Cody Gustafson - The next Cooper Kupp? College football’s most prolific receiver

College football’s most prolific receiver first has to make sure NFL scouts know his name

It is not lost on college football’s most prolific receiver, a guy who constantly gets Cooper Kupp comparisons from the coaches and players around him, that people don’t know his name.

Cody Gustafson caught 97 passes for 1,420 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior at Grove City College. He finished his career with 341 receptions for 5,328 yards and 52 touchdowns. (Photo courtesy of Grove City College Athletics)

At least not the right people right now.

So, as the rest of the world runs through its daily routine, Cody Gustafson has turned his on its head — somehow finding time to both work a job with UPMC and devote hours-long blocks to tearing his body down, building it back up, and fine-tuning in preparation for an opportunity that is not promised.

Gustafson checks a lot of boxes that would normally have his name bantered about as the 2022 NFL Draft approaches. He finished his career last season second among active NCAA players in receptions with 341. His career-line of 5,328 receiving yards was first among active NCAA players as was his 112.9 yards per game. He scored 52 touchdowns across that time, was twice a conference offensive player of the year, and has more All-America honors than he can keep track of.

He can line up outside and run by guys. He can line up inside, and his quickness and route-running make him nearly uncoverable. The skillset is, indeed, very Kupp-like — at 6-foot-2, 195 pounds he is even similar in stature to the reigning Super Bowl MVP — and if he were in a Power 5 program, NFL scouts probably would have spent many a Saturday running evaluations on him.

But Gustafson kind of laughs at the question of whether those guys even know who he is right now. And, if he’s on an NFL Draft website — you know, one of those deals that try to predict who will be picked where and who the sleeper selections might be — he said he has not seen it yet.

“I mean, we did hear from a few guys going into the season,” the former Shippensburg Area High School standout said. “But I doubt any of them ever saw me play.”

Only one player — RJ Bowers — has gone on from tiny, Division 3 Grove City College to the NFL. Gustafson hopes to make it two, but he knows the stats — except for, perhaps, one — might not be good enough.

“The numbers are objective,” he said. “You can argue those, and you can say, ‘Well, he might not have played the best competition.’ But you can either run a 4.4 (second), 40 (yard dash) or you can’t run a 4.4, 40. “And I think once I run in front of those guys, it’ll really be an eye-opener for them.”

But he also knows that if he even gets lucky enough to show them his speed, he might only get one crack at making sure the NFL scouts not only know his name but remember it. So, six days per week, he shuffles from his day job to New Castle’s Grossetti Performance facility to prepare for what he hopes will be a life-changing moment.

“It’s an uphill battle,” Gustafson said. “Absolutely, it is. But I like it this way.”