Ohio State needed reinforcements at the receiver position this offseason, and the Buckeyes got just that with the three freshmen they signed in the 2017 class.
Zone-6 added four-star receivers Trevon Grimes and Jaylen Harris as well as three-star Elijah Gardiner to bolster the unit after the departures of Curtis Samuel, Noah Brown and Dontre Wilson – the team's three most productive receivers in 2016.
It's no doubt a talented group of young receivers, but it will take more than talent for them to see the field in a meaningful way in 2017.
“You better be able to make plays, or you shouldn’t be here," receivers coach Zach Smith said. "If you’re a freshman and can make a play – cool, man. We recruited you, I hope so. It’s not that impressive."
Smith said everybody on the roster at this level is a playmaker – that's a prerequisite to be on the team at all. What he's searching for in his starters is the ability to do it with consistency and even at the brink of exhaustion.
"If you can do it after an hour-and-a-half practice – you’re exhausted, it’s hard to run, and all of the sudden you can kind of grit your teeth and fight through it and go run a good route, get open on a press corner that’s a good player and make a play, you show me ‘alright this kid, he might be ready. He’s almost there,’" Smith said.
Despite that rather harsh job requirement, Smith said there's a chance one of the freshman receivers works his way to the top of the depth chart into one of his six starting receiver spots.
“You better be able to make plays, or you shouldn’t be here."– Zach Smith
Smith mentioned Grimes, Harris and Gardiner all as guys pushing for playing time, but Harris in particular has been singled out by both Smith and head coach Urban Meyer.
"The guy that's kind of stepped up a little bit is Jaylen Harris from Cleveland," Meyer said on Monday. "He's kind of a playmaker, but he's still a very immature player, which is not a negative yet. It will be if I'm still saying that ten days from now."
Coming out of high school, Harris was the No. 30 receiver in the 2017 class and the No. 4 player in the state of Ohio. At 6-5, 205 lbs., Harris is the biggest and tallest receiver on the team.
“Jaylen’s a really talented kid. Really talented," Smith said. "It’s a tough jump high school to college, especially at a program like this, at this level, so he’s adjusting to it."
Smith said Harris struggles at times – like most young players – but how he progresses through camp will determine if he's ready to play in 2017. He needs to develop consistency and prove that he can be effective at any point in the game, even when he's at the point of exhaustion.
"When he’s dead tired is he still going to go hard and make a play?" Smith said. "And that’s when you know in the fourth quarter on third-and-8, what guy is going to get open and go get the football and make a play and get a first down."
Smith hopes Harris, as well as Grimes and Gardiner can become those guys this season, but everything needs to be taken one step at a time. Losing their black stripes would be a good first step.
