Gators Land 2 on ESPN's All-Time Wide Receiver List, Should it be More?

Steve Spurrier and the Florida Gators revolutionized the way the SEC played football. The 1992 Alabama Crimson Tide team may have been the last vestiges of old-school football in the conference as Spurrier and his teams put up pinball numbers in the 1990's.

With so many great players to choose from, it was hard for ESPN columnist Bill Connelly to choose from an entire pool of college football players, let alone the Gators, when he put together his list of the top 60 wide receivers in college football for the last 50 years.

First, let's start with what I believe was a glaring omission. I first scrolled through the list to find the Gators, and there were just two. So, immediately one thinks, "Who was left out?"

Percy Harvin. Harvin was definitely left out. But to his credit, Connelly addressed Harvin right at the beginning.

"Others like Florida's Percy Harvin and Notre Dame's Rocket Ismail didn't make it because they were more RBs than WRs -- both ended with more career rushes than receptions,"

You can see his point of view, even if you don't agree with it.

No. 32 Wes Chandler

Former Florida Gator Wes Chandler was All-Pro with the San Diego Chargers in 1982. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The first former Gator we come to is Wes Chandler. Chandler wasn't part of the Spurrier era, and that may have actually helped his case. To be dominant on a run-based team got Connelly's attention.

"How good did a receiver have to be to earn Heisman votes from a run-heavy offense in the 1970s? Well, Chandler was that good. He caught 44 balls for 967 yards and 10 scores as a junior before finishing 10th in the Heisman voting (and going third in the draft) as a senior," Connelly wrote.

Chandler was drafted No. 3 overall by the New Orleans Saints. After suffering through what the Saints were in the 70's, Chandler found a new lease on life with Dan Fouts, the San Diego Charger, and Air Coryell.

He had 6,132 yards and 41 touchdowns in seven seasons with the Chargers, made three Pro Bowls (when that actually mattered) and weas first team All-Pro in 1982.

No. 16 Reidel Anthony

Florida Gators wide receivers Jacquez Green and Reidel Anthony were part of a lethal passing attack. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

It might seem a little unfair to pick just one of Spurrier's receivers, but that's the way Connelly went when he picked Reidel Anthony No. 16 overall.

"It's hard to know what to do with the bounty of great receivers Florida produced under Steve Spurrier in the 1990s. From 1995-2001, eight different Gators WRs recorded 1,000-yard seasons, and only one did it twice. Nobody, therefore, had standout career numbers. But of those eight receivers, nobody was as frightening as Anthony in 1996. He averaged 18 yards per catch with an SEC-record (at the time) 18 touchdowns for Spurrier's lone national title team," wrote Connelly.

Looking at the list of Florida's receivers, it's hard to believe just two made the list. We already wrote our opinion on Harvin. Jabar Gaffney was frightening in his own right. Bubba Caldwell might not have been as flashy, but he had the production.

Ike Hilliard getting overlooked feels like a slight. It seemed every catch Chris Doering made was either a first down or a touchdown (Florida's All-Time leader with 31 touchdowns).

At the end of the day, no list like this is ever going to be right (Randy Moss finished No. 1), and the track record of Gator receivers speaks for itself.

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