College Football: Anatomy of a can't-miss wide receiver

There are some receivers who just get it. DeChe Milburn is one of them.

Milburn knows the key to being a great wide receiver doesn't begin and end with catching the ball. He knows he needs to be:

Decisive in the open field — Look at the embedded video from 0:07-0:24. When Milburn catches the ball on a bubble screen, the first place he looks is up the field. Milburn locates his blockers and uses them to get into space. He puts a mean juke on the first defender that tries to square him up and then is off to the races. Quotable from Milburn: "I know how to make plays when the ball is in my hands. I know how to make people miss in the open field."

Physical — Check out the video from 0:56-1:05. It's another simple bubble screen to Milburn, but when his blocking breaks down, it's up to him to make a play. Milburn slips one arm tackle and then goes toe-to-toe with an opposing defensive back. After blasting through the defender, he carries a pile of four players into the end zone for a touchdown. Quotable from Texas State wide receivers coach Kevin Brown: "A lot of times you don't hear me say that about some of the wide receivers, but he's a contact player. That's the biggest thing that jumped out to me."

A darn good blocker — Take a look at the video from 4:55 until the end. Granted, Milburn seems adept at leveling unsuspecting defensive backs on crack-back blocks, but still, he gets the job done. Milburn puts a cornerback flat on his back (4:58), takes out two defenders with one block (5:05) and then springs a teammate for extra yards (5:50). Quotable from Brown: "A lot of times when a wide receiver is catching 80-some balls a year in high school, they don't tend to put the same effort in the run game that they do in the passing game. Right off the bat, you see that he's a contact player and he wants to block. He doesn't just get in the way. He wants to hit you and put you on your back."