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Jake Trotter, ESPN Staff Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Three years ago, Emeka Egbuka turned to All-American wideout Garrett Wilson and put the junior on notice. “I’m coming for you!” Egbuka, then a five-star freshman receiver, told his new Ohio State teammate during conditioning drills.
Egbuka and fellow blue-chip freshman receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. had already trounced Wilson in the weight room earlier that summer. The two arrived in Columbus able to bench press 225 pounds a dozen-plus times. Wilson remained stuck testing on the 185-pound bar.
Wilson, the No. 2 overall receiver in the Class of 2019, ultimately defeated Egbuka in their race that day. Pushed by the freshmen, he also significantly improved his bench press, putting up 225 several times by year’s end. Wilson went on to become the 10th pick of the New York Jets in 2022, then earned NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.
“[The Buckeyes] recruit a certain type of receiver,” Wilson told ESPN. “The ones that want to come to Ohio State ain’t scared to go play with other five-star [receivers]. … That says a lot about the confidence they have in their ability.”
Fierce internal competition is just one element of the secret sauce that has transformed Ohio State’s receiving corps into one of college football’s few truly elite position groups perennially. In Wilson, Chris Olave, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Harrison, the Buckeyes have produced a whopping four first-round picks at receiver over the past three drafts. Over that span, no college program has generated more first-round selections from the same position.
“We challenge each other. … I think that’s what’s made us so elite at what we do,” Egbuka said in a phone interview. “If you ever take a day off, it’s going to come back to bite you. That’s given us the mentality to just go hard each and every day.”
Not every Ohio State receiver has become a star in Columbus. Not every receiver has finished his career with the Buckeyes, either.
Jameson Williams, an ESPN 300 signee in 2019, and Julian Fleming, the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit in 2020, struggled to earn playing time in a loaded Ohio State receiving rotation and transferred elsewhere. Kamryn Babb, who spurned several SEC powers to join the Buckeyes in 2018, suffered multiple knee injuries and finished with only one career catch, a scoring grab in 2022 against Indiana. Others have become depth pieces, special teams contributors or even switched positions.
Still, Ohio State’s overall success at receiver in recent years is unmatched. And the Buckeyes are primed to remain the preeminent program at receiver. Even now, Ohio State boasts a preseason All-American in Egbuka, the most exciting freshman wideout in the country in Jeremiah Smith and the nation’s top-rated future signee in Chris Henry Jr., who committed to the Buckeyes last summer and is the son of former NFL wideout Chris Henry.
“You come to Ohio State, you don’t automatically become a first-round pick or an NFL player,” said Buckeyes co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline. “But I think we’ve done a really good job increasing the odds versus other schools.”
Olave went one pick after Wilson in the same draft two years ago and has since become the New Orleans Saints’ go-to receiver. Last year, Smith-Njigba went 20th overall and caught 63 passes as a rookie for the Seattle Seahawks. And earlier this year, the Arizona Cardinals selected Harrison with the fourth pick, making him the highest-drafted receiver in Ohio State history.
“To go to Ohio State, you’ve got to know there’s going to be two five-stars in the room at all times,” said Smith-Njigba, who once produced 347 receiving yards in the Rose Bowl to set an FBS record. “You can’t be scared to compete. And I knew that if I could line up next to those guys [Wilson and Olave], be in the room with those guys, that I would be better.”
Ohio State’s receiving pipeline to the NFL doesn’t appear to be slowing down, either. ESPN NFL draft analyst Matt Miller currently projects Egbuka to go 30th overall in next year’s draft. Meanwhile, Smith’s combination of size, speed and ball skills already has NFL scouts salivating.
“I don’t think I’ve seen a receiver that young like him,” Smith-Njigba said. “Jeremiah could play one year of college and be ready for the league. From what I’ve seen, from what I’ve heard, seeing him in person, watching him run routes, the videos, watching his tape — yeah, he’s a real dude. Big, fast, strong and polished. Great routes, great hands, so I mean, s—, what else? If you wanted to create a player, it would be him.”
Despite Smith’s vast potential, he’ll still have to earn a starting role in another stacked Ohio State receiving room. The Buckeyes opened camp last week with Egbuka and Carnell Tate, who picked Ohio State over Tennessee and LSU two years ago, as their top two receivers.
