ESPN Names James Washington Top 50 College Football Player

James Washington is one of the top deep threats in the country, and the only midseason all-american named to ESPN’s midseason all-american list released last week. So it should come as no surprise that he’s also thought of in college football’s elite group of top 50 players, which ESPN released this week.

ESPN ranked him No. 43 out of 50, with a score of 7.5 (out of a perfect 10 — AKA Lamary Jackson.)

Here’s what ESPN’s Mitch Sherman said about the conferences third leading receiver:

Few receivers are more explosive. Just ask Pitt, against which Washington caught six passes for 228 yards — all in the first half. With 740 receiving yards on 37 catches this fall as a junior, he has etched a spot among the OSU pass-catching greats.

After recording just 19 total yards last week against Kansas facing bracketed coverage on the road, he’ll almost certainly have to bounce back in a big way to remain among college football’s elite this week. He’ll face a big challenge with the conference’s No. 1 defense in West Virginia coming to town, who held the country’s highest scoring offense in Texas Tech to just 345 passing yards and 17 points just two weeks ago.