Wide receiver Kalija Lipscomb, at No. 82, ranks as one of the 100 best players we've covered.
Honors and awards: 2020 Reese's Senior Bowl participant
2020 NFL Scouting Combine
In the VU record book: Single-season receptions: fourth (87, 2018)
Single-season receiving yards: 10th (916, 2018)
Single-season receiving touchdowns: tied-third (nine, 2017) and tied-seventh (eight, 2018)
Career receptions: fourth (198)
Career receiving yards: fifth (2,406)
Career receiving touchdowns: second (22)
Before VU: Starred at Jesuit (La.) High School, starting three years and hauling in over 130 catches for 2,300 yards in his career. Had 56 catches for 1,036 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior, and 64 catches for 989 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior. Was an all-state pick in 2014 and 2015.
Freshman (2016): Playing as a true freshman, Lipscomb ranked third on the team with 27 catches. Had a season-best game of six receptions for 59 yards at Georgia Tech. Had at least one catch in the team's first 10 games. Returned a punt 71 yards in the Independence Bowl. Returned 10 punts for 149 yards (14.9 per return).
Sophomore (2017): Led the team in touchdown catches and ranked second in receiving yards, ranking 14th in the Southeastern Conference in the later category. Led the team with 16.5 yard per catch. Had multiple receptions in 11 of 12 games. Had seven catches for 128 yards and a 47-yard touchdown vs. South Carolina. Returned 12 punts for 83 yards.
Junior (2018): Led the SEC with 87 receptions, and had four catches or more in 12 of 13 games. Had a career-high 172 receiving yards (and a 68-yard touchdown catch) against Tennessee State. Set a career high with 11 catches against Notre Dame, those totaling 89 yards. Had two touchdown catches against Nevada, TSU and Ole Miss, all games Vanderbilt won.
Senior (2019): Tied a season high in catches (eight) and touchdowns (one), and set a season high with 100 yards, in the win over Northern Illinois. Had eight catches for 98 yards vs. Purdue. His two other touchdowns came against LSU and Tennessee.
Post-VU: Lipscomb is awaiting his professional football future. He was invited to the NFL Combine, where he put up these results.
Final thoughts, and why I ranked him where I did: One surprising fact from Lipscomb's career is that he had just three 100-yard receiving games, and only one came against an SEC team. The flip side is that it points to consistency across his career in that he attained the numbers he did without huge games, but I'd have never guessed that if I hadn't researched it for this article.
Obviously, everyone expected Lipscomb's career to end differently. He was a preseason first-team All-SEC pick before last year and had a shot to land in the top 10 of the SEC all-time leaderboards in catches, receiving touchdowns and receiving yards with another season like 2019. That didn't happen, though he is 13th on the league's all-time receptions chart.
An expected ending to Lipscomb's career would have changed where he landed here by a few dozen spots. The majority of the blame lies outside Lipscomb rather than with him---and in his defense, check out his Pro Football Focus grades, which reflect things other than his raw receiving output (like blocking and route-running)--in the table below. But things are what they are and he lands instead at No. 82.
