COLUMBUS – While Ohio State has no proven commodities at wide receiver, the Buckeyes have plenty of wide receivers with potential.
Ohio State has 10 wide receivers on scholarship, including nine who were four-star recruits.
No wide receiver on the roster has more than 18 career catches, which means it’s uncertain how many of those receivers are ready or even capable to be impact playmakers for the Buckeyes this season.
While that’s not an ideal question to have going into the season, it leaves the door for all of those wide receivers to compete for playing time in fall camp.
That competition, the Buckeyes say, has made them all better.
"It’s a competition every single day," said Parris Campbell, "and it’s great because it pushes something out of you that you didn’t think you had. And it definitely makes you compete every single day on the field."
Campbell, who is taking over Curtis Samuel’s role as the Buckeyes’ primary H-back, appears to be the surest bet among the wide receivers for regular playing time. There’s plenty of talent around him, though, to make him continue to work for it.
Campbell, Johnnie Dixon and Terry McLaurin, all redshirt juniors, were all four-star recruits in the class of 2014. Converted defensive back Eric Glover-Williams and redshirt sophomore K.J. Hill were four-star recruits in 2015. Binjimen Victor and Austin Mack came in as four-star recruits in 2016. In this year’s true freshman class, Trevon Grimes and Jaylen Harris were four-star recruits, while Elijah Gardiner was a now-rare three-star Ohio State recruit at the position.
All of those wide receivers are said to be either in the rotation as it currently stands or pushing for playing time. Even C.J. Saunders, a walk-on receiver from Dublin Coffman High School, has impressed wide receivers coach Zach Smith with the plays he has made early in fall camp.
"Usually, we rotate six come game time, but I can tell you right now, it’s about 10-11 guys that could play," Campbell said.
“It’s a competition every single day, and it’s great because it pushes something out of you that you didn’t think you had.”– Parris Campbell
Such competitions can sometimes create tension among teammates – especially at the wide receiver position, where everyone wants to have the ball thrown their way – but the Buckeyes say it has had the opposite effect on them. While they all want to prove they are worthy of playing time, they are also excited to see their teammates stepping up.
"We’re happy for each other," McLaurin said. "That’s what I feel like is really the big difference this year. We’re just really happy to see other guys making plays. We don’t care who’s making plays. At the end of the day, we’re all Zone 6. And we’re putting touchdowns on the board, we’re winning games, that’s what it’s all about. So it’s not necessarily who’s getting the credit, it’s just about being happy for one another and pushing each other every day to be the best."
Head coach Urban Meyer praised the wide receivers on Monday, calling them "one of the best groups we've ever had culturally" at the position. That culture, which the wide receivers say began building with the Buckeyes’ 31-0 loss in last year’s Fiesta Bowl, has carried over to the competition on the practice field.
"Every ball that’s in the air, we want it," McLaurin said. "We got to have it. I talk about it every day ... I said it this spring but that swagger, that attitude, that flavor, I feel like that’s back."
While the wide receivers are competing against each other on the practice field now, they all ultimately want to help the Buckeyes win games, which they say is more important their own individual production.
"It’s all about team, being able to help our unit," Mack said.
That said, the wide receivers do want to make a statement – after an offseason of being criticized for their performance last season – and prove they do belong among the nation's elite.
"We’re going to do what we can to be the best receiver group in the country, be Wide Receiver U," Mack said.
