86 days remain until Florida State football debuts under head coach Willie Taggart. As part of the offseason, we’re doing a countdown that highlights players, games, and specific moments from Florida State football history. On Friday, it was Travis Minor’s 87-yard touchdown run in his first career start.
Today, it’s former FSU wide receiver Ron Sellers and his 86 receptions in the 1968 season.
It’s shocking for a lot of younger FSU fans to realize that many of Florida State’s receiving records are held by a player from the 1960s. Imagine the surprise in the actual time period when head coach Bill Peterson and his pass-heavy offense launched Florida State into the national spotlight.
Peterson already had a legendary wide receiver come through the program in Fred Biletnikoff. So when Ron Sellers went for over 800 yards as a sophomore in 1966, the staff knew they had a star in the making. Sellers improved in 1967 with 1,228 yards and eight touchdowns, garnering Consensus All-American honors.
1968 is where he cemented himself in the record books. Sellers had 86 receptions for 1,496 yards and 12 touchdowns — all school records at the time. He had six games with over 100 receiving yards, including four with 200 or more yards. He caught at least three passes in each game and did not dip below 50 yards in any contest.
His 1968 performance is still arguably the greatest season of all-time by an FSU receiver. Sellers finished 10th in the Heisman Trophy voting that season.
According to the record books, Sellers still holds the top spot in single-season receiving yards, single-game receptions (16 vs. South Carolina), single-game receiving yards (260 vs. Wake Forest), and single-game receiving touchdowns (five vs. Wake Forest). In every other category except career receiving touchdowns, Sellers’ name appears in the top five.
In regards to his 86 receptions, that record was finally broken by Rashad Greene in 2014, who hauled in 99 passes. Still, it’s quite a testament that Sellers maintains his spot on the FSU statistical leaderboards, and likely will for a long time.
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