Usage / Role
17%
Rotational offensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2017-2020Illinois
Ricky Smalling
WR • 6'1" • 205 lbs • Chicago, IL, USA
Reliable chain-moverPossession profile
Ricky Smalling reads as a reliable chain-mover based on recent role and receiving efficiency.
Impact Production
43
Developing production for a receiver
lowelite
Reliability
36
Sporadic game-to-game production
lowhigh
Star Power
61
Useful peak profile
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2017 Regular Season · Illinois
17181920
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 4
- Program Path
- Illinois
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Rutgers
Player Story
Ricky Smalling built his college career from 2017 through 2020 as a wide receiver from Chicago, IL wearing No. 4, spending time with Illinois. The clearest part of Ricky Smalling's career was his receiving role: 88...
Read the story3★
- Committed To
- Illinois
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2017
Ricky Smalling, WR. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2017 Regular Season · Illinois. Ricky Smalling reads as a reliable chain-mover based on recent role and receiving efficiency.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Receiving yards
- 1,141
- Receptions
- 88
- Touchdowns
- 8
Quick Answers
Ricky Smalling quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Illinois · WR
- Career Receiving Yards
- 1,141
- Tracked sample
- 4 unique seasons · 4 entries · 29 games
- Best season
- 2017 Regular Season · Illinois
- Top game
- Rutgers
- Recruit profile
- 3-star · Brother Rice · Illinois
- High school pipeline
- Mt. Pleasant · 6 FBS recruits · 0 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 4 · Senior
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Rec | Rec Yds | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 Regular Season | Illinois | 11 | 31 | 510 | 2 | 74.4 |
| 2018 Regular Season | Illinois | 11 | 33 | 406 | 5 | 65.8 |
| 2019 Regular Season | Illinois | 7 | 24 | 225 | 1 | 63.2 |
| 2020 Regular Season | Illinois | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | - |
Related Context
Keep exploring Ricky Smalling
Ricky Smalling played WR for Illinois. Across 4 tracked seasons, Ricky Smalling recorded 1,141 receiving yards, 5 tackles, and 8 touchdowns. His top tracked season came in 2017 with Illinois.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2017 Regular Season
Illinois paired 510 primary output with 77 efficiency.
Supporting note
2017 Regular Season role shape
target-driven usage with 77 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value cooled off
2020 Regular Season fell back from the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Rutgers
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.
2017 Regular Season · Illinois
Games
11
Receiving Yards / G
46.4
Efficiency
77
Usage
18.9
Consistency
57.5
Best Game by takeover score
Rutgers
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
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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. Western Kentucky: 8. South Florida: 99. Nebraska: 10. Iowa: 44. Rutgers: 111. Minnesota: 71. Wisconsin: 26. Purdue: 46. Indiana: 73. Ohio State: 7. Northwestern: 15
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. Western Kentucky: 2 by 26.7. South Florida: 3 by 100. Nebraska: 1 by 66.7. Iowa: 3 by 97.8. Rutgers: 5 by 100. Minnesota: 8 by 59.2. Wisconsin: 1 by 100. Purdue: 2 by 100. Indiana: 3 by 100. Ohio State: 1 by 46.7. Northwestern: 2 by 50
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins8 · Games = 1 · -42.2 vs Losses
Losses50.2 · Games = 10 · +42.2 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
Rutgers
Best efficiency game
100 vs Indiana
| Result | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 11/25 | vs Northwestern | L 7-42 | — | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 7.50 | 0 | 11 |
| Sat 11/18 | @ Ohio State | L 14-52 | — | 1 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Sat 11/11 | vs Indiana | L 14-24 | — | 3 | 73 | 24.3 | 24.30 | 0 | 31 |
| Sat 11/4 | @ Purdue | L 10-29 | — | 2 | 46 | 23 | 23 | 0 | 42 |
| Sat 10/28 | vs Wisconsin | L 10-24 | — | 1 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 0 | 26 |
| Sat 10/21 | @ MinnesotaHigh volume | L 17-24 | — | 8 | 71 | 8.9 | 8.90 | 1 | 22 |
| Sat 10/14 | vs Rutgers100 receiving yards | L 24-35 | — | 5 | 111 | 22.2 | 22.20 | 1 | 32 |
| Sat 10/7 | @ Iowa | L 16-45 | — | 3 | 44 | 14.7 | 14.70 | 0 | 26 |
| Sat 9/30 | vs Nebraska | L 6-28 | — | 1 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Fri 9/15 | @ South Florida | L 23-47 | — | 3 | 99 | 33 | 33 | 0 | 76 |
| Sun 9/10 | vs Western Kentucky | W 20-7 | — | 2 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
Player Story
Ricky Smalling story
Ricky Smalling built his college career from 2017 through 2020 as a wide receiver from Chicago, IL wearing No. 4, spending time with Illinois. The clearest part of Ricky Smalling's career was his receiving role: 88 catches, 1,141 receiving yards, and 8 touchdowns across 29 career games in the available record. His largest box-score season came in 2018 with Illinois. Those numbers show where he fit, how often the ball or action found him, and how his role developed over time.
The value of the career arc is that it connects production to role, not just a name on a roster. His career also includes 5 tackles, giving the story more than a single-category snapshot. With 29 career games in the available record, his career has enough shape to show both opportunity and production across Illinois.
The arc is straightforward: Ricky Smalling moved through the depth chart, found a larger role, and turned that opportunity into production that can be understood through standard football numbers.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Illinois
2017-2020
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
2017201820192020
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 Regular Season | Illinois | 510 | 77 | 18.9 | — |
| 2018 Regular Season | Illinois | 406 | 70.2 | 19.4 | -104 |
| 2019 Regular Season | Illinois | 225 | 61.1 | 25.3 | -181 |
| 2020 Regular Season | Illinois | 0 | — | — | -225 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs Rutgers
Week 7 · L 24-35 · Conference game
Loss with an explosive receiving profile.
111
Receiving Yards
94.4 takeover
111 receiving yards with a 100 efficiency score.
#2
vs Akron
Week 1 · W 42-3
54
Receiving Yards
91.8 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
54 receiving yards with a 90 efficiency score.
#3
vs Minnesota
Week 10 · W 55-31 · Conference game
86
Receiving Yards
90.1 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
86 receiving yards with a 100 efficiency score.
#4
vs Kent State
Week 1 · W 31-24
70
Receiving Yards
86.1 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
70 receiving yards with a 100 efficiency score.
#5
@ UConn
Week 2 · W 31-23
56
Receiving Yards
83.5 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
56 receiving yards with a 53.3 efficiency score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2017 Regular Season · Illinois
510 primary output · 77 efficiency · 18.9 usage
74.4
#2
2018 Regular Season · Illinois
65.8
406 primary · 70.2 efficiency · 19.4 usage
#3
2019 Regular Season · Illinois
63.2
225 primary · 61.1 efficiency · 25.3 usage
Milestones
1
100+ receiving yards
1
8+ catch outings
1
2+ TD games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Ricky Smalling
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