Ian Strong stats, 2026
California (3–5, ACC). Wide receiver. 2026 season, games through Oct 24, 2026.
Ian Strong is a wide receiver for California (3–5). Among receivers and tight ends this season he's 24th in explosive catches (16+ yards) (14), 56th in receiving yards (506), 84th in catches (33), in 7 games. This week: California at NC State.
Bio
Who is Ian Strong?
- Position
- Wide receiver
- Class
- Senior
- Height
- 6-4
- Weight
- 210 pounds
- Number
- No. 9
- Hometown
- Coram, NY
- High school
- St. Anthony's (Long Island City, NY)
- Recruiting
- 3-star, No. 1198 in the 2023 class, signed with Rutgers
- Transfers
- Rutgers to California (2026)
From the 2026 roster, the 247Sports recruiting composite and the transfer portal, all via CollegeFootballData.com.
The season
Ian Strong's receiving stats
He's 56th of 682 receivers and tight ends in receiving yards (506) and 84th of 682 receivers and tight ends in catches (33).
| Stat | Season | National rank |
|---|---|---|
| Receiving yards | 506 | 56th of 682 |
| Catches | 33 | 84th of 682 |
| Yards per catch | 15.3 | 155th of 675 |
| Receiving TDs | 1 | 318th of 506 |
The season
Ian Strong's receiving efficiency and big plays
He's 24th of 657 receivers and tight ends in explosive catches (16+ yards) (14) and 184th of 199 receivers and tight ends in EPA per play (0.26).
| Stat | Season | National rank |
|---|---|---|
| Explosive catches (16+ yards) | 14 | 24th of 657 |
| EPA per play | 0.26 | 184th of 199 |
Ranks are among every FBS receivers and tight end with the stat this season. Rates need a minimum sample (50 dropbacks for passing rates, 20 carries, 8 catches). From the play-by-play.
Charts
How does Ian Strong compare, in charts?
Compare
How does Ian Strong compare with the other top receivers and tight ends?
- Ian Strong vs. Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State
- Ian Strong vs. Malachi Toney, Miami
- Ian Strong vs. Jesse Legree, Oregon State
- Ian Strong vs. KJ Duff, Rutgers
- Ian Strong vs. Koby Howard, Penn State
- Ian Strong vs. Charlie Becker, Indiana
- Ian Strong vs. Nick Marsh, Indiana
- Ian Strong vs. Reed Harris, Arizona State
- Ian Strong vs. JJ Buchanan, Michigan
- Ian Strong vs. Ryan Williams, Alabama
- Ian Strong vs. Wyatt Young, Oklahoma State
- Ian Strong vs. Cam Coleman, Texas
- Ian Strong vs. Jackson Harris, LSU
- Ian Strong vs. Duce Robinson, Florida State
- Ian Strong vs. DJ Epps, West Virginia
- Ian Strong vs. Carlos Hernandez, Wake Forest
- Ian Strong vs. Joseph Williams, Colorado
- Ian Strong vs. Ryan Wingo, Texas
- Ian Strong vs. Gavin Freeman, Baylor
- Ian Strong vs. Deuce Alexander, Ole Miss
- Ian Strong vs. Umari Hatcher, Syracuse
- Ian Strong vs. Cayden Lee, Missouri
- Ian Strong vs. Vernell Brown III, Florida
- Ian Strong vs. Legend Glasker, BYU
- Ian Strong vs. Dakorien Moore, Oregon
- Ian Strong vs. Lotzeir Brooks, Alabama
- Ian Strong vs. Lawayne McCoy, Louisville
- Ian Strong vs. Trent Mosley, USC
- Ian Strong vs. Micah Gilbert, Notre Dame
- Ian Strong vs. Amare Thomas, Houston
- Ian Strong vs. Donovan Olugbode, Missouri
- Ian Strong vs. Makai Jackson, Liberty
- Ian Strong vs. Cataurus Hicks, Pittsburgh
- Ian Strong vs. Justin Bowick, Oklahoma State
- Ian Strong vs. Mike Matthews, Tennessee
- Ian Strong vs. Chris Marshall, Arkansas
- Ian Strong vs. Collin Dixon, Illinois
- Ian Strong vs. Griffin Wilde, Northwestern
- Ian Strong vs. Tre Richardson, Louisville
- Ian Strong vs. Isaiah Sategna, Oklahoma
- Ian Strong vs. Anthony Evans III, Mississippi State
- Ian Strong vs. Jordan Faison, Notre Dame
- Ian Strong vs. DeAndre Moore Jr., Colorado
- Ian Strong vs. Nik McMillan, Kansas
- Ian Strong vs. Winston Watkins, LSU
- Ian Strong vs. Tony Diaz, Iowa
- Ian Strong vs. Isaiah Myers, Missouri State
- Ian Strong vs. Junior Sherrill, Vanderbilt
- Ian Strong vs. Dallas Wilson, Florida
Career
Ian Strong's career stats
| Season | Team | Catches | Rec yds | Yds/catch | Rec TD | Rush yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Rutgers | 16 | 230 | 14.4 | 2 | — |
| 2024 | Rutgers | 42 | 668 | 15.9 | 5 | — |
| 2025 | Rutgers | 52 | 762 | 14.7 | 5 | — |
| 2026 | California | 33 | 506 | 15.3 | 1 | 0 |
| Career | 143 | 2,166 | 15.1 | 13 | 0 |
Past seasons (back to 2022) from CollegeFootballData.com; 2026 from the play-by-play, games through Oct 24, 2026.
