Uncovering a Rising Star: Who is the next Ladd McConkey?

Photo from Vanderbilt Twitter account

Will Vanderbilt transfer London Humphreys become the next Ladd McConkey for the Georgia Bulldogs?

In early March of this year, the NFL crowd caught up to what the average college football fan has been witness to for the last couple seasons: UGA’s WR Ladd McConkey is a really good football player, and an exceptional athlete—who definitely doesn’t play in the slot.

McConkey blew the casual football fan away with his 40-yard dash performance. The Georgia product clocked a 4.3 score at the NFL combine while measuring in at 6 feet 1 inch and over 185 pounds. Of course, those who’ve followed his career were not surprised by his combine performance. We’ll get into why that was in a moment.

Now, it may interest the reader to know that there is actually a bigger, faster version of Ladd McConkey playing at UGA right now. It’s a name that the average football fan has likely never heard of. However, he’s a player these same fans will insist that he’s ‘their guy’ who’s an underrated ‘sleeper’ in a few years. At which point, you’ll be able to tell he or she that you’ve actually been following said player for several years now.

That player is Vanderbilt transfer WR London Humphreys. Humphreys has been drawing rave reviews early on this spring at Georgia camp. Certainly, his profile is exciting; and he’s a name that I think people in the Devy, C2C, and NFL space should be familiar with.

Comparison of Profiles

So. London Humphreys (6’2, 195)

High school background: 3 Star, 90th ranked WR in the 2023 class from TN.
Athletic background: Comes from a track family, and was a highly successful track athlete in high school. Won four TN state championships as an 11th grader in 2022 in long jump, 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, and 4×100 meter relay. Multi sport athlete who competed in track, basketball and baseball as well. Ran an unofficial 4.41 40-yard dash in high school.
Production profile (so far): Recorded 22 receptions on 46 targets in 12 games, accumulating 439 yards and four scores (including a long TD vs. UGA) for Vanderbilt as a freshman in 2023.

Despite being a fairly unremarkable recruit from a ratings standpoint in high school, The Athletic did a profile on Humphreys in 2022. I’ve pulled a segment from that report, to shed some more light on the type of athlete we are dealing with here:

It came as no surprise when their son won one state championship in 2021 for the long jump and four state championships in 2022 for the long jump, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 4×100-meter relay, a race he anchored. Along the way, London set a school record in April when he ran a 10.71 in the 100-meter dash and a regional record in May when he bested Ramsey’s time in the 200 and ran the race in 21.73 seconds. Just this month, he ran a 4.41 40-yard dash during football practice.

This offseason, London Humphreys transferred to the University of Georgia. Following in Ladd McConkey’s footsteps, Humphreys will likely occupy a boundary role in the offense this fall. Apparently, he’s off to a good start. Here’s an excerpt from a recent practice report from a UGA beat writer:

[Humphreys] actually looked like best WR on the field today. The transfer had like 3 or 4 TDs and a source thought that all of them had come from Beck but wasn’t 100% sure. Either way, he was running with the first team and making plays while doing it. He’s coming on strong.

Those who are familiar with the UGA way already know that the program under Kirby Smart does not feature any player (with the sole exception being Brock Bowers). The result is that none of UGA’s players pad the stat sheet. From that lens, it’s unlikely that Humphreys, even if he were to start and stay healthy throughout his career, will ever finish a season with a noteworthy level of production. That’s just not the way Georgia does things.

Photo: Tony Walsh/UGAAA

Ladd McConkey (6’1, 185)

High school background: 3 Star, 187th ranked WR in the 2020 class from GA.
Athletic background: Competed on the North Murray varsity track and field team, clocking a 10.85 in the 100 meters while also placing third at the region meet in 2019. Caught the eye of scouts at the 2019 Opening Atlanta Regional, where he impressed in drills and clocked a 4.56 time in the 40-yard-dash. As a pro prospect, Ladd McConkey ran a 4.39 40-yard dash in March 2024. Literally could not be guarded in every camp setting he participated in in high school.
Production profile: Finished his career with around 1600 yards receiving in 43 games. His best season from a statistical standpoint was 2022, when he caught 58 of 83 targets for 762 yards and seven scores.

Like London Humphreys, Ladd McConkey was an unheralded recruit in his class. He was a late addition to the UGA 2020 group, after he impressed at Opening Atlanta Regional and other satellite camps. Ironically, being a native of northwest Georgia, McConkey actually grew up as a Tennessee Volunteers fan. These comparisons just write themselves some times: McConkey, a fan of Tennessee but playing for UGA; and Humphreys, being a TN native, beginning his career with Vanderbilt, but eventually playing for UGA also.

It’s well documented by now that McConkey dealt with constant injuries during his time with the Bulldogs. However, as stated earlier, the most prominent reason his numbers aren’t that remarkable is because UGA does not feature players the way other programs do. Their success is based on recruiting a large volume of elite athletes, and rotating players in and out frequently (including at WR).

London Humphreys is a bit bigger than McConkey, but is still (unofficially) faster at this stage of his development compared to McConkey at the same time. This suggests that Humphreys ceiling could be higher than the former UGA playmaker.

Final Word

I don’t know if London Humphreys is going to be considered a starter this year. After all, UGA brought in two other transfers at WR and could add another in the spring. Nonetheless, Humphreys will be heavily involved in the rotation – that’s a guarantee.

With returning QB and potential Heisman candidate Carson Beck at the helm for the Dawgs, plus a tougher schedule that will likely force them to keep their foot on the peddle for four quarters more often than not, this should be an offence that attempts a lot of passes in 2024.

Beck will likely be moving on after this season. That could mean third year player Gunnar Stockton will likely take over. Stockton is a former five/four star in high school recruit who broke Deshaun Watson’s passing record. Therefore, it’s unlikely that there’s a dramatic drop off in terms of quality of service for Humphreys in 2025. At the conclusion of that season, Humphreys will be draft eligible, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he was a four year player rather than an early declare.

One last thing while I still have you: if you’re someone who plays or is interested in fantasy football, might I suggest trying College Fantasy Football (CFF) this year?

I have yet to meet someone who’s played both NFL and CFF that didn’t believe CFF was the superior version of fantasy football. It may seem daunting at first due to the size of the Division I. FBS ecosystem. However, there are several content creators who do the hard work for you. With their help, it’s much easier to navigate your research.

For those interested in playing a more challenging version of fantasy football, or are simply curious to test the limit of your abilities through CFF this year, I’d recommend checking out my site, VolumePigs, to help you get started.

Even if you’re just an NFL or Devy person, I’d still recommend checking my content out; I feature the players that NFL fantasy analysts are going to try to tell you about several years before they even know who these players are.