Mean Green's 'FUN SIZED' Slot Receiver is Must Watch TV in 2025
Chad Morris had a star at Texas Tech via Jakeem Grant, who caught 90 passes at 5'6 inches tall and 170 pounds in 2015. Now, Morris appears to have found another similarly sized commodity.
I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion.
- John Steinbeck, writer
Spurned on by a disappointing campaign in the Golden Pig Invitational league last season, I got to work extra early this offseason in preparing my que for this upcoming year’s draft. Upon doing my research, I stumbled upon a familiar name that I did not immediately recognize as being familiar. We’ll get into this momentarily.
There is a rich history of CFF excellence at the WR position in the North Texas program. Experienced CFF wisemen may recall Jaelon Darden’s ridiculous 2020 campaign, where he secured 74 receptions, 1190 yards and a jaw-dropping 19 scores in only nine games. That was following a year where Darden averaged a score per game in 2019.
In fact, since 2018 there has been a receiver who’s scored double digit TDs with the Mean Green every single season except 2021.
This offseason, they lose two of their top receivers from a year ago. Slot receiver DT Sheffield led the team with 66 receptions, 822 yards and 11 scores. He transferred to Rutgers. Damon Ward’s eligibility expired, so he too moved on. That leaves Landon Sides as the top returning receiver.
However, there is another notable name that I want to highlight today. A player who created some buzz on twitter when he committed due to his size listed at 5’6, 160 pounds. That is rising sophomore Miles Coleman, from Austin, TX.
In high school, Coleman played for one of the best programs in Austin at Vandegrift High. There, he competed in track and field and registered several sub 11 second 100M times (10.59 was his personal best). He competed in Texas 6A regionals in both running and long jumping events.
This kid is a freak athlete at a very small size. More importantly, in the final three games of UNT’s season, the true freshman Coleman saw targets of seven, 10, and nine to close the year.
That span included a gnarly six reception, 104 and one score game vs. Texas State in a bowl game where DT Sheffield did not play. Damon Ward and Landon Sides did play, however.
In PPR formats, he scored 12.5, 10, and 22 points over those three games. And, a player of this stature dominating the stat sheet is not unfamiliar territory for head coach Eric Morris (more on this in the C&S section).
Now, I will save the reader the trouble here if you don’t have time to consume this whole article and deliver to you the most important pieces of information that you need to know: 1) my sources have confirmed that Coleman has been granted the #1 jersey number for 2025 and 2) upon digging around his instagram he does in fact have at least one photo of a 7-ELEVEN, a corner store chain known for being open (virtually) all of the time.
7-ELEVEN is also known for selling cheap items that could be of value to you, and so naturally there is a CFF analogy here with Coleman being an under the radar gem. I mean, this guy’s got it all mapped out, and I am just now piecing it together…
I also respect the hustle by Mr. Michael202milla in the comment section and appreciate his opening quote:
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
Evidently the Lord works in mysterious ways and this message was well received after a poor 10th(!) place finish in the Golden Pig 2024 League from yours truly. Yes, it’s true. A shocking performance to say the least.
However, it’s potentially through players like Miles Coleman in which we can dig ourselves out of this hole and put forth a better effort in 2025. So without further ado, let’s dive into the details of what makes this profile intriguing.
Coaching & System
WR1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 14 — OC: 16.21 (half ppr)
As mentioned above, there’s been a good history at the WR position in this program, but a lot of that occurred under different staffs. As for the current group, Eric Morris is the head coach and he & his OC Jordan Davis have been with UNT since 2023. Morris was the OC at Wazzou the year prior and Davis was an analyst.
Morris coached at the FCS program Incarnate Word (IW) from 2018 to 2021. Of the three full seasons he spent at IW (excluding the COVID season), only one season provided a 1000-yard receiver: 5’11 188 pound slot receiver Taylor Grimes.
Prior to his first head coaching role, Morris was the OC at Texas Tech from 2013 to 2017. He also coached inside WRs from 2015-2017.
When you look at those Texas Tech teams, there was a clear preference to the slot receiver in the offence: 5’11, 180 pound Keke Coutee caught 93 passes, 1429 yards and 10 scores in 2017, and 55 passes for 890 and seven scores in 2016 (led the team in receiving).
The year prior (2015) it was a player of particular interest for today’s article: 5’6, 170 pound Jakeem Grant, who caught 90 passes for 1268 yards and 10 scores. Grant led the team in receiving the previous year also with 67 catches, 938 yards and seven scores (10 games).
And in 2013, while a TE led the team in receiving, the next leading receiver was 5’11, 200 pound Eric Ward who caught 83 passes for 947 yards and eight scores. Grant was just behind Ward with 65 receptions, 796 yards and seven scores.
The Morris-Davis duo average a 55/45 pass to run split at North Texas. This coaching tree is a derivative of the great Mike Leach’s Air Raid, so their tendencies are not all that surprising.
The UNT offence moves at a brisk pace. In fact, this offence finished #1 in the FBS in 2024, averaging 19.9 seconds per play (and 73 plays per game). In 2023, the Mean Green were #7 in seconds per play, so last season wasn’t an anomaly.
Miles Coleman (5’6, 160)
2024 STATS: 36 (51) - 378 - 2 (7.6 PPG)
Coleman blew up in his junior year of high school catching 99 passes for 1664 yards and 13 TDs. He was a three star rated prospect and held FBS offers from Tulsa, UNLV, Air Force and UNT.
His track times verify that he is a fast player, and the fact that he competed in long jump demonstrates some elite overall athleticism as well.
Beyond the athletic measurables, I like that he already offers some production from his freshman season. That being his true freshman season, by the way, this is a true rising sophomore who’s only been in college for one year.
With DT Sheffield moving on from the slot, Coleman is in pole position to absorb a lot of targets as the next guy up. We got a preview of what that might look like in the bowl game vs. Texas State where Coleman had himself a nice day (22.4 points). He actually led the team in targets that day (nine) despite playing with an active Landon Sides and Damon Ward.
The Jakeem Grant data point at Texas Tech under Eric Morris is a particularly exciting one. There’s a natural parallel here with a player of similar stature, likely to occupy the same role in Morris’ system.
It’s possible that someone else beats out Coleman in the offseason for the slot role, or that Coleman is more of a gadget type of player in 2025—we’ve seen one hit wonders from bowl season flame out before. There has also been buzz around the name Landon Sides this offseason so it’s not a foregone conclusion who the WR1 will be. ◾
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Sample 2018-2024 excluding 2020.
Interesting... I'll be sure to put him in my queue as well.