By school
How did Ian Strong do at Rutgers and California?
California this season is where he's been best: his best on 2 of the 4 rates below. That's 15.3 yards a catch (15.1 at Rutgers) and 16+ yard gains on 42.4% of his catches (25.7%). His weakest stretch was Rutgers (2023–2025): 15.1 yards a catch and 16+ yard gains on 25.7% of his catches. His biggest season for receiving yards was 2025 at Rutgers, with 762. The California numbers are 2026 so far, through Oct 24, 2026. The rates compare fairly with his other seasons; the totals are still growing.
| School | Seasons | Catches | Rec yds | Yds/catch | Rec TD | Rush yds | Explosive catches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rutgers | 2023–2025 | 110 | 1,660 | 15.1 | 12 | — | 25.7% |
| California | 2026 (so far) | 33 | 506 | 15.3 | 1 | 0 | 42.4% |
* 2026 so far, through Oct 24, 2026.
Totals for his seasons at each school; rates worked out from those totals. Success and explosive rates count every play; EPA per play leaves out garbage time. Rates need the same minimum sample as the season stats.
Advanced
Ian Strong's advanced stats by season
| Season | Team | EPA/play | Pass EPA/play | Explosive catches | Total EPA | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Rutgers | +1.19 | +1.19 | 37.5% | 21.4 | 5% |
| 2024 | Rutgers | +1.59 | +1.59 | 23.8% | 66.9 | 6% |
| 2025 | Rutgers | +0.60 | +0.60 | 23.5% | 50.1 | 13% |
| 2026 | California | +0.26 | +0.26 | 42.4% | 13.0 | 11% |
EPA per play is the expected points a player adds on each of his plays (0 is average; glossary). Success means the play stayed on schedule: half the yards to go on first down, 70% on second, all of them on third or fourth. Explosive means a run of 12+ yards or a completion of 16+, as a share of his throws, carries or catches. Usage is the share of his team's plays that went to him. EPA and usage leave out garbage time; success and explosive rates count every play. From CollegeFootballData.com and cfbfastR.
Game log
Ian Strong's game log, 2026
FAQ
Questions about Ian Strong
What position does Ian Strong play?
Ian Strong plays wide receiver for California, which is 3–5 this season.
Where has Ian Strong played?
Rutgers (2023–2025) and California (2026).
Where is Ian Strong from, and what year is he?
Ian Strong is a senior wide receiver for California, listed at 6-4 and 210 pounds, from Coram, NY.
How tall is Ian Strong, and how much does he weigh?
Ian Strong is listed at 6-4 and 210 pounds on California's 2026 roster.
What year is Ian Strong?
Ian Strong is a senior, from the 2023 recruiting class.
What are Ian Strong's career stats?
Over 4 seasons (2023–2026), Ian Strong has 143 catches for 2,166 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Who does Ian Strong play for?
California (3–5, ACC), where he plays wide receiver and wears No. 9.
Is Ian Strong eligible for the NFL Draft?
Yes. Players can enter the NFL Draft three years after high school, and Ian Strong was in the 2023 class, so he's eligible for the 2027 draft.
Is Ian Strong injured?
California's latest report lists Ian Strong as questionable.
How did Ian Strong play in his last game?
Week 8 at SMU: 71 receiving yards, 5 catches, 2 explosive catches (16+ yards). California lost 20–59.
Where did Ian Strong go to high school?
St. Anthony's (Long Island City, NY). He was a 3-star recruit, No. 1198 in the 2023 class, signed with Rutgers.
Is Ian Strong a transfer?
Yes. He transferred from Rutgers to California (2026).
What are Ian Strong's stats this season?
506 receiving yards, 33 catches, 15.3 yards per catch, 1 receiving TDs, 14 explosive catches (16+ yards) in 7 games, through Oct 24, 2026.
How does Ian Strong rank nationally?
Among FBS receivers and tight ends: 24th of 657 in explosive catches (16+ yards), 56th of 682 in receiving yards, 84th of 682 in catches.
When does Ian Strong play next?
