As Ohio State’s recruiting class of 2018 enters its pivotal third season in Columbus, we’re taking a look back at each of their first two years as Buckeyes and look ahead at what to expect from them in 2020 and beyond with the Third-Year Reset.
Ohio State will be counting on its class of 2018, which is the highest-rated recruiting class OSU has ever signed, to step up in a big way as it looks to make another run to the College Football Playoff despite the departures of many key players from last season. Each of them have now been with the Buckeyes for two years, and by the end of the upcoming season, all of them will either be on the back end of their Ohio State careers or off to the NFL. So while most of them haven’t played major roles for the Buckeyes yet, the time for them to deliver on their potential is now.
Third-Year Reset
For Kamryn Babb, a top-75 overall prospect who came to Ohio State with the talent to be an early contributor for the Buckeyes at wide receiver, the first step is just to be healthy enough to play at all.
After suffering knee injuries in each of the last two offseasons, Babb has yet to play a single snap at the collegiate level, and as a result, it’s hard to make any projection for the rest of his Ohio State career. But if Babb can finally stay healthy and show he still has the talent that made him one of the top wide receiver prospects in the recruiting class of 2018, he just might be a dark-horse candidate to emerge as an impact playmaker for the Buckeyes over the next three years.
Before He Became a Buckeye
Babb emerged as one of the best high school wide receivers in the state of Missouri in his sophomore year at Christian Brothers College High School, when he earned first-team All-State honors after catching 41 passes for 902 yards and 10 touchdowns while also intercepting five passes and returning two punts for touchdowns.
Babb earned an offer from Ohio State going into his junior year of high school in 2016, when he earned first-team All-State honors again after catching 45 passes for 784 yards and nine touchdowns, rushing for three touchdowns and returning two of his three interceptions for touchdowns.
That was enough to cement Babb’s standing as one of the top wide receivers in his recruiting class even when he suffered a torn ACL before his senior season at CBC. He finished the 2018 cycle ranked as the No. 73 overall prospect and No. 13 wide receiver in the nation and as the No. 3 prospect from the state of Missouri.
Babb was one of two players from Christian Brothers College High School, along with Cameron Brown, to sign with the Buckeyes in the class of 2018.
Career to Date
Shortly after arriving at Ohio State, Babb suffered another torn ACL while participating in a summer team workout, forcing him to redshirt his first season with the Buckeyes.
In March 2019, Babb suffered yet another major knee injury while participating in a spring practice, sidelining him for another full season.
Babb hasn’t played in a game for the Buckeyes, and he’s barely even had the opportunity to practice with them. But he’s still drawn praise from his coaches for keeping a positive mindset and continuing to work hard while injured.
“It’s tough, because one, he’s such a great guy, and you want guys to earn things, but he’s attacked it the right way whether it be the weight room or academics and studying and being in my hip, and he really is a great young man from a great family,” Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline said in March