Colton
Dowell.
Colton
Dowell.
UT Martin
"The hometown FCS record-holder with a Combine-caliber pro day (4.44, 41.5-inch vert) — a seventh-round traits bet who became UT Martin's first draft pick in a decade."Pre-draft read
Dowell is a 6-3, 212-pound boundary receiver from UT Martin who built his case on size-speed raw material — he ran 4.44 with a 41.5-inch vertical and an 11-1 broad jump at his pro day, elite testing for his frame. On FCS tape he won as a linear, big-bodied target: vertical stems, back-shoulder work, and enough long speed to stack corners who underestimated him.
The refinement was always the question. His route tree at UT Martin was limited, his releases were undeveloped against press, and the jump in competition left real doubt about how quickly the traits would translate. What was never in doubt was the ball skills and the testing profile — a four-time All-OVC honoree who left as the school's all-time leader in receiving yards.
Vertical passing game that can hide a raw route tree behind size, deep speed and special-teams value
Year 1: practice-squad or WR6 with special-teams duties; ceiling: developmental boundary target
Timing-based West Coast offenses demanding polished route running from Day 1
The path was always special teams first; the ACL in his rookie season closed it.
Colton Dowell Highlights | 2022
Highlight reel from his first-team All-OVC senior season at UT Martin.
Colton Dowell's Journey to All-Time Leading Receiver
UT Martin's official feature on Dowell becoming the program's career receiving leader.
Colton Dowell Film Study
Short film study on his case to make the Titans' roster.
Dowell was a hometown flier in the purest sense — a two-star recruit from Lebanon, Tennessee, twenty minutes from Nissan Stadium, who became UT Martin's all-time receiving leader (177 catches, 2,796 yards, 19 touchdowns) and a four-time All-OVC pick with first-team honors in 2020 and 2022. His senior year was the loudest: 67 catches for 1,036 yards and six scores, earning first-team All-OVC again.
The scouting case was the athletic profile, which was genuinely rare. At his pro day he ran 4.44 in the forty with a 41.5-inch vertical, an 11-1 broad jump and 23 bench reps at 6-3, 212 — numbers that would have headlined the Combine. The tape showed a big target with body control and enough deep speed, but against FCS competition, with a raw route tree and questions about separating against NFL athletes.
Tennessee made him the 228th pick — the first Skyhawk drafted since 2013, and the Titans' only receiver taken in an all-offense draft. It was a classic seventh-round bet: local kid, freaky pro day, program records, and a hope that the traits would survive the leap in competition.
For a small-school receiver, the checklist was long but the upside was real enough to draft — and Nashville's own made for an easy story to root for.
- 01
Elite pro-day testing
4.44 forty, 41.5-inch vertical, 11-1 broad and 23 bench reps at 6-3, 212; legitimately rare athleticism.
- 02
Produced for years
UT Martin's all-time leader in receiving yards (2,796) with 177 catches and 19 touchdowns.
- 03
Four-time All-OVC
First-team honors in 2020 and 2022; second-team in 2019 and 2021.
- 04
Senior-year leap
67 catches, 1,036 yards and six touchdowns in 2022, his loudest tape against FCS competition.
- 05
Body control
Adjusts well to the ball in the air and wins back-shoulder targets down the boundary.
- 01
Level of competition
FCS tape with no Power Five on the schedule leaves his translation genuinely unproven.
- 02
Raw route running
Limited tree at UT Martin; wins with size and athleticism more than route craft.
- 03
Press releases
Undeveloped against physical coverage at the line, a real concern against NFL corners.
- 04
Injury history
Missed most of the fall 2021 season; durability questions surfaced early.
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | UT Martin | 11 | 10 | 138 | 3 |
| 2019 | UT Martin | 12 | 38 | 765 | 4 |
| 2020 | UT Martin | 7 | 40 | 459 | 4 |
| 2021 | UT Martin | 6 | 22 | 398 | 2 |
| 2022 | UT Martin | — | 67 | 1036 | 6 |
| Career | — | 36 | 177 | 2796 | 19 |
Season lines and career totals per UT Martin bio as reported by Wikipedia/SI (cfbstats does not index UT Martin). UT Martin's all-time leader in receiving yards; four-time All-OVC (1st team 2020, 2022; 2nd team 2019, 2021). 2017 redshirted.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Size-speed mid-round receiver who bounced between rosters as a depth piece.
Big, fast late-round receiver who parlayed testing into a long vertical-threat career.
FCS standout whose athleticism never survived the jump in competition.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Dowell actually made the Titans' 53 as a rookie — a genuine win for a seventh-round FCS receiver — and appeared in ten games in 2023, mostly on special teams, before a torn ACL and meniscus in Week 17 ended his season. He spent 2024 on the PUP list, never playing a snap, and Tennessee waived him in July 2025.
Since then it has been the journeyman loop: a five-day stint on Baltimore's practice squad in October 2025, a futures deal with San Francisco in January 2026, a camp cut, and a two-day claim in Pittsburgh. Through three seasons his NFL line reads ten games, one catch, three yards.
The verdict lands where seventh-round expectations usually do: the athleticism was real, the college production was real, and the leap from the OVC to the NFL was simply too big once the knee injury stole his developmental window. For pick 228, a rookie 53-man roster spot is more than most; the miss costs nothing, and UT Martin still has its first draft pick of the decade.