Usage / Role
4%
Rotational offensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2012-2016Nebraska
Sam Cotton
TE • 6'5" • Lincoln, NE, USA
Vertical playmakerExplosive finisher
Sam Cotton reads as a vertical playmaker based on recent role and receiving efficiency.
Impact Production
16
Developing production for a tight end
lowelite
Reliability
4
Sporadic game-to-game production
lowhigh
Star Power
26
Limited ceiling signals so far
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2016 Regular Season · Nebraska
1213141516
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 5
- Program Path
- Nebraska
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Indiana
Player Story
Sam Cotton built his college career from 2012 through 2016 as a tight end from Lincoln, NE wearing No. 84, spending time with Nebraska. The clearest part of Sam Cotton's career was his receiving role: 17 catches, 185...
Read the story3★
- Committed To
- Nebraska
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2012
Sam Cotton, TE. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2016 Regular Season · Nebraska. Sam Cotton reads as a vertical playmaker based on recent role and receiving efficiency.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Receiving yards
- 185
- Receptions
- 17
- Touchdowns
- 3
Quick Answers
Sam Cotton quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Nebraska · TE
- Career Receiving Yards
- 185
- Tracked sample
- 5 unique seasons · 5 entries · 14 games
- Best season
- 2016 Regular Season · Nebraska
- Top game
- Indiana
- Recruit profile
- 3-star · Lincoln Southeast · Nebraska
- High school pipeline
- Lincoln Southeast · 12 FBS recruits · 0 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 84 · Class 2016
- 2016 Receiving yards rank
- 87 receiving yards · TE 131st (top 42%) · Big Ten 101st (top 49%) · National 959th (top 50%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Rec | Rec Yds | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 Regular Season | Nebraska | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | - |
| 2013 Regular Season | Nebraska | 3 | 3 | 22 | 1 | 30.2 |
| 2014 Regular Season | Nebraska | 3 | 3 | 41 | 2 | 48.8 |
| 2015 Regular Season | Nebraska | 3 | 3 | 35 | 0 | 53.5 |
| 2016 Regular Season | Nebraska | 5 | 8 | 87 | 0 | 67 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Sam Cotton
Sam Cotton played TE for Nebraska. Across 5 tracked seasons, Sam Cotton recorded 185 receiving yards, 1 tackles, and 3 touchdowns. His top tracked season came in 2016 with Nebraska.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2016 Regular Season
Nebraska paired 87 primary output with 73.9 efficiency.
Supporting note
2016 Regular Season role shape
target-driven usage with 73.9 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value is trending up
2016 Regular Season improved on the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Indiana
Win 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.
2016 Regular Season · Nebraska
Games
5
Receiving Yards / G
17.4
Efficiency
73.9
Usage
14.9
Consistency
44.7
Best Game by takeover score
Indiana
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. Northwestern: 11. Illinois: 12. Indiana: 37. Purdue: 27. Wisconsin: 0
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. Northwestern: 1 by 73.3. Illinois: 1 by 80. Indiana: 3 by 82.2. Purdue: 3 by 60
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins21.8 · Games = 4 · +21.8 vs Losses
Losses0 · Games = 1 · -21.8 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
5 games
Featured metric
Receiving Yards
Top game by takeover score
Indiana
Best efficiency game
82.2 vs Indiana
Player Story
Sam Cotton story
Sam Cotton built his college career from 2012 through 2016 as a tight end from Lincoln, NE wearing No. 84, spending time with Nebraska. The clearest part of Sam Cotton's career was his receiving role: 17 catches, 185 receiving yards, and 3 touchdowns across 14 career games in the available record. His career also includes 1 tackle, giving the story more than a single-category snapshot. That gives Sam Cotton's 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
Nebraska
2012-2016
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
20122013201420152016
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 Regular Season | Nebraska | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2013 Regular Season | Nebraska | 22 | 44.4 | 7.2 | 22 |
| 2014 Regular Season | Nebraska | 41 | 73.3 | 6.7 | 19 |
| 2015 Regular Season | Nebraska | 35 | 77.8 | 4.4 | -6 |
| 2016 Regular Season | Nebraska | 87 | 73.9 | 14.9 | 52 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
@ Indiana
Week 7 · W 27-22 · Conference game
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
37
Receiving Yards
94.1 takeover
37 receiving yards with a 82.2 efficiency score.
#2
vs Illinois
Week 6 · W 39-19 · Conference game
17
Receiving Yards
76.8 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
17 receiving yards with a 100 efficiency score.
#3
@ Fresno State
Week 3 · W 55-19
23
Receiving Yards
74.6 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
23 receiving yards with a 100 efficiency score.
#4
vs Iowa
Week 13 · L 20-28 · Conference game
14
Receiving Yards
68.9 takeover
Loss with an explosive receiving profile.
14 receiving yards with a 93.3 efficiency score.
#5
vs Southern Miss
Week 4 · W 36-28
13
Receiving Yards
64.6 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
13 receiving yards with a 86.7 efficiency score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2016 Regular Season · Nebraska
87 primary output · 73.9 efficiency · 14.9 usage
67
#2
2015 Regular Season · Nebraska
53.5
35 primary · 77.8 efficiency · 4.4 usage
#3
2014 Regular Season · Nebraska
48.8
41 primary · 73.3 efficiency · 6.7 usage
Milestones
0
100+ receiving yards
0
8+ catch outings
0
2+ TD games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Sam Cotton
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