The Buccaneers remain extremely committed to maintaining a top-tier receiver room, and that continued on Friday with a round 3 investment in the form of Georgia State\u2019s Ted Hurst.<\/p>\n
The last time the Buccaneers selected a wide receiver at pick 84? Chris Godwin. That worked out pretty well. Hurst is not the same type of player, however, as the 6-foot-3 1\/2\u201d speedster represents the ideal fit in the \u201cX\u201d receiver role \u2014 recently vacated by the legendary Mike Evans.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s learn more about the small-school standout.<\/p>\n
An attendee of Sol C. Johnson High School in Savannah, Ga., Hurst stood out in multiple sports, including football, basketball, and track & field. However, he slipped through the cracks as a zero-star recruit and received mostly D-II and D-III offers. He committed to local D-II Valdosta State because of his brother spending time in the program.<\/p>\n
He flashed for the Blazers, totaling 60 receptions for 1,027 yards and 10 touchdowns in 25 total games over 2 seasons. His production and measurables drew some more eyes onto him, which got one FBS offer in the transfer portal from Georgia State.<\/p>\n
He continued to ascend and dominated inferior competition week in and week out. In 2024, he immediately led the team in receiving with 56 catches for 961 yards and 9 touchdowns, and 2025 saw even bigger numbers with 71 receptions for 1,004 yards and 6 TDs. His efforts earned him first-team All-Sun Belt.<\/p>\n
He accepted his invitation to the Senior Bowl and showed out in practices, proving in a limited sample that he could hang with more serious competition.<\/p>\n
Hey, a prospect we can actually talk about in this section!<\/p>\n
But yeah, Hurst is one of the best athletes in the entire draft. A rare small-school entry in the \u201cFreaks List\u201d from esteemed journalist Bruce Feldman, Hurst posted an elite 9.90 Relative Athletic Score (RAS), which ranks top 50 for receivers all-time since 1987.<\/p>\n
Measuring well over 6-foot-3, 200 pounds with 32 3\/8\u201d arms and 9 1\/2\u201d hands, Hurst recorded some huge numbers for his size like a 4.42 40-yard dash (80th percentile) and a mind-boggling 11-foot-3 broad jump (97th percentile).<\/p>\n
There is no doubting that he is an NFL-caliber athlete.<\/p>\n
What Kind of Player Is Ted Hurst?<\/p>\n
Hurst, who\u2019s only 21, offers a dimension that the Bucs did not roster in any meaningful way after Mike Evans\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s a huge vertical threat with long strides and prompt acceleration, which will immediately stress defenses downfield. After quickly eating up cushions, corners need to be ready to turn and burn because Hurst has access to another gear both in phase and with the ball in his hands.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s a keen-eyed ball tracker and knows how to extend and finish catches above the rim. He\u2019s not just a straight-line athlete either, as he\u2019s consistently shown quick feet, smooth hips, and focused body control.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not all, as some of his most productive plays in college came on short catches that turned into huge YAC opportunities thanks to his elusiveness and speed.<\/p>\n
Now here\u2019s the \u201cbut.\u201d<\/p>\n
All of this came against very poor competition, and Georgia State\u2019s coaching staff did little to hone him on the finer points of the position. They simply saw a dominant athlete and made it as simple as \u201cget the ball in Hurst\u2019s hands.\u201d Nearly 14% of Hurst\u2019s routes were slants, an FBS-high. Everything else was basically go and post routes. He\u2019s capable of more, and it will take time to guide him into making crisper breaks and diversifying his release package to beat professional press. He also needs to clean up his drop rate (over 10%).<\/p>\n
The Bucs made a long-term play with very high upside if it pays off, which is fine when we\u2019re talking about picks outside of the top 75.<\/p>\n
Hurst is a rare athlete with the inklings of a real three-level pass-catching threat, and he\u2019ll receive the gift of patience in a room stuffed full of other talented options. He\u2019ll slot in as receiver No. 4 behind Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka, and Jalen McMillan, and Tez Johnson will still have a role as well.<\/p>\n
Hurst will get specific plays installed for him that take advantage of his unique profile, but you likely won\u2019t see significant snaps until 2027 at the earliest while he learns more about how to play the position like a real pro.<\/p>\n
How do you feel about this pick, Bucs Nation? Discuss below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Buccaneers remain extremely committed to maintaining a top-tier receiver room, and that continued on Friday with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,107649,107644,137,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-246355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-tampa","9":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers-analysis","10":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers-draft","11":"tag-tampa-headlines","12":"tag-tampa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}