Usage / Role
14%
Rotational offensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2015-2018Illinois
Sam Mays
WR • 6'3" • 200 lbs • Missouri City, TX, USA
Vertical playmakerExplosive finisher
Sam Mays reads as a vertical playmaker based on recent role and receiving efficiency.
Impact Production
27
Developing production for a receiver
lowelite
Reliability
23
Sporadic game-to-game production
lowhigh
Star Power
35
Limited ceiling signals so far
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2018 Regular Season · Illinois
15161718
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 4
- Program Path
- Illinois
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Michigan State
Player Story
Sam Mays built his college career from 2015 through 2018 as a wide receiver from Missouri City, TX wearing No. 9, spending time with Illinois. The clearest part of Sam Mays' career was his receiving role: 49 catches,...
Read the story2★
- Committed To
- San José State
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2022
Sam Mays, WR. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2018 Regular Season · Illinois. Sam Mays reads as a vertical playmaker based on recent role and receiving efficiency.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Receiving yards
- 563
- Receptions
- 49
- Touchdowns
- 2
Quick Answers
Sam Mays quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Illinois · WR
- Career Receiving Yards
- 563
- Tracked sample
- 4 unique seasons · 4 entries · 22 games
- Best season
- 2018 Regular Season · Illinois
- Top game
- Michigan State
- Recruit profile
- 2-star · Faith Lutheran · San José State
- High school pipeline
- Faith Lutheran · 12 FBS recruits · 0 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 9 · Senior
- 2018 Receiving yards rank
- 331 receiving yards · WR 334th (top 33%) · Big Ten 42nd (top 18%) · National 387th (top 19%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Rec | Rec Yds | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Regular Season | Illinois | 4 | 7 | 78 | 1 | 46.6 |
| 2016 Regular Season | Illinois | 6 | 13 | 158 | 1 | 62.2 |
| 2017 Regular Season | Illinois | 1 | - | -4 | 0 | 33.4 |
| 2018 Regular Season | Illinois | 11 | 29 | 331 | 0 | 72.6 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Sam Mays
Sam Mays played WR for Illinois. Across 4 tracked seasons, Sam Mays recorded 563 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns. His top tracked season came in 2018 with Illinois.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2018 Regular Season
Illinois paired 331 primary output with 71.2 efficiency.
Supporting note
2018 Regular Season role shape
target-driven usage with 71.2 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value is trending up
2018 Regular Season improved on the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Northwestern
Loss with an explosive receiving profile. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2018 Regular Season · Illinois
Games
11
Receiving Yards / G
30.1
Efficiency
71.2
Usage
17.4
Consistency
61.5
Best Game by takeover score
Northwestern
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
Hover over a point
Hover or select a game to keep its context visible here without the page shifting around.
Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. Kent State: 47. Western Illinois: 42. South Florida: 13. Penn State: 26. Rutgers: 11. Purdue: 37. Maryland: 16. Minnesota: 14. Nebraska: 32. Iowa: 24. Northwestern: 69
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
Low volumeHigh quality
High volumeHigh quality
Low volumeLower quality
High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Kent State: 4 by 78.3. Western Illinois: 4 by 70. South Florida: 1 by 86.7. Penn State: 3 by 57.8. Rutgers: 2 by 36.7. Purdue: 2 by 100. Maryland: 2 by 53.3. Minnesota: 2 by 46.7. Nebraska: 2 by 100. Iowa: 3 by 53.3. Northwestern: 4 by 100
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins28.5 · Games = 4 · -2.5 vs Losses
Losses31 · Games = 7 · +2.5 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
11 games
Featured metric
Receiving Yards
Top game by takeover score
Northwestern
Best efficiency game
100 vs Northwestern
| Result | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 11/24 | @ Northwestern | L 16-24 | — | 4 | 69 | 17.3 | 17.30 | 0 | 28 |
| Sat 11/17 | vs Iowa | L 0-63 | — | 3 | 24 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 12 |
| Sat 11/10 | @ Nebraska | L 35-54 | — | 2 | 32 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 17 |
| Sat 11/3 | vs Minnesota | W 55-31 | — | 2 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 9 |
| Sat 10/27 | @ Maryland | L 33-63 | — | 2 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 10 |
| Sat 10/13 | vs Purdue | L 7-46 | — | 2 | 37 | 18.5 | 18.50 | 0 | 30 |
| Sat 10/6 | @ Rutgers | W 38-17 | — | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 5.50 | 0 | 7 |
| Sat 9/22 | vs Penn State | L 24-63 | — | 3 | 26 | 8.7 | 8.70 | 0 | 11 |
| Sat 9/15 | vs South Florida | L 19-25 | — | 1 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 13 |
| Sat 9/8 | vs Western Illinois | W 34-14 | — | 4 | 42 | 10.5 | 10.50 | 0 | 16 |
| Sat 9/1 | vs Kent State | W 31-24 | — | 4 | 47 | 11.8 | 11.80 | 0 | 17 |
Player Story
Sam Mays story
Sam Mays built his college career from 2015 through 2018 as a wide receiver from Missouri City, TX wearing No. 9, spending time with Illinois. The clearest part of Sam Mays' career was his receiving role: 49 catches, 563 receiving yards, and 2 touchdowns across 22 career games in the available record. That gives Sam Mays' career enough real context without stretching the story beyond the available production.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Illinois
2015-2018
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
2015201620172018
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Regular Season | Illinois | 78 | 71.7 | 9.1 | — |
| 2016 Regular Season | Illinois | 158 | 73.6 | 16.2 | 80 |
| 2017 Regular Season | Illinois | -4 | — | 0 | -162 |
| 2018 Regular Season | Illinois | 331 | 71.2 | 17.4 | 335 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs Michigan State
Week 10 · W 31-27 · Conference game
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
39
Receiving Yards
88.3 takeover
39 receiving yards with a 65 efficiency score.
#2
@ Northwestern
Week 13 · L 16-24 · Conference game
69
Receiving Yards
85.2 takeover
Loss with an explosive receiving profile.
69 receiving yards with a 100 efficiency score.
#3
vs Kent State
Week 1 · W 52-3
37
Receiving Yards
82.6 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
37 receiving yards with a 100 efficiency score.
#4
vs Kent State
Week 1 · W 31-24
47
Receiving Yards
82.1 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
47 receiving yards with a 78.3 efficiency score.
#5
vs Minnesota
Week 9 · L 17-40 · Conference game
39
Receiving Yards
80.6 takeover
Loss with an explosive receiving profile.
39 receiving yards with a 100 efficiency score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2018 Regular Season · Illinois
331 primary output · 71.2 efficiency · 17.4 usage
72.6
#2
2016 Regular Season · Illinois
62.2
158 primary · 73.6 efficiency · 16.2 usage
#3
2015 Regular Season · Illinois
46.6
78 primary · 71.7 efficiency · 9.1 usage
Milestones
0
100+ receiving yards
0
8+ catch outings
0
2+ TD games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Sam Mays
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