In a Sunday post, I wrote about new Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and how I think he might be able to make somewhat of an immediate impact on offense during his rookie season on third downs and inside the opponent’s red zone due to the success he had in those two key areas during his college career at USC. While I had hoped to have a video showing his third down receptions last season as part of that post by the end of the evening, I wasn’t able to get done in time.
Instead of bumping that aforementioned post, I thought I would create a new one and include the compilation video of all the third down catches that Smith-Schuster had for USC in 2016. In total there were 20 such receptions and it’s interesting to see how he won on those plays, the yards after catch he registered and where he lined up on offense.
As you can see in the play-by-play I provided below the video, Smith-Schuster only failed to convert four of his 20 total third down receptions in 2016.
| DATE | OPP | QRT | TIME | DWN | DIST | YDS | PLAY BY PLAY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/10/2016 | Utah St. | 1st | 11:50 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4-M.Browne complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster for 3 yards and a touchdown |
| 9/10/2016 | Utah St. | 2nd | 2:27 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 4-M.Browne complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to UTS 39 for 7 yards |
| 9/10/2016 | Utah St. | 4th | 9:45 | 3 | 11 | 15 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster for 15 yards and a touchdown |
| 9/23/2016 | Utah | 1st | 14:00 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to USC 43 for 15 yards |
| 9/23/2016 | Utah | 2nd | 12:20 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to USC 50 for 14 yards |
| 9/23/2016 | Utah | 4th | 6:00 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to UTH 37 for 2 yards |
| 10/1/2016 | Arizona St. | 1st | 7:05 | 3 | 10 | 15 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to USC 20 for 15 yards |
| 10/1/2016 | Arizona St. | 2nd | 9:58 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster for 3 yards and a touchdown |
| 10/1/2016 | Arizona St. | 2nd | 1:07 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to ASU 28 for 8 yards |
| 10/8/2016 | Colorado | 2nd | 5:14 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to COL 25 for 5 yards |
| 10/8/2016 | Colorado | 3rd | 5:57 | 3 | 4 | 34 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to COL 35 for 34 yards |
| 10/8/2016 | Colorado | 4th | 1:19 | 3 | 7 | 25 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to COL 14 for 25 yards |
| 10/15/2016 | Arizona | 1st | 3 | 6 | 8 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to ARI 25 for 8 yards | |
| 10/27/2016 | California | 1st | 2:19 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to USC 27 for 12 yards |
| 11/12/2016 | Washington | 1st | 11:50 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to USC 40 for 18 yards |
| 11/12/2016 | Washington | 1st | 10:02 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to WAS 40 for 12 yards |
| 11/19/2016 | UCLA | 1st | 11:31 | 3 | 17 | 16 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to UCLA 31 for 16 yards |
| 11/19/2016 | UCLA | 3rd | 0:00 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to UCLA 9 for 11 yards |
| 1/2/2017 | Penn St. | 1st | 11:30 | 3 | 10 | 25 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to PSU 26 for 25 yards |
| 1/2/2017 | Penn St. | 4th | 11:25 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 14-S.Darnold complete to 9-J.Smith-Schuster to USC 33 for 12 yards |
