Auburn receiver could be a catch
Third-round pick Sammie Coates had reputation for dropping passes in college but still shows potential
The knock against receiver Sammie Coates, who lasted until the third round of the NFL draft despite impressive size, speed and strength, is he dropped the ball too often during his career at Auburn.
Fortunately for the Tigers, he didn’t drop it when it counted.
When he was a senior three-sport athlete at Leroy (Ala.) High School, Coates nearly slept through a Saturday morning tryout at Auburn’s final summer football camp in July 2011. And it wasn’t by accident. Coates, who had already committed to Southern Mississippi, simply didn’t want to go.
But one of his high school teammates, Andrew Williams, climbed through a window into Coates’ house, woke his slumbering friend and begged him to go with him to the camp.
Coates went with Williams, posted a couple of sub-4.4 times in the 40yard dash and wowed the Auburn coaching staff. That same day, he changed his commitment from Southern Mississippi to Auburn and never looked back.
“I'm telling you, I didn't want to get out of bed for nothing; I wasn’t going to go,” Coates said in an interview with AuburnSports.com. “It was one of the best things that ever happened in my life and for my future. I thank Andrew.”
The Steelers didn’t want to drop the ball with Coates, a 6-foot-2, 212pound deep-threat receiver who is an intriguing package of size, speed and strength. So, instead of waiting for the third day of the NFL draft to find a receiver who could also play in the slot, they used their third-round selection on Day 2 to take Coates. Never mind about that reputation for dropping the ball.
“When we went into this draft, we thought we’d probably come out with six defensive guys and two offensive guys, and we were going to interject [offensive] players who we feel were too good to pass up,” general manager Kevin Colbert said. “He’s big, he’s fast, he’s strong and he has good hands. People drop balls. Trust me, he has good hands.”
Curiously, Coates has been compared to Martavis Bryant, whom the Steelers selected in the fourth round last season, and not just because of his size and speed. Coates carried a bad rap for having bad hands, just like Bryant. His drop rate at Auburn last season was 19.1 percent, according to NFL.com, meaning he would drop approximately one in every five passes.
That, though, didn’t bother the Steelers, just as it didn’t bother them about Bryant, who finished the season as one of the bright, promising receivers in the league after catching eight touchdowns and averaging 21.1 yards per catch in the final 10 games. They believe they can teach receivers to catch the ball better.
“He’s had some drops, but they all drop it,” Steelers receivers coach Richard Mann said. “What I will tell you is, they didn’t play him every down. What happens is he disappears. A lot of times, in my opinion, players have a tendency to lose concentration simply because they weren’t involved and then you bring them back in the heat of the battle. That’s not an excuse for him. That’s what I saw.”
What the Steelers like is what happens when Coates does catch the ball. He averaged 21.5 yards per catch as a junior and 21.8 yards per catch last season, fourth best in the nation, on an Auburn team that ran the ball 65 percent of the time. Against Alabama, he caught five passes for an Iron Bowl-record 206 yards that included touchdowns of 34 and 68 yards – and he did that playing with two injured knees.
With the Tigers, his quarterback was Nick Charles, who is being projected as a cornerback in the NFL. He won’t have that problem with Ben Roethlisberger, who has never been confused with a cornerback.
By the way, Coates caught nine of the 10 passes thrown at him during his pro-day workout at Auburn.
“The thing that really impresses me is that when he did get the ball, especially those deep ones ... those 50-50 balls, he came down with it,” Mann said. “I’m talking about deep, contested catches. That was very impressive to me.”
One of those times, ironically, was against Mississippi when he beat his new teammate, Senquez Golson, for a deep touchdown.
“I did a little something to him,” Coates said, laughing.
Coates not only has the size, he has the speed (4.43 in the 40) and strength. He did 23 reps on the 225pound bench press at the combine, which is what linebackers do, not wide receivers. Try jamming him in press coverage and he is apt to toss the cornerback into the bench area. He also went 41 inches in the vertical jump, just behind his other new teammate, Bud Dupree, who jumped 42 inches.
But there is another side to Coates that cannot be measured.
During his redshirt season at Auburn in 2012, while the Tigers were 1-5, he unleashed a rant to the media in which he questioned the determination and leadership of the previous year’s team.
“I can be one of those guys that steps up to the plate and has players look up to me,” Coates said.