E.J. CELESTIE

Position: Inside receiver

Height/weight: 5-11, 175

Celestie

In high school: Celestie was a productive all-purpose player last season for a 12-1 state semifinalist at Barbe High School in Lake Charles, La. He caught a school-record 72 passes for 855 yards, rushed for 880 yards and scored 24 touchdowns. During his junior year, Celestie was a starting tailback who rushed for 987 yards and caught 43 passes for 654 yards.

At the moment: This week, Celestie is wearing jersey No. 83, because his scout-team assignment is to emulate Kansas State’s Brandon Banks. The 5-foot-7 Banks is the Wildcats’ leading receiver and returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in one game this season.

That’s the type of player Celestie was in high school.

Celestie has spent his first couple of months at Tech being an “H” inside receiver, but Tech coaches don’t want to be too quick to pigeonhole him.

“He just brings so much versatility,” inside receivers coach Lincoln Riley said this week. “He can play all four receiver positions. He’s going to be able to help special teams. He’ll be able to help with the return game. There’s a lot of positions he’s going to have a chance to play.”

Riley said Celestie shows good lateral quickness and power for his size.

Aside from his physical skills, Celestie has shown two other traits that have made a positive impression on coaches. Riley said Celestie seems to be happy and in a good frame of mind to practice every day. Also, he doesn’t keep repeating the same mistakes.

“He didn’t do a ton of (inside receiver) in high school,” Riley said, “but he picked it up fast because he’s just a smart guy. He’s an attentive guy. He really pays attention to detail and remembers things. He was raw because he never really got to settle in at one position in high school, but you could tell he’s really explosive with the ball in his hands and knew things.”

Compiled by Don Williams