“Most guys want to go and be the guy,” Wilson said. “At Ohio State it’s like, no, no, no — come here and learn for a little bit and put in the work and learn how to practice, learn how to go about your business, and it will all pay off on the back end.”
Wilson, among the others, credited Hartline for implementing a culture that’s paying off. Hartline, who played at Ohio State and then the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns before returning to Columbus to coach in 2017, said he wanted to create a receiving room that mimicked the NFL.
“I love the peer-to-peer pressure of having to bring it every day,” said Hartline, a member of four Big Ten title teams from 2005 to ’08. “These guys are learning from each other. But they know, like in the NFL, you can’t have an off day, or you’ll get embarrassed.”
The Buckeyes, like every other blueblood program, are searching for top talent. But Hartline noted he has prioritized prospects he believes will thrive under peer pressure.
“We’ve been all over the map … all over the board,” Hartline said. “You’ve got to be big enough, got to be strong enough, got to be fast enough. … But the biggest thing is [finding] the right guys mentally, the mental makeup.”
Wilson, Smith-Njigba, Harrison and Egbuka were all highly touted recruits who could have gone almost anywhere. But Olave was only a three-star prospect coming out of San Marcos, California. Head coach Ryan Day, then Ohio State’s quarterbacks coach, discovered him while recruiting Olave’s high school teammate Jack Tuttle, who is currently competing for the starting quarterback job at Michigan.
At 6-foot and only 160 pounds then, Olave was an afterthought in Ohio State’s 2018 recruiting class. But the Buckeyes saw potential. By his sophomore year, Olave emerged as Ohio State’s leading receiver, ahead of Wilson and Williams, who later transferred to Alabama and became the 12th overall pick, one spot after Olave, in the 2022 draft.
“Everybody is trying to get on the field, but you’ve got to beat really good players out,” Olave told ESPN. “That’s an attitude you’ve got to have … and it just makes everyone better.”
Hartline said the “triggers” to make each receiver better are different. He could call out Olave in front of the group about using technique instead of only speed to get open. But Hartline said he had to explain the reasons why individually to Wilson, whom he called among the most intelligent players to come through Columbus. Coaching players of that caliber has in turn made Hartline better, too.
“If I can’t learn from a Garrett Wilson, a Chris Olave, a Jaxon Smith-Njigba or a Marvin Harrison, I’m an idiot,” Hartline said. “I’m also trying to learn from them so I can then teach the next generation.”
As part of that next generation, Harrison elevated the standard. Now Egbuka carries it forward.
“The ability to be able to dive into a wide receiver room so heavy with talent is what really attracted me to Ohio State,” Egbuka said. “I knew that I wasn’t going to short myself if I came here, I was going to work every single day being surrounded by the best players in the country. I was going to see what I was made of.”
In addition to pushing the upperclassmen, Egbuka and Harrison pushed each other. Roommates as freshmen, the two would arrive at the football facility at 4:30 am, an hour before freshman lifting started, to run routes with freshman quarterback Kyle McCord (who transferred to Syracuse after last season).
“We laugh about it now because we could’ve just thrown after the lift at 10 or whatever,” Egbuka said. “But we just wanted to be known as blue-collar guys who were going to come in and get the job done.”
That carried over into the season. Neither would leave the facility until the other was ready to go home.
“One of us would be like, ‘I’m about to head back to the crib, what are you about to do?'” Egbuka recalled. “And [he or I] would be like, ‘I’m about to stay here and watch film.’ And it would be like, ‘Oh, never mind I’m staying here, too.'”
Hartline noted Harrison was especially relentless in improving his hands by working on the jugs machine every day. That inspired others.
“You are less talented than Marv or as talented as Marv, and Marv puts in three times the work you do, you think you’re going to catch him and pass him by doing less work?” Hartline said. “You have no shot.”
Harrison is now in NFL training camp, along with Wilson, Olave and Smith-Njigba. Until he gets there, Egbuka is focused on challenging Ohio State’s younger receivers, including Smith. Day called Egbuka an “old soul” who has been a “warrior” and “leader” for the Buckeyes from the beginning.
Led by Egbuka, Ohio State once again has an enviable receiving corps this season — with more talent on the way. In other words, the Buckeyes are Wide Receiver U — not that they need the title.
“You won’t see us ever claim it,” Hartline said. “But I think we’re doing a pretty darn good job of receiver play here.”
ESPN NFL reporters Rich Cimini, Brady Henderson and Katherine Terrell contributed to this report.