Keon Coleman scouting report: Exploring the Florida State WR's strengths and weaknesses
Keon Coleman, Florida State
6’3”, 215 pounds; JR
A four-star recruit for Michigan State in 2021, Coleman only caught seven passes (for 50 yards and a touchdown) as a true freshman, before leading Sparty in receptions (58), yards (798) and touchdowns (seven) through the air in year two.
He decided to transfer to Florida State ahead of the 2023 season and immediately made his mark, with well over 100 yards and three touchdowns through the air in his Seminole debut vs. then-number-five ranked LSU.
While things did slow down a little bit – in part due to a banged-up ankle – he did turn 50 catches into 658 yards and 11 scores, along with adding 300 yards on his 25 punt returns (12.0 yards per). He earned first-team All-ACC recognition as a wide receiver, all-purpose player and return specialist.
Releases & route-running:
+ The instant explosion off the line at 215 pounds is rare, which is backed up by a 10-yard split (1.54) that ties him with several guys running sub-4.4 overall
+ For a well-proportioned outside receiver, Coleman’s ability to bend off either ankle and roll through cuts is highly impressive
+ Shows good coordination to slow-play the release and then pretty good placement combined with the strength to swat down jams vs. soft-press corners
+ Can really sit in the chair and create openings for the ball on curl routes
+ Can use his physicality to gain position and control on routes, swiping down the hands of defenders trying to knock him off track as he’s attempting to work across the field
+ You see Coleman use brute force to throw by defensive backs at the top of the route and beat their leverage that way
+ Able to de- and re-accelerate in impressive fashion, to win on spot-and-go or stutter-fade routes for example
+ Understands when to replace zone defenders voiding his original spot
Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:
+ Has a knack for drawing flags, forcing DBs to run into him or grab his shoulders, especially when he catches them with their backs to the quarterback
+ There were several passes way above his head on hitches/curls at MSU and he was able to snatch them
+ Only dropped five of his 120 catchable targets in his collegiate career (4.2%)
+ His success rate wasn’t quite as high because the ball wasn’t laid up properly for him all the time. But when given opportunities, Coleman truly attacks the ball at its highest point and can out-battle defenders in true 50-50 situations in a way that tilts the scale dramatically in his favor – 12 of 18 in contested situations with the Spartans
+ Makes a multitude of acrobatic grabs, oftentimes only getting one hand on the ball initially and having to pull it into his body
+ Even when he has one arm pinned down by his defender and he doesn’t have his jump timed up perfectly, he’s able to at least make an effort for the catch that results in defensive P.I. calls
Run after catch & blocking:
+ His ability to stop on a dime and get vertical with the ball in his hands for a 215-pound guy is pretty remarkable
+ Has some impressive moments of plucking the ball thrown in front of him and directly turning over the opposite shoulder to make the driving defender miss and get into yards-after-catch mode
+ As an All-ACC punt returner for the Seminoles, you see those skills show up regularly on offense as well, which is how he averaged 6.3 YAC per reception last season
+ On his first catch for Florida State, he took a square-in 40 yards to the house, after making the safety miss in space, in the ’23 opener vs. LSU. He followed that up with two more scores on jump-balls to help the Noles pull off the win in that top-10 matchup
+ Consistently is able to slide inside of the corner and wall them off in the run game
+ Showcases an impressive ability to drop his hips, latch his hands and sustain blocks
+ When his man plays with extensive cushion or Coleman is lined up in the slot responsible for the safety in two-high looks, how he eats up that distance and then can aggressively drive guys out of the frame leaped out a few times to me
Weaknesses:
– His tremendous athleticism and size are his trump cards, but making details of the position a bigger strength will be highly important and potentially challenging for him making his way to the pros
– Very little tempo, crispness and overall nuance to his routes – too often allows DBs to wall him off due to being able to anticipate where he wants to go, particularly last season when dealing with a banged-up ankle
– The 4.61 he ran at the combine (second-slowest among wide receivers) brings along questions about his long speed, trying actually to detach vertically
– While the body control and ability to elevate wow you, his contested catch rate in 2023 didn’t match up with those skills (plummeted from 62.5% in 2022 to 33.3%)
Coleman presents one of the most challenging evaluations of this entire draft. He presents a powerful frame, impressive burst off the ball and acrobat skills to haul in passes. Yet, he ran the second-slowest 40 time of any wide receiver at this year’s combine, his contested-catch rate didn’t illustrate those ball skills and that’s on top of being far from a refined route-runner.
To nail down a final scouting report on him, I would need information on how much his injury last season affected him over the second half of the season. Right now, I’m looking at a piece of clay in terms of the explosive traits and body control to become a dangerous number two with his ability to push vertically and how he can make things happen after the catch.
However, he doesn’t have that final gear to win as much as you’d like down the field for that role and he could be buried on the depth chart early on if he doesn’t show that early growth on what he does before the ball gets to him.
Grade: Second round