The spotlight surrounding the Colorado Buffaloes has increased since you started reading this piece. A burning radiance that has shined brightest on the Buffaloes’ biggest stars, a standout at wideout not named Travis Hunter has drawn his own glimmer of light the last few weeks: LaJohntay Wester.
A former standout during his four seasons at Florida Atlantic, Wester’s move to the Big 12 has seen his skill set evolve and his NFL draft stock rise. While Wester doesn’t ‘wow’ with his mass or contested catch ability, his creativity, explosiveness, and versatility have showcased one of the country’s most underrated playmakers. Combining that with his ability on special teams, Wester has become a name to get familiar with if your team needs an offensive chess piece with multi-phase potential.
This past week on the road against Texas Tech showcased just a glimpse of what Wester offers on the outside.
Six targets, six catches, 84 yards, and a trip to the endzone made up his evening against the Red Raiders’ secondary. As seen above, his ability to create after the catch is as electric a trait as you’ll find in the country. The ability to work upfield in an instant while maneuvering and slithering around defenders is what NFL evaluators would describe as ‘translatable traits.’ In other words, watching tape and identifying aspects of a prospect’s game that are projectable and transferable to an NFL aerial attack. For Wester, his ability to create chunk plays has been on display all campaign long for the No. 18 ranked Buffaloes.
And while the focus each week for Colorado is to get the ground game going on early downs and feature Hunter—obviously—it’s been athletes like Wester who have rounded out the receiving corps away from Hunter’s superstar skill set. Now, Wester has yet to have consecutive weeks over the 100-yard receiving plateau, and his touchdown in Week 11 was his first in a month, but as more touches have come his way, his elite twitch and open-field creativity have become a key wrinkle to the Colorado attack.
But it’s not just his ability to create on designated touches or take the top off a defense vertically. What impressed me this past week was his toughness and willingness to go over the middle, which players of his stature (5-foot-11, 165 pounds) often shy away from. It’s plays like you’ll see below—that occurred on 2nd-and-12 and moved the sticks—that move the needle for evaluators, away from his elite athletic profile.
The only Big 12 team ranked in the top 25 other than BYU, buckle in tight as it’s going to be a heck of a ride the next month in the conference for two teams that look poised for a clash in the conference title game, which could decide who makes the 12-team CFP.
While public attention for Colorado surrounds Hunter and quarterback Shedeur Sanders—two projected top-five picks—it’ll be underrated athletes like Wester to keep an eye on that round out one of the most explosive offenses in the country.
