Matthew Golden’s coachability complements his prodigious natural skills

The explosive playmaker is projected to be a first-round draft pick on Thursday.

In the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, star Texas Longhorns wide receiver Matthew Golden is a projected first-round pick after a superb college career that culminated in a breakout campaign during his final season.

The Klein Oak product spent two seasons at Houston before transferring to Texas, cementing himself as a reliable playmaker with big-play abilities in the passing and return games.

Despite missing some time due to a foot injury, Golden put together an impressive stat sheet during his tenure at Houston, catching 76 passes for 988 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also averaged 31.2 yards per return and scored two touchdowns on kickoff duty. His seven touchdowns as a freshmen were a Houston record and second nationally while his four 20-plus-yard touchdowns led all true freshmen.

After his sophomore season, Golden opted to enter the transfer portal. His explosiveness and ability to play any receiver spot immediately caught the eye of the Longhorns coaching staff, particularly after watching him torch Texas for two touchdowns in an October matchup.

Landing Golden was a huge win for head coach Steve Sarkisian at the time and somehow still worked out better than anticipated.

In his lone season on the Forty Acres, Golden displayed his top-end speed and dynamic play-making abilities while improving key areas of his game. NFL Scouts, like Texas fans, have fallen in love with his ability to create explosive plays down the field and continually get open from all three wide receiver spots. Golden’s technical abilities while route running demonstrate an awareness of how to utilize tempo and hand fighting while his ability to cut is already NFL ready. Golden also showed off incredible hands, reliably bringing in catches outside the framework of his body or adjusting to throws.

Golden’s season in burnt orange was an opportunity to exhibit his ability to perform at the highest level as WR1. He met the moment.

As a Longhorn, Golden hauled in 58 receptions for 987 yards and nine touchdowns averaging 17 yards per catch. He was particularly impressive in the brightest moments. In a close fought battle against Arkansas, Golden secured two touchdowns. The second was a crucial, game-sealing red-zone snag late in the fourth quarter.

Against Texas A&M, Golden reeled in 73 yards worth of catches from quarterback Quinn Ewers including a 44-yard reception that spurred a four-game streak with at least one catch of 40-plus yards. The other three games were the SEC Championship and two College Football Playoff games.

While Golden dropped 162 yards on eight catches in the SEC Championship Game, his crown jewel performance was undoubtedly in the second round of the CFP against Arizona State. Golden dazzled in a seven-catch, 149-yard and one-touchdown performance that left fans in awe.

The exclamation mark at the end of the season for Golden was no surprise for Texas fans, but sky rocketed Golden into the national conversation. His smooth route-running abilities, ridiculous catch radius, and after the catch explosiveness finally received recognized as being some of the best in the nation.

Golden got better as the season went along after having to adjust to head coach Steve Sarkisian’s offense and recover from the turf toe injury that ended his carer at Houston.

“When we got him, he was coming off a turf toe injury, and so we kind of got a real abbreviated version of him in spring practice, and then he kind of worked his way into training camp to get himself ready to go. Early in the season, he really wasn’t the go-to guy yet. He was learning a new system. I think he was still trying to figure out, when you’re a Ferrari and there’s something wrong with one of the tires, you’re always going to be a little bit more hesitant with the foot, right?” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said in an appearance on Chris Simms’ podcast.

“But I thought halfway through the season, he really cut it loose and the second half of that this season, man, he really played fast. He played physical. He’s always had strong hands making contested catches, but the explosive play number really shot up the second half of the season, when I think he finally just went and cut it loose and stopped kind of worrying about the toe and gained a little bit confidence in the system.”

At the NFL Combine, Golden further improved his draft stock by running a 4.29 40-yard dash, but Sarkisian came away more impressed with Golden’s ability to learn.

The other thing I know, if you let him train for something and you give him, here’s the fundamental, here’s the technique, this is what you need to do, he’s going to do it exactly right. And the one thing I think that has impressed the NFL, it’s not so much the time, it’s that he’s coachable. And then if you give him a set of, here’s standards of how to do something, he’s going to do it and that helps an NFL coaching staff say, ‘Hey, you know what? We can bring this guy in. He’s going to do what we ask him to do. He’s not going to say boo to anybody. He’s just going to come work, to work every day,’ and then you look up and he’s having a great season or a great career, because he just does what he’s supposed to do,” Sarkisian said.

In the upcoming NFL Draft, Golden is routinely being slotted as a first-round pick and accepted an invite to attend the event in person. The final mock draft from the Athletic has Golden coming off the board at No. 18 to the Seattle Seahawks.

In Golden, an NFL team will be adding a receiver that can immediately step into any of the three spots. His agility and overall speed are NFL-ready and pose a threat at the short, intermediate, and deep levels. He’s shown an ability to make tough catches in traffic or on the outside. Not to mention, his physical traits should allow him to make an impact in the return game if needed.

While Golden’s current trajectory is bright, he can take his game to the next level with further improvements to his frame. With the addition of more strength, Golden can greatly improve his success rate against physical defenders on catches and blocking assignments.

Golden demonstrated the ability to catch any pass but did struggle with focus drops during college. Eliminating these mishaps from his game is another potential avenue to further improve.

As it currently stands, Golden is projected to be selected in the first round. If Golden is taken in the top 32 pics, it will be the first time in Texas football history that two wide receivers have been selected in the first round in back-to-back years. Wherever Golden is taken, he will be providing versatile explosiveness with the potential to blossom into a strong WR1.