KJ Duff led the entire country in contested catches. At 6-6, he's a jump-ball most defensive backs simply can't reach -- and a projected first-round pick who chose to stay at Rutgers as its undisputed No. 1.
6′6″ · 225 lb · Riverhead, NY · St. Anthony's
CFB Index
A single number blending on-field production (an EPA-based value lane) with box-score output for this player's position.
0-100, scaled within each position's own cohort — not directly comparable across positions.
On production he ranks #19 of 485 WRs; on reputation he is on a national watch list. The gap between those two numbers is the story.
The numbers
receiving yards · 2026 · through week 3
3 games into 2026 so far
Career night9 rec · 196 yds · 3 TDvs Massachusetts (FBS) · L 21-37
Top 1% receiving yards game since 2021.
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
KJ Duff led the entire country in contested catches. At 6-6, he's a jump-ball most defensive backs simply can't reach -- and a projected first-round pick who chose to stay at Rutgers as its undisputed No. 1.
Buzz vs Tape
His own fans read him warmer than the wider college football conversation does — a gap of 24.3 points in belief.
Sheffield has certainly lived up to his hype so far. Great receiver. Hoping he can keep it going to improve his draft stock because he certainly knows how to run routes. KJ Duff is going to be a 1-3 round pick in another year or two as…
Also worth knowing:
“i feel like if rutgers' offense just forced the ball to kj duff every down theyd probably be kinda decent”
At 6-6 and 225 pounds, Duff is a matchup problem by construction, and 2025 made it official: 60 catches, 1,084 yards, seven touchdowns, second-team All-Big Ten, and a nation-leading 22 contested catches -- the receiver who wins the throw nobody else can. PFF slots him inside its top 20 on the 2027 draft board, the kind of grade that usually leaves school. He stayed. The forward stakes are personal and programmatic: he's a single big year from the Rutgers receiving record and a strong season from cementing first-round status. For a receiver who already owns the contested-catch crown, 2026 is about adding the rest -- and being the player a Big Ten defense has to account for on every snap.
His career
He arrived as a blue-chip recruit and played like one.
Duff wins where size wins -- above the rim and through contact. The defining number is the one he led the nation in: 22 contested catches, the climb-the-ladder, box-out trait of a true jump-ball receiver at 6-6, 225. Our play-by-play frames the rest honestly: a good (97th-percentile) yards-per-catch and explosive rate, with a more modest catch rate (36th percentile) -- the natural cost of a target who lives on the hardest, most contested throws rather than the easy ones. He's not a separation-by-quickness slot; he's the back-shoulder, red-zone, win-the-50-50 weapon. For a quarterback, he's the answer to "what do I do on third-and-long" -- throw it up and let the big man go get it.
Written by our staff.
Career arc
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-AMERICA
All-America honors (2026)
1 mentions across the selector pool
ALL-BIG TEN · 2ND TEAM
All-Big Ten 2nd team (2025)
Badges
Coaching lineage · 2024–2026
1 coachPlayed his entire career under Greg Schiano.
Game by game
Point color shows the opponent's defensive strength that week (red = weaker defense, blue = stronger) — dashed line is this player's own season average.
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 3 games
| Wk | Opp | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 21-37vs Massachusetts | 9 | 196 | 21.8 | 3 | 78 | Season-high 196 yds |
| Wk 2 | L 21-28@ Boston College | 8 | 137 | 17.1 | 2 | 60 | 2 TD catches |
| Wk 3 | L 35-42vs USC | 7 | 86 | 12.3 | 1 | 20 | |
| Total | 24 | 419 | 17.1 | 6 | 78 |
Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|
The plays that mattered most
Since week 2: +86 receiving yards, +7 catches, +1 receiving TD.
Season context · Team result + system
3 seasons under Greg Schiano — 12-16 over that span.
Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort
Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles
Elite: epa / target (95th percentile). Strength: yards / catch (89th percentile). Concern: catch rate (28th percentile).
Real play-by-play efficiency
Season trend
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).
Receiver profile · Targets, catch rate, and throw depth
How often he's targeted, and how well it works
Targets
3943% of team targetsCatch rate
62%24 of 39 targetsShort · 0–9 air yds
Middle · 10–19 air yds
Deep · 20+ air yds
62% catch rate on 39 targets · 43% of the team's targets · 38% catch rate on 8 deep targets (20+ air yds).
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 3 games
Home vs Road
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home2g | 8.0 | 141 | 17.1 | 2.0 |
| Road1g | 8.0 | 137 | 17.1 | 2.0 |
First half vs Second half
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-73g | 8.0 | 140 | 17.1 | 2.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Greg Schiano
Pass share
51.3%
102 pass / 97 run
Plays / game
66.3
3 games
Team sack rate
7.8%
115 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2026
In the All-America conversation, short of a selector's first team.
Recognition
2026 outlook
In the mix to repeat All-Big Ten
Based on 2025: #4 of 61 Big Ten WRs
35% estimated, 95% confidence interval 31–38%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.
Selector Grid · 2026
Play style
Duff wins where size wins -- above the rim and through contact. The defining number is the one he led the nation in: 22 contested catches, the climb-the-ladder, box-out trait of a true jump-ball receiver at 6-6, 225. Our play-by-play frames the rest honestly: a good (97th-percentile) yards-per-catch and explosive rate, with a more modest catch rate (36th percentile) -- the natural cost of a target who lives on the hardest, most contested throws rather than the easy ones. He's not a separation-by-quickness slot; he's the back-shoulder, red-zone, win-the-50-50 weapon. For a quarterback, he's the answer to "what do I do on third-and-long" -- throw it up and let the big man go get it.
Our classifier reads him the same way: beats you over the top.
Player DNA
Stretches the field vertically. Every snap is a potential big play.
His 2026 production profile sits closest to Tetairoa Mcmillan’s 2024 season.
Matches Tetairoa on
Differs from Tetairoa on
Through 3 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to BJ Wuest’s path through Indiana State.
Matches BJ on
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Noah Thomas's junior season at Texas A&M (2024).
Matches Noah on
Differs from Noah on
Player DNA
2026 Walter Camp Player of Year Watch List 2026 Biletnikoff Award Watch List 2026 Big Ten Preseason Honors List 2025-26 Bauer Athlete of the Year 2025-26 Athletic Director’s Excellence Award 2025 Honorable Mention All-America (Phil Steele) 2025 Second Team All-Big Ten (Coaches, Media,…
10 more on the roster · Rutgers team page