirginia Tech 2022 alumnus

The story

4 wide receiver for Virginia Tech. 2022: 37 catches, 674 receiving yards, 3 TD.

The record fills in as he plays.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Four seasons at Virginia Tech, 1,145 receiving yards — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

The week the volume broke through — put up 152 yds at Pittsburgh.Pittsburgh · L 29-452022

Career arc

Recruit

—

No recruit profile

CFB

College

Virginia Tech

2019–2022

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2019–2022

3 coaches

2019–2020

Justin Fuente

Virginia Tech

2021

J.C. Price

Virginia Tech

era →

2022

Brent Pry

Virginia Tech

era →

Played under 3 different head coaches: Justin Fuente, J.C. Price, and Brent Pry. Multi-era developmental context.

2022 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2019Virginia Tech8-5HC: Justin Fuente · Run-heavy

2020Virginia Tech5-6HC: Justin Fuente · Run-heavy

2021Virginia Tech6-7HC: J.C. Price · Run-heavy

2022Virginia Tech3-8HC: Brent Pry · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

57Quality starter #151 of 488?

High confidence11 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: yards / catch (94th percentile). Strength: explosive rate (86th percentile). Concern: catch rate (21st percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / catch#39 / 636 · 94th pct

17.4

Explosive rate#89 / 636 · 86th pct

21.6%

EPA / target#189 / 636 · 70th pct

0.84

TD rate#337 / 636 · 47th pct

5.9%

Catch rate#503 / 636 · 21st pct

68.6%

Box-score rates (6)

Long catch#8 / 550 · 99th pct

Yards / catch#39 / 550 · 93rd pct

18.2

Rec yards#119 / 550 · 78th pct

674

Receptions#213 / 550 · 60th pct

Rec TDs#216 / 550 · 54th pct

Fumbles lost#71 / 223 · 41st pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

92nd → 70th percentile

Explosive rate

71st → 86th percentile

Catch rate

48th → 21st percentile

TD rate

68th → 47th percentile

Yards / catch

63rd → 94th percentile

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 & context

Splits · Per-game

2022 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home5g	3.4	52.0	15.4	0.4
Road6g	3.3	69.0	20.4	0.2

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	4.0	61.1	15.1	0.3
Weeks 8+4g	2.2	61.5	23.4	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

James Franklin

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2022

Rotational

Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

57 · #151 of 488 WRs

Career stats

Season	Team
2022	Virginia Tech	37	674	18.2	3	--
2021	Virginia Tech	20	260	13.0	2	--
2020	Virginia Tech	8	90	11.2	1	--
2019	Virginia Tech	9	121	13.4	1	--
Career		74	1,145	15.5	7	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 3 · 2022

W 27–7

vs Wofford

2 rec · 36 yds

With G. Wells — 314 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 66.9 · -3 rush yds (4 car) · P. Moore — 47 AVG · 3 IN 20 · 58 LONG

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 9 · NC State · 1&15 · Q3 · EPA +6.98Kaleb Smith 85 Yd pass from Grant Wells (William Ross Kick)
Week 9 · NC State · 2&16 · Q3 · EPA +4.33Grant Wells pass complete to Kaleb Smith for 50 yds to the NCSt 21 for a 1ST down
Week 2 · Boston College · 2&10 · Q3 · EPA +3.91Grant Wells pass complete to Kaleb Smith for 43 yds to the BC 35 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Pittsburgh · 2&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.35Grant Wells pass complete to Kaleb Smith for 30 yds to the Pitt 38 for a 1ST down
Week 4 · West Virginia · 2&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.28Grant Wells pass complete to Kaleb Smith for 28 yds for a TD, (William Ross KICK)
Week 6 · Pittsburgh · 2&8 · Q3 · EPA +2.92Grant Wells pass complete to Kaleb Smith for 11 yds to the Pitt 38 for a 1ST down PITTSBURGH Penalty, Roughing the Passer on WILTZ, Tylar enforced (Tylar Wiltz) to the Pitt 47 for a 1ST down
Week 2 · Boston College · 3&2 · Q3 · EPA +2.54Kaleb Smith 2 Yd pass from Grant Wells (William Ross Kick)
Week 4 · West Virginia · 3&8 · Q1 · EPA +2.41Grant Wells pass complete to Kaleb Smith for 8 yds to the VTech 46 for a 1ST down
Week 4 · West Virginia · 3&2 · Q1 · EPA +2.37Grant Wells pass complete to Kaleb Smith for 17 yds to the WVirg 40 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Old Dominion · 2&4 · Q1 · EPA +2.31Grant Wells pass complete to Kaleb Smith for 39 yds to the ODU 21 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2022 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	L 17-20@ Old Dominion	3	45	15.0	0	39
Wk 2	W 27-10vs Boston College	3	50	16.7	1	43
Wk 3	W 27-7vs Wofford	2	36	18.0	0	19
Wk 4	L 10-33vs West Virginia	5	70	14.0	1	28
Wk 5	L 10-41@ North Carolina	3	49	16.3	0	34
Wk 6	L 29-45@ Pittsburgh	9	152	16.9	0	37	Season-high 152 yds
Wk 7	L 14-20vs Miami	3	26	8.7	0	10
Wk 9	L 21-22@ NC State	3	141	47.0	1	85	141-yard receiving day
Wk 10	L 27-28vs Georgia Tech	4	78	19.5	0	26
Wk 11	L 7-24@ Duke	1	22	22.0	0	22
Wk 12	W 23-22@ Liberty	1	5	5.0	0	5
Total		37	674	18.1	3	85

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

Kaleb Smith

2022 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Rotational

Career stats

Signature game

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Deep Threat

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