School: Texas
Year: Jr
Position: WR

Physical Attributes

• Height: 6-0
• Weight: 195
• RAS: DNC
• 40 Time: 4.3

Rankings

• Joe’s Ranking: 7.1
• Consensus Position Rank: 5
• My Position Ranking: 3
• Difference in Ranking: 2
• Tier: 1
• Projected Round: 1

Games Watched

• Michigan ’24
• Georgia ’24

Ryan’s Notes

Positives

• Golden is a technically proficient receiver with explosive movement skills including an outrageous burst.
• His top end speed is undeniable and his acceleration delivers just as much on tape as it does in testing.
• He can beat press with accurate hands as shown with a double hand swipe to Will Johnson’s jam attempt and a nice release although I’d want to see his release package extended.
• He can absolutely read coverages and he bends his routes to be in position for his QB in the minimum time by tightly cutting behind the second level defenders hips.
• Despite his immense success against Georgia in the SEC game there were still yards left on the field by Ewers not being able to hit the sideline windows he created with his speed.
• His ball tracking skills are absolutely elite, I have no idea how he always manages to time his leaps to be at full reach as the ball enters his catch radius, just a natural ability inanely given or absent: Golden has it in bucket loads.
• Whilst his speed keeps safeties up at night when attacking vertically, he is at his most dangerous when breaking inside. I love the way he leans on zone or man match corners before breaking off one foot as a speed cut, opening up the second and third slant windows. He will force linebackers to drop further and open up the run game for whatever team brings him on board.
• I just can’t get away from how much speed he gets when coming out of his breaks but also how he always breaks from a square position meaning it’s really hard for defenders to get a read of his next move, I’d hate to have to cover this guy.
• His route running is very good but my favourite thing is that he knows when to deploy complex moves and when he just needs to break and fly, he leans against his leverage before using speed cuts when running deeper routes where he needs to be efficient but when he’s in longer developing routes he has the moves to separate without using speed.

Negatives

• Something I have noticed early on is that he doesn’t attack the ball in the air, that’s both on screens and when in phase, his speed doesn’t always expose creases in the defense because of it.
• His blocking is hit or miss, he gives good effort but after let’s guys outside his frame which results in an eventual loss or hold. I’d want to see this technique improved as his narrow grip doesn’t give him much leverage against bigger defenders.
• As much as I like how Texas wanted to bring him into the game their constant screens to him are not how to get the best out of his abilities. He has enough burst to get the initial yards available through close coverage but he doesn’t have the elusiveness to make splash plays from these situations and I’d rather see him in an offense that pushes the ball downfield.
• He sometimes oversells his cuts with unnecessary double moves but his feel for route tempo is so good that he’s well in control to be in position on time.

Ryan’s Summary

Golden is the type of receiver who will elevate their game between Texas and the pros because most of the traits he has translates to pro systems. His speed is impressive and that 4.29 time is seen in tape but what separates him from other speedsters is that it’s a part of his game but not his whole dynamic. His route running is fluid and variable based on offensive concepts and leverage, he runs in a Quarterback friendly manner too. I didn’t like how Texas force fed him the ball on screens as that’s not his best quality and his lack of elusiveness was exposed. Overall I am a big fan of his tape and I think his skills will develop even further without the limitations of college offenses.