With Travis Hunter, others off to NFL, who leads the Buffs’ new-look receiver room?
- Liam Howard
- Apr 8
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 10
The Colorado Buffaloes move into 2025 with a new-look offense, placing the spotlight on up-and-comers who will be moving into starting roles.
This is especially true for the wide receiver room, as the Buffs will lose Heisman Trophy and Biletnikoff Award winner Travis Hunter, Jimmy Horn Jr., Will Sheppard and LaJohntay Wester to the NFL.
Fresh faces are climbing the ranks, however, including young talent who shined in limited roles last season and incoming players from both the transfer portal and a talented recruiting class.
Here’s a look at six receivers who could lead the Buffaloes offense in 2025.
Drelon Miller
Miller came out of high school as a four-star recruit and the No. 17 wide receiver prospect in the class of 2024, per 247Sports. As a freshman this past season, he had the most receiving yards of any 2025 returner, recording 277 yards on 32 receptions and three touchdowns.
Miler was a consistent contributor to the offense, playing in all 13 games while starting three. He was the only freshman wideout to start a game for the Buffs in 2024.
His true breakout performance came in the Buffs’ Week 12 win over the Utah Utes. He amassed 108 yards on just six receptions while also hauling in a season-long 48-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter. Miller jumps off the screen as a violent runner after the catch who also displays great agility in his routes.
Ralphie Report compared him to two former Colorado standouts: former NFL first-round pick Mike Pritchard and first-team All-Pac 12 receiver Laviska Shenault Jr, as he brings Pritchard’s versatility with Shenault’s speed.
This comparison sums up his ability to make a difference on offense, and with his best years ahead of him, expect Miller to be a key leader in this receiving corps for 2025 and beyond.
Omarion Miller
Omarion, though of no relation to Drelon, is on a similar trajectory in the early days of his career.
Injuries hindered Miller from having a true breakout season in 2024, as he missed the last seven games with a lower leg injury. Before that, he was off to a great start, recording 216 yards and a touchdown on 10 receptions in two games. This included a 145-yard performance against Kansas State, second in his career to a 196-yard, one-touchdown performance against USC his freshman year that saw him win Pac-12 Player of the Week.
Miller will likely serve as the second option to Drelon this year, but if he’s able to stay healthy, he could take over the lead role.
“A tall, frame-y wideout with good size and plenty of available space to add mass and strengthen,” said Gabe Brooks of 247Sports of him out of high school. “Smooth, fluid athlete with a gliding open-field gait, but sneaky initial burst. Plays with adequate top-end speed. Good in the air and competitive in contested situations.”
A good comparison for Miller is his teammate, Will Sheppard, as they share a similar frame and impressive vertical leap. They also display similarities in their top speed and agility in their breaks. While not flashy, they both stand above average in those categories.
Joseph Williams
Williams, a transfer wideout from the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, was a rotational receiver as a freshman in 2024.
He recorded 588 yards on 30 receptions with five touchdowns in just seven games, including three straight 100-yard performances against the South Florida Bulls, East Carolina Pirates, and UAB Blazers. Against East Carolina, he recorded a whopping 158 yards and three touchdowns on just five receptions, good for 31.6 yards per catch.
The former three-star recruit from Arlington, Texas, has already shown his ability to be a lead receiver at the FBS level. His speed jumps off the film, displaying breakaway ability in the open field and agility in his routes. He’s also shown he can adjust his body to make contested catches, and with his height, this makes him a serious deep threat to defenses.
A good comparison for him is former Texas Longhorns wide receiver Matthew Golden, who has a slightly shorter frame but displayed similar top-end speed and ability to adjust to the ball in the air.
Williams could easily emerge as a breakout receiver as Buffs fans saw with fellow group-of-five transfer LaJohntay Wester if he can adjust to the tougher competition in the Big 12.
Kam Mikell
Mikell will be entering his redshirt freshman season after spending 2024 battling various injuries. Mikell had a lot of hype out of high school, as he was listed as a four-star recruit (247Sports) and the No. 2 athlete in the country before deciding on receiver in his freshman year.
Mikell is a lanky receiver with incredible speed. As a senior in high school, he ran a 4.61 40-yard dash, which was among the fastest times at the 2023 National Scouting Combine.
He also displayed great versatility in his high school days as a three-sport athlete, running track and playing basketball during the football offseason. He even captured third place in the 100-meter dash as a sophomore at Georgia’s 6A state championship.
On the gridiron, he played as a cornerback, running back and quarterback and was stated as having “NFL upside” by 247Sports’ Andrew Ivins.
He compares well to former Alabama Crimson Tide receiver Devonta Smith, using his incredible speed and lanky frame to achieve excellent positioning in his routes. Additionally, Mikell finds success in the slot and jet sweep formations but also has the ability to move to the outside if needed.
Staying healthy will be Mikell's paramount concern in 2025, but if he can, the Buffaloes could have an emergent star on their hands.
Adrian Wilson
Wilson was the highest-rated receiver in the Buffaloes’ latest recruiting class, graded by 247Sports as a four-star recruit and the No. 45 receiver in the class of 2025.
He’s a similarly-built receiver to Mikell with a lanky frame and high-end speed, something he displayed at Weiss High School in Pflugerville, Texas. He had a breakout senior season, recording 1,003 yards on 60 receptions with 14 touchdowns.
NFL success runs in his family. His older cousin, Tyree Wilson, was a standout defensive end at Texas Tech and selected No. 7 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Unlike Mikell, Wilson primarily saw his success as an outside receiver in high school, establishing himself as a threat in the red zone.
Despite his smaller stature, he was described by On3’s Charles Power as a “bouncy outside receiver with a large catch radius and some of the better ball skills in the 2025 cycle.”
These traits allow Wilson to have success without necessarily having to dominate opposing cornerbacks physically. A good comparison for him would be former Houston Cougars and current Houston Texans wideout Tank Dell.
Despite playing in the slot more than Wilson, Dell creates a large catch radius in a similar way to Wilson. He was also a lethal red zone threat in his time with the Cougars, leading the country with 17 touchdown receptions in 2022.
Quanell X Farrakhan Jr.
Farrakhan Jr. was the second of Colorado’s two four-star receivers in its 2025 recruiting class. He was listed as the No. 47 receiver in the class out of North Shore High School in Houston, Texas, and chose the Buffaloes over the likes of Alabama, UCLA, Arkansas and Arizona State.
Farrakhan stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 185 pounds, presenting great potential as a physical slot receiver.
“Consistent hands catcher who's spatially aware of defenders and the boundary and flashes body control acumen in the air.” Brooks described. “He flashes some speed-changing nuance that enhances route-running ability and run-after-catch effectiveness, which also derives in part from sneaky wiry strength and contact balance.”
A college comparison for Farrakhan is former Clemson Tigers wideout Amari Rodgers, who had a slightly shorter frame but a similar build.
Rodgers was gifted in both the slot and as an outside receiver with the same type of speed control in his routes and run-after-catch. Rodgers became successful with this skillset for the Tigers, amassing 1,020 yards and seven touchdowns in 2020 before being selected in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
This youthful receiving group has the Buffaloes in a secure situation for many years to come, with each of them receiving “pro potential” praise from scouts. They provide a solid foundation for the offense to be built around, and as they grow in experience, fans will likely see some stars born in Boulder in the not-so-distant future.
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