After Efton Chism III, who will be the next great Eastern Washington wide receiver?

If statistics and ratings are fair indicators, then Efton Chism III is one of the best wide receivers to play football at Eastern Washington.

A third-team All-America selection by various organizations last season, Chism was a preseason first-team All-America selection and was one of six wide receivers named on the watch list for the 2024 Walter Payton Award, which annually goes to the best offensive player in the FCS.

Through seven games of his final college season, Chism has backed up the hype: He leads the FCS in receptions with 69, at least 16 more than anyone else; he is tied for fourth nationally with eight touchdown receptions; and just one receiver has more than his 750 receiving yards.

He will no doubt add to those totals Saturday – in 48 career games, he’s never been held without a catch – when the Eagles (2-5, 1-2 Big Sky) play the 11th-ranked Idaho Vandals (5-3, 2-2) at 6 p.m. at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

Eastern has a long history of producing great wide receivers alongside the many great quarterbacks who have played in Cheney. Chism will go down as one of the program’s best to play his position.

What’s not so clear is who will be Eastern’s next great receiver after Chism graduates.

“We know the standard here, and I’m trying to carry on the tradition,” EWU wide receivers coach Jeff McDaniels said this week. “We do things differently in this room than any other room in the country, and we have the history to back it up.”

McDaniels is in his second year as wide receivers coach. Many of the players at the position were recruited to Cheney by other people. But McDaniels has been around college football for nearly two decades and has seen much of the country, and it’s hard not to be aware of what Eastern Washington’s receivers have accomplished over that span.

In 13 of the past 20 seasons, Eastern Washington has had a first-, second- or third-team All-America wide receiver. That list most obviously includes Cooper Kupp (2013-2016), but it also includes Talolo Limu-Jones (2020-21 and 2021), Shaq Hill (2016), Kendrick Bourne (2016), Brandon Kaufman (2012 and 2010), Nicholas Edwards (2011), Aaron Boyce (2007) and Eric Kimble (2004-2005).

All of those are the people Chism has been gradually passing on Eastern Washington’s career list for receiver statistics. Chism ranks second in receptions (295), fifth in receiving yards (3,291) and is tied for fifth in touchdown receptions (32). He is also on pace for a 100-catch season, something that’s been done just three times at Eastern, each time by Kupp.

But as constructed, Eastern’s roster does not contain a clear next-man-up as far as greatness goes.

After catching 45 passes as a junior last year, senior Nolan Ulm has played in only four games due to injuries this year and has just seven receptions. (Notably, Ulm has not taken a redshirt season but still could if he sat the rest of this one.) He has 90 career receptions for 1,102 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Redshirt sophomore Miles Williams has also been limited to four games by injuries and has 14 catches this season, 22 in his career. Neither Ulm nor Williams is on the depth chart for Saturday’s game against Idaho.

The player with the second-most receptions on the team this season is senior quarterback Michael Wortham, who has 18. Junior Noah Cronquist, who transferred into the program before this season, has 13 for 194 yards and two touchdowns. He is the only player besides Chism with more than one touchdown catch.

After Cronquist and Williams, no one else has more than eight catches.

“I tried to give the rest of the room as many opportunities as humanly possible in fall camp, knowing that we can’t get to a spot in the middle or later in the season and say I wish we would have given guys more opportunities,” McDaniels said. “I’ve been so proud that through some injuries the room has come more together.”

The latest to take advantage of the opportunity was redshirt sophomore Wesley Garrett. He started last weekend against UC Davis and made the first seven catches of his college career. They went for 76 yards and a touchdown.

Garrett missed four games earlier this season after a fluke leg injury he suffered when tripping over a teammate’s helmet in practice. He said he’s happy to be back and making meaningful contributions on offense.

“I always knew I was capable of playing,” Garrett said. “I knew I believed in myself, and now everybody else knows.”

A 2022 graduate of Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, Washington, Garrett has been in the program for three seasons. He’s also known Chism since they were on the same baseball teams for a couple of years in middle school. Garrett said he mostly played catcher, while Chism – perhaps unsurprisingly – was the center fielder.

“He’s a workhorse,” Chism said of Garrett. “He loves football. Love everything about it. … With Miles and Nolan down, somebody has got to step up, and I think Wes did a great job of that.”

Last year, Garrett played in six games on special teams and his contributions there have been notable. On Saturday, he recovered the football on UC Davis’ botched punt return.

“Wes stepped up in a lot of ways. He’s a special teams demon for us,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said after Saturday’s game. “He’s not a one-dimensional player. He’s a tough kid. He takes blocking as seriously as catching. I really respect his mentality when he’s on the field.”

At least until Ulm or Williams returns, Garrett is positioned to get a starter’s wages in snaps, starting this weekend against Idaho.

“They’re extremely well coached,” McDaniels said of Idaho’s defense. “They are an extremely athletic group with really, really talented corners.”

McDaniels acknowledged that the Eagles will continue to look for different ways to get the ball to Chism. It’s something anyone who watches film on the Eagles will know to be true.

But McDaniels also has faith in the rest of the receivers, even if they might not be receiving the accolades of the senior preseason All-American.

Garrett also sees the potential.

“It’s not like our room is any less talented,” Garrett said. “We have guys, and our freshmen are good, too.

“We’re just young, and we’re trying to develop.”