Laviska Shenault grew up in Texas and lead his De Soto High School football team to its first State Championship. Shenault also played for the U.S. team in the Under-19 North American Championship game against Canada and caught a touchdown pass in the victory. A four star recruit, he received an offer from Alabama but decided to take his talents to Colorado. He had a quiet freshman season in Boulder, but did display his knack for making big plays by averaging 24 yards on his seven receptions.
Laviska Shenault Advanced Stats & Metrics Profile w/ College Stats
Shenault’s prolific sophomore campaign gives him a 19.9 (66th-percentile among qualified wide receivers) Breakout Age. Sophomore seasons are important for wide receivers and have proved to be early indicators of NFL success for studs like A.J. Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Shenault put himself in Brown and Smith-Schuster’s company as a prospect by tallying 86 receptions and 1,011 receiving yards in only nine games. Even with missing games due to a foot injury suffered against USC, his receiving production constituted 31.7-percent of Colorado’s receptions and 33.7-percent of the Buffs receiving yards. Furthermore, he displayed the rushing dynamism that we covet in wide receiver prospect profiles. In his monstrous sophomore season, he played spurts as Wildcat quarterback, rushing 17 times for 115 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Shenault regressed as a receiver last season, catching just 56 balls for 764 receiving yards. He missed one game due to a core muscle injury but maintained a presence in the rushing game, averaging 7.0 yards per carry on 23 totes and finding the end zone twice. Plus, he tallied 54 yards on his lone kick return of the season, further displaying his impressive size-adjusted dynamism.
Check out Laviska Shenault on PlayerProfiler’s Updated Rookie Rankings:
At the Combine, Shenault showed up yoked up. At 6-1 and 227-pounds he owns the highest Body Mass Index (BMI) of any wide receiver in the 2020 class. Despite high expectations for his Combine performance, he left fans wanting after he pulled his hamstring while running the forty and failed to participate in any other movement drills. Though he suffered an injury mid-performance, he still ran a 4.58 (37th-percentile) 40-yard dash. Due to his thick build, he checks in with a 103.2 (78th-percentile) Height-Adjusted Speed Score, which is Top-15 among 2020 wideouts.
Despite his injury issues, Shenault leaves Colorado with a 35.1-percent (68th-percentile) College Dominator Rating. Given his college production in the Pac-12 and his fire hydrant-like build, it makes sense that he would be Best Comparable to 2019 rookie breakout A.J. Brown. Fantasy players and NFL analysts see the similarities. In his most recent mock, Danny Kelly predicted the New York Jets will take the intriguing wideout in the mid-second round of the NFL Draft. Shenault is currently a Top-15 asset in PlayerProfiler’s 2020 Rookie Rankings. If selected early on Day 2, he’ll be a screaming value in the second round of 2020 dynasty rookie drafts.
