Denzel Boston: The Next Great Husky WR?
The modern era of college football has been dominated by player mobility and transfers, but one Big-10 WR chose to stay home and carry on the legacy of the future NFL WRs that came before him...
In a college football landscape defined by player mobility and an everchanging shuffle of roster moves and team changes Denzel Boston is outlier, a dying breed of college athletes who chose to stay and develop at their first stop, waiting their turn and learning from the players in front of them. A local 3-Star recruit from Emerald Ridge High School in South Hill, Washington, Boston saw little playing time his first two years. Posting a total of 7 catches for 66 yards in 2022 and 2023 combined, as he watched a litany of future NFL players help guide the Washington Huskies to their first National Title Game appearance in the modern format.
With playing time blocked by the ever steady Jalen McMillan (a 2024 3rd Round Pick), the rising star of Rome Odunze (the 9th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft) and the Texas Tech transfer Ja’Lynn Polk (a 2024 2nd Round Pick), it would have been easy for Boston to hit the portal and find a new home. The same could have been said when Head Coach Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama after the 2023 season - but Boston stayed through it all - a perseverance that saw him finally get rewarded in a big way in 2024.
In his Redshirt Sophomore season, Boston exploded as one of the best WRs in the Big-10. The Honorable Mention All-Big performer started all 13 games for the Huskies, posting career highs across the board and leading the team in both yards (834) and touchdowns (9), the latter mark good for the 8th most in a single season in school history.
Boston enters the 2025 season as not only a projected college football standout- Phil Steele named him a preseason 1st Team All-Big 10 WR just this past week - but also the next Husky receiver to set his eyes on the NFL Draft and carry on the decade long pipeline from Montlake to the pros.
At 6’ 4” (91st percentile), 209 pounds (68th percentile) Boston looks every bit the part of an NFL X-WR. His blend of size and burst on the outside - 87% of his 2024 snaps were as an outside WR - is a difficult combination for corners to stay in front of in press coverage. Whether he blows by them with his first step to win vertically or uses his strength to power through their leverage, he is adept at winning his releases at the line of scrimmage.
When combined with his catch radius and ball skills it makes him a devastating red zone and jump ball target.
Boston is more than just a big bodied ball winner, he possesses quality foot speed and quickness for a player of his size. While he won’t ever win any awards for his top end speed or explosiveness, he is a controlled mover who can sink his hips and cleanly get out of his breaks to create separation.
Boston’s underrated quickness combined with a strong understanding of coverage and how to attack defenders leverage, makes him very effective on intermediate routes in particular.
The thing holding Boston back from a place among upper echelon receiver prospects is his athletic tools are closer to solid than great. He lacks the top end speed to threaten defenses vertically, and even when he can turn around off coverage defenders he lacks the juice to finish them.
His athletic limitations also show up with the the ball in his hands after the catch, as he averaged a rather paltry 5.3 YAC/REC in 2024, which ranked 178th among qualified receivers. Despite his punt return background - 18 returns in 2023 & 2024 for 108 yards - he struggles to consistently make defenders miss in space due to a lack of twitch or explosiveness.
Heading into his Redshirt Junior season, Boston’s profile contains a whole lot of strengths and very few weaknesses, outside of not having true game changing athleticism. In a perceived weaker 2026 WR class he is the early front runner to be the top available true perimeter X-WR. With another strong season under his belt, he has a legitimate shot to be the top pass catcher off the board come spring time and stamp his name into the Husky history books alongside his talented predecessors.