Stanford has struggled over the last couple years, but they’ve still been able to produce some talented players with NFL futures.
Case in point: wide receiver Elic Ayomanor. His time as a contributor for the Cardinal was brief, but he made a massive impact and looks to be one of the first wide receivers selected in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Elic Ayomanor Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’2″
- Weight: 210 pounds
- Position: Wide Receiver
- School: Stanford
- Current Year: Redshirt Sophomore
Scouting Report
A native of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, Ayomanor moved to the United States in high school and spent his last two years at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. He was a champion track athlete in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes and a three-star recruit in football. He ended up committing to Stanford in the latter sport.
Due to a knee injury, Ayomanor redshirted what would have been his true freshman season in 2022. He bounced back admirably in 2023, though, stepping into the starting lineup quickly for Stanford. He finished the year with 62 catches, 1,013 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns. Most notably, he tallied 13 receptions and 294 yards with 3 touchdowns in a comeback win over Colorado.
Though Ayomanor had just one season of tape to go off of, the NFL had their sights on him after his strong 2023 campaign. Having won the 2023 Jon Cornish Trophy as the top Canadian player in college football, he put together another strong year in 2024.
In the 12 games he played, Ayomanor finished with 63 receptions for 831 yards and 6 touchdowns. Having spent two years in the Cardinal’s starting lineup, he led the team in receptions and receiving yards both years, leading in receiving touchdowns in 2023 and tying for the lead in 2024.
Strengths
- Big-bodied wide receiver who can win in the slot but thrives most out wide.
- Has a well-built frame that should be able to withstand the NFL level of physicality, and he has a large catch radius, to boot.
- Coordinated weapon with good body control displayed in how he adjusts to the ball when it’s in the air.
- Tracks down the deep ball well and is capable of adjusting himself to make over-the-shoulder grabs.
- High points the ball well in jump-ball situations.
- Offers a good speed release off the line of scrimmage and has the short-area quickness needed to get open on slants.
- For a bigger receiver, he has good breakaway speed when he gets the ball in his hands.
- Does a solid job of creating vertical separation with pure athleticism.
- Able to contort himself in a necessary manner to adapt to underthrown passes.
- Physicality at the catch point is impressive, which helps him maximize his length.
- Combination of raw size, play strength, and speed can make him a tough player to bring down at the point of contact.
Weaknesses
- Has occasional issues with drops, having averaged an above-average 8.7% career drop rate during his time in college.
- Has a tendency to make the hard catches look easy and the easy catches look hard.
- Being a taller receiver, it can be tougher for him to drop his hips and explode coming out of his breaks.
- Can struggle against off-man coverage due to its prioritization of ability to work with space, as he tends to win a bit too much with just physical ability.
- Won’t necessarily wow you with his agility as a YAC receiver.
- Doesn’t run a super deep route tree, so he’ll have a bit more to learn in terms of route salesmanship and his ability to vary up his releases off the line of scrimmage.
- Already has a serious knee injury to his name.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
A big-bodied boundary ‘X’ receiver, Ayomanor has the physical tools to hypothetically thrive along the perimeter in the NFL.
He has a large catch radius and impressive ball skills, and his coordination helps him track down the ball well and take optimal angles in the air. He offers pretty good speed for his size, too, and the combination of his size and speed make him a difficult defender to bring down after the catch. There’s plenty of developmental upside to work with if you select him in the 2025 NFL Draft.
If you’re looking for a polished route-running technician, Ayomanor might not be your first choice. He’s a bit high coming into his breaks and doesn’t have the explosiveness in his lower half to consistently create separation. He’s still developing his release package, and a high center of gravity can make it easier for cornerbacks to press him near the line of scrimmage.
Year 1 might not be pretty for Ayomanor, but the ceiling is high for him down the line. Though I would not say he’s polished enough to be a first-round pick, his combination of size, youth, production, play strength, and speed give him upside that’s worth betting on in Day 2. Early Round 3 feels like the best range for him, though don’t be surprised if he sneaks his way into the back end of Round 2.