Of the four top-100 prospects in Ohio State’s recruiting class of 2019, three of them have already generated considerable hype going into their second seasons as Buckeyes.
Garrett Wilson, in line to be Ohio State’s starting slot receiver in 2020, is widely expected to be the next superstar in the Buckeyes’ receiving corps. Zach Harrison’s potential to be Ohio State’s next elite pass-rusher is well-documented. Harry Miller is penciled in as Ohio State’s new starting left guard, and there’s widespread confidence that he’ll give Ohio State a trio of stud interior offensive linemen alongside Josh Myers and Wyatt Davis.
Jameson Williams, even though he was the No. 82 overall prospect in the class of 2019, hasn’t garnered quite the same kind of attention since he arrived on campus a year ago. He was overshadowed by Wilson coming in, and with Wilson and Chris Olave leading the position group plus a new crop of freshmen that includes four wide receivers who were top-100 overall prospects in the class of 2020, he still has plenty of competition for the spotlight.
In the conversation of potential breakout stars for the Buckeyes’ offense this fall, though, Williams shouldn’t be overlooked.
Ohio State has had the luxury of being very selective about who it’s taken at wide receiver with its recruiting success at that position over the past few years, so the Buckeyes wouldn’t have signed Williams if they didn’t believe he had the potential to emerge as a star in their offense.
The most obvious reason why the Buckeyes targeted Williams and why he could emerge as a major weapon in their receiving corps: Speed.
A high school track star who won Missouri state championships in both the 300-meter hurdles and 400-meter dash, Williams told Eleven Warriors at Fiesta Bowl media day in December that he believes he is the fastest player on the team. He gave Ohio State fans a glimpse of that speed in the Buckeyes’ win over Miami (Ohio) last season, when he ran away from the RedHawks’ defense to turn a short pass from Gunnar Hoak into a 61-yard touchdown, the Buckeyes’ longest receiving play of the entire season.
Speed?@OhioStateFB's Jameson Williams has plenty of it. pic.twitter.com/an6KpZmJeo
— Ohio State on BTN (@OhioStateOnBTN) September 21, 2019
Ohio State’s receiving corps should theoretically be faster this season than it was last season – while K.J. Hill, Binjimen Victor and Austin Mack were all trusted veterans, none of them ran the 40-yard dash in faster than 4.59 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine – and no receiver has more potential to add an extra gear of speed to the offense this season than Williams.
There’s more to being a great receiver than just being able to run fast, of course, and Williams has shown more than that. Within his first few months as a Buckeye last season, Williams draw praise from his coaches for his work ethic, with Ryan Day describing him as “a guy who has practiced really, really hard.” He also exudes confidence; Mack revealed in September that Williams told his fellow receivers he expects to score a touchdown every time he catches the ball, and he did so on just his second catch as a Buckeye.
Although he was on the outside of Ohio State’s core rotation for most of his freshman year, he was called upon to play some first-team snaps at the Z receiver position when Mack was sidelined by an injury for three games last season, and played the sixth-most total offensive snaps (151) among all receivers in 2019.
With Hill, Victor and Mack now gone from last year’s rotation, Williams played the third-most snaps last season among returning receivers, which presumably should position him to play a much bigger role in the rotation this year. And now that he has a year of gaining experience on special teams and learning from Brian Hartline under his belt, he expects to be ready to be a difference-maker as a sophomore.
“I’ve been executing on special teams, doing whatever the team needs me to do, so this year has been a developing year for me,” Williams said in December. “As you get more and more time on the field, you get more confidence and things like that, so that time was I would say a learning experience for me that set up the years to come.”
The veterans who saw Williams work in practice last year expect him to emerge as an impact player this season, too. Hill and Victor both named Williams when asked by Eleven Warriors before this year’s NFL draft which returning Ohio State wide receivers they expect to step up in 2020.
“He went through a year like I did my freshman year,” Hill said at the Senior Bowl. “I felt like I should have been playing, I didn’t play but always stayed in his ear like ‘Even though you’re not playing like you want to, you got to keep working in practice, because it’s going to come to you on the back end.’ You’re gonna be ahead of people that’s not working, that’s just like ‘I’m redshirting, whatever.’ Just playing special teams, on the back end, you’re gonna be way ahead.”
Outside of Olave and Wilson, Williams looks like the surest bet to have a spot in Ohio State’s 2020 wide receiver rotation. No other returning receiver played more than 90 snaps last season, and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the four freshman receivers who enrolled in January have only gone through one week of actual football practices at Ohio State so far.
Just how big Williams’ role will be, though, remains up in the air. If he separates himself as one of the Buckeyes’ top-three receivers in preseason camp, he could be the Buckeyes’ second starting outside receiver opposite Olave. That said, he has primarily practiced and played at the Z receiver position – the same spot Olave plays – which means he might still be most likely to rotate with Olave rather than start on the other end of the field.
With the way the Buckeyes have rotated their receivers in recent years, though, there should be plenty of snaps available to Williams as long as he proves he deserves them. And if the brief glimpses we saw of him last year and his spectacular high school highlights are any indication, he’s going to be a threat to make a big play any time he’s on the field.
Ohio State could also look to deploy that big-play ability in the return game, as Williams saw occasional late-game snaps at kickoff returner last season. Demario McCall is the frontrunner to remain the lead kickoff returner while Wilson will likely remain the lead punt returner, but Williams’ explosive speed and demonstrated maneuverability in the open field makes him a potential weapon in that phase of the game, as well.
With a bevy of returning stars like Justin Fields, Wyatt Davis and Josh Myers in addition to Olave and Wilson, and newcomers with the potential to make an immediate impact like Oklahoma transfer running back Trey Sermon and five-star wide receivers Julian Fleming and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, there’s no shortage of names to know on Ohio State’s offense going into 2020. But don’t be surprised if Williams, who expects last season to be a “major springboard” for this season, ends up emerging as one of the Buckeyes’ top offensive playmakers.
“We only can wait to see what happens next year,” Williams said in December.
