Calvin Ridley racked up 224 catches for 2,781 yards and 19 touchdowns during his three-year career as an Alabama receiver.
Ridley's biggest strength entering the National Football League may be the fact he was 44-for-44 in games played for the Crimson Tide.
"There were three first-round wide receivers a year ago - Corey Davis, Mike Williams and John Ross - and all three of them had hints of durability issues," NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said this week. "All three of them struggled to get on the field last year because of injuries, and their production was way down. On top of everything else, we need to be more aware of any kind of history of injuries with this wide receiver class."
The quarterbacks and receivers invited to the NFL draft combine are scheduled to report in Indianapolis today and will go through a lot of testing and interviews Thursday and Friday. They are scheduled to participate Saturday in on-field drills.
Alabama will have 14 players at the combine, though several may wait until next Wednesday's pro day in Tuscaloosa to work out.
Ridley, a 6-foot-1, 190-pounder from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was the nation's No. 1 receiver in the 2015 signing class according to 247Sports.com, Rivals.com and ESPN. He is expected to be the top receiver taken in April's NFL draft, which will take place at AT&T Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington.
In his latest mock draft, longtime ESPN analyst Mel Kiper projected Ridley at No. 15 to Arizona after previously pegging him at No. 8 to Chicago.
"Ridley is far and away the best wideout in this draft class," Kiper said, "and getting him at No. 15 is good value."
Kiper has former Texas A&M receiver and return specialist Christian Kirk going at No. 32 to Philadelphia.
If Ridley is selected among the top 15 picks, he will try to buck a recent trend of disappointments at that position.
At last year's draft in Philadelphia, Western Michigan's Davis went fifth overall to Tennessee, but a hamstring injury limited him to 11 games. He didn't do poorly in those contests, tallying 34 receptions for 375 yards.
Clemson's Williams went seventh to the Los Angeles Chargers, but a lower back injury helped render his season totals to 10 games, 11 catches and 95 yards. Ross, who went ninth to Cincinnati after a stellar junior year with the Washington Huskies, tried to play through a shoulder injury but got in just three games and never had a reception.
Corey Coleman out of Baylor University was the top receiver taken two years ago, going 15th overall to Cleveland, but he has broken a bone in his right hand each of his first two NFL seasons, relegating him to 19 out of 32 games.
The 2014 draft class produced five talented first-round receivers - Sammy Watkins (Buffal0), Mike Evans (Tampa Bay), Odell Beckham (New York Giants), Brandin Cooks (New Orleans) and Kelvin Benjamin (Carolina) - but the only first-round wideout in the years since to make a Pro Bowl was former Alabama standout Amari Cooper, who went fourth overall to Oakland in 2015.
Ridley broke Cooper's freshman record with the Crimson Tide in 2015, catching 89 passes for 1,045 yards.
It wasn't long ago when running back was the position needing the most enhancing at draft time, but that was before Georgia's Todd Gurley (2015), Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott (2016) and LSU's Leonard Fournette (2017) were top-10 selections and rushed for 1,000 yards as rookies. Now, according to Mayock, it's the receiver spot needing to make a comeback.
"There is a lack of quality press coverage in college football," Mayock said. "It's hard to watch wideouts get challenged realistically at the line of scrimmage on tape. It's also a whole different conversation about the complexities of NFL defenses versus what a lot of these kids are seeing in college football.
"Ridley's challenge is going to be the complexities of the defensive schemes in the NFL."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.