San Diego State player added to Biletnikoff Award Watch List

Jordan Napier is first Aztec receiver to be recognized since 2014

Oct 3, 2025; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego State Aztecs wide receiver Jordan Napier (2). | David Frerker-Imagn Images

San Diego State sophomore wideout Jordan Napier has been added to the 2025 Biletnikoff Award Watch list, which each year recognizes college football’s outstanding FBS receiver, regardless of position. 

Napier is the first Aztecs player to make the Biletnikoff Award Watch List since Ezell Ruffin made the preseason list in 2014 after landing on the midseason watch list in 2013. 

Overall, Napier is the sixth SDSU player to make a Biletnikoff Award Watch List, joining J.R. Tolver and Kassim Osgood in 2002, Vincent Brown in 2009 and 2010, Colin Lockett in 2011 and 2012, and Ruffin in 2013 and 2014. Both Tolver (2002) and Brown (2009) were semifinalists for the prestigious award.

Napier is on a roll

Napier has gained notice on offense and special teams with big performances as the Aztecs have hit their stride in the last two games, a 45-24 home win against Colorado State in the Mountain West opener and then a 44-10 win at Nevada, in which they took a 44-0 lead.

Napier had seven catches for 153 yards, including a 42-yard touchdown catch, against Colorado State, and then five catches for 110 yards against Nevada.

His longest play of the year was an 80-yard catch-and-run that set up his 6-yard catch for the first score in a 34-0 blowout win against California on Sept. 20. 

San Diego State Aztecs wide receiver Jordan Napier (2). | Photo courtesy of San Diego State University Athletics

Additionally, Napier got the blowout at Nevada rolling with a 75-yard punt return for a touchdown 59 seconds into the game. 

Overall, he has 37 catches for 553 yards, an average of 14.9 yards, and two touchdowns. Napier is ranked eighth in the country in receiving yards (553) and receiving yards per game (92.2), 15th in total receptions (37) and 18th in receptions per game (6.17). Since Sept. 18, Napier ranks third in the country in yards (466) and fourth in receptions (27). 

On special teams, he’s returned 16 punts for 162 yards (10.1-yard average) with the 75-yard touchdown, and returned two kickoffs for 33 yards (16.5-yard average). 

San Diego State Aztecs wide receiver Jordan Napier. | Photo courtesy of San Diego State University Athletics

Napier is also 10th in the country in all-purpose yards per game (130.0) and 26th in punt return average (10.1), and is one of only 28 players with a punt return touchdown this year.

The Biletnikoff Award

Napier was added along with Hank Beatty of Illinois and Camden Brown of Georgia Southern. The preseason watch list was announced on Aug. 6. The semifinalists will be released on Nov. 17 and the finalists on Nov. 25, with the winner scheduled to be announced at the Home Depot College Football Awards show on Dec. 11. 

The Biletnikoff Award Banquet & Celebration is set for March 28 at the basketball arena at Donald L. Tucker Civic Center in Tallahassee, Florida.

Up next

The Aztecs (5-1, 2-0 MW) have their second bye this week and return to action at Fresno State on Oct. 25. They’re off to their best start since starting 7-0 in 2021 en route to winning a school-record 12 games.