California visits NC State Sat, Oct 31, 12:00 PM ET on ACC Network. The numbers' pick: NC State.
Related
College football, 2026 season
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Everything on this site starts with someone else's data, and we credit all of it. The projections, picks, rankings and tiers are our own math on top.
Where the data comes from
| Source | What we use | How often |
|---|---|---|
| CollegeFootballData.com, via the public cfbfastR files | Schedules, final scores, pregame Elo, play-by-play and box score stats, rosters | Usually posted Sunday or Monday morning after games |
| DraftKings lines (via The Odds API and CollegeFootballData.com) | The line and total on each game, and where each opened | Every morning, and before kickoffs Thursday to Saturday |
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| 247Sports | Team talent composite, star counts, 2026 transfer portal rankings | Preseason |
| The NIL Standard | Estimated NIL roster values | Preseason |
| us-atlas (U.S. Census Bureau boundaries) | State shapes for the map | Once |
How we turn it into projections
- Projected score. Each team's SP+ offense, plus how far the opponent's SP+ defense is from average, plus special teams. The home team gets half of a 2.5-point home edge added and the visitor half subtracted.
- Win chance. The projected margin turned into a probability, assuming games usually land within about 14 points of the projection. A 0-point margin is 50%; 14 points is about 84%.
- The three ratings. SP+ is built from every play this season. PRIME is a possession-efficiency rating. Elo uses only final scores and carries over from year to year, with 55 Elo points of home edge.
- The numbers' pick. The team at least two of the three ratings favor, with our confidence the average of their three win chances for that team. On the game cards, a pick is a lock when all three favor the same team and the average win chance is 80% or more, a coin flip when it's under 55%, and a lean otherwise. Injuries can drop the tier: each key player out counts by what he does for his team (a starting quarterback is 2 points, the feature back or top receiver half a point, doubtful counts half), the other side's injuries offset, and 1 point drops a tier, 2 points two. The game page shows it as an injury alert. Nobody overrides the numbers' pick.
- CFB Charts Top 25. SP+, PRIME and strength of record, each converted to a common scale and averaged.
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- Missing data. When a team's play-by-play is clearly incomplete (fewer than 45 offensive plays a game), we hide its offense stats instead of showing bad numbers.
Rushing yards here exclude sacks, so they run higher than official totals. Ranks are out of the 138 FBS teams.
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- 12 teams, under the 2026-27 rules. Automatic bids go to the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC champions, and to the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt. Until the title games, each conference's current leader stands in as its champion.
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Each column is that week's ranking. Arrows compare the latest poll to the week before. NR means not ranked.
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SP+ vs. payroll is the average, across a conference's teams with an NIL valuation (positive means its teams play better than their payrolls predict). Blue-chip ratio is the share of all its rostered players who were 4- or 5-star recruits.
Ranks are national, out of 138 FBS teams. A top-10 team also counts toward the top 25 and top 40, and everyone outside the last cutoff counts as weak. Open a conference to see its teams.
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Seeds 1–4 get first-round byes. Seeds 5–8 host the first round.
The field and the bubble
The columns on the right show where each team would be seeded under the other ratings. A dash means out.
How the field is built
- 12 teams. Five get in automatically: the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC champions, plus the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt (champion or not).
- Notre Dame is in if it ranks in the top 12.
- At-large. The remaining spots go to the highest-ranked teams left. If an automatic qualifier ranks outside the top 12, it takes the last at-large spot.
- Seeding follows the ranking, as it has since 2025. A conference champion isn't guaranteed a bye.
- Champions mid-season. "Current conference leader" uses the best conference record so far, with ties broken by the chosen rating. "Highest-rated team" picks the best-rated team in each conference instead.
- Composite averages SP+, PRIME and strength of record after putting each on a common scale.
- This is a projection from today's numbers. The real field is chosen by a committee on Dec. 6, after conference title games.
How we picked it
How we picked it
Three ratings look at a team in three different ways. The numbers' pick is the team at least two of them favor.
Where the game is won
Where the game is won
Each row puts one team's unit against the unit it faces, by national rank out of all FBS teams. An edge is a gap of 25 spots or more.
Injuries and availability
Statuses come from the conference availability reports and team news, as of the date shown. "Hasn't played" means a regular (the main passer, a quarter of the carries or 15% of the catches) with no pass, carry or catch in his team's last two games, from the play-by-play. That can be an injury, a benching or a suspension. Linemen and defenders don't show up in that check.
The teams in charts
The players in charts
FAQ
Keep going
Ratings: SP+ via CFB Update; PRIME via primecfb.com. Box and play stats computed from CollegeFootballData.com play data (via the public cfbfastR files), FBS games only for scoring. Rushing yards here exclude sacks, so they run higher than official totals. Ranks are out of 138 FBS teams.