Expectations are high with any position group at Ohio State. Wide receiver is no different.
The Buckeyes’ wideouts did not live up to the standard in 2016. They said as much themselves.
“It wasn’t what we wanted,” Parris Campbell admitted Monday. “You never want to go through a season not meeting your goals. It was hard. Having the outcome we did, it was hard to deal with. But you’ve gotta get over it, get to the next page and just go to work.”
Wide receiver is, without question, the biggest mystery surrounding Ohio State’s offense. The Buckeyes have proven players in every other position group — J.T. Barrett at quarterback, Mike Weber at running back, Marcus Baugh at tight end and four starters returning on the offensive line — but wide receiver remains the biggest uncertainty for Urban Meyer and Co.
Noah Brown and Curtis Samuel, the top two wide receivers from last year’s team, both opted to leave early for the NFL. Dontre Wilson, who was third on the team last season with 27 receptions, also exhausted his eligibility. That means redshirt sophomore K.J. Hill is the leading returner from wide receivers coach Zach Smith’s meeting room in terms of production. Hill had 18 catches for 262 yards and one touchdown last year.
That shouldn’t exactly be a comforting feeling for Ohio State fans. But despite the lack of returning production, Ohio State’s wide receivers feel confident their play will be better this season.
“At a premier program like this, there’s always going to be guys coming in and guys leaving so it’s a huge rotation and there’s so much talent that comes through here and so much talent that leaves and we have no choice but to step up,” Campbell said. “We have an incredible amount of talent in our room right now and I think we’re going to live up to those expectations.”
Added Hill: “I think we got all the issues out of the way. We got new people that came in that are showing us the way on how we’re going to do things. Last year, it was kind of like a drought. Nobody was doing nothing. It was predictable what we were going to do but now it’s totally different. Everybody has swagger on offense. We’re going fast. … I feel like we’ve got something going.”
The additions of Kevin Wilson as offensive coordinator and Ryan Day as quarterbacks coach figure to help. Wilson has a history as one of the brightest offensive minds in all of college football and Day has NFL experience working with quarterbacks. The early returns from Ohio State’s two new offensive coaches have been overwhelmingly positive this spring.
Having some game-breaking wide receivers could potentially make things much easier for the Buckeyes to move the ball.
“We gotta make big plays,” Smith said. “We gotta hit the deep ball, we gotta throw the deep ball, we gotta protect the deep ball. When that happens, you’ve seen it here before, it opens everything up. When it doesn’t happen, it’s hard to move the ball. So we as an offense have to do that and we’ve put a huge emphasis on that and it’s been pretty good this spring.”
Hill, Campbell and Terry McLaurin are the only receivers returning who reached double figures in catches a year ago. Sophomores Binjimen Victor and Austin Mack also figure to get involved as they look to make the leap from Year 1 to Year 2. Redshirt sophomore Johnnie Dixon is finally healthy this spring and if he remains that way, he figures to be part of the rotation, as well. Ohio State also has a high-profile recruit arriving in June in four-star wide receiver Trevon Grimes.
There is potential there, but the majority of that potential is unproven at this level.
Because of that, wide receiver will remain a mystery for the Buckeyes until the actual season begins the final day of August when Ohio State travels to Indiana. What’s not a question is the production being better in 2017.
“You got a whole bunch of guys who have goals and aspirations for what they want out of the program and you have team aspect of it as well,” McLaurin said. “We’re a very competitive group and we have a high expectation and we know what it was like years before and when we’re not meeting that expectation it’s hard for all of us.”
“We’re just trying to make sure there’s a good common ground between us and the quarterbacks to make sure we’re taking steps forward instead of up and down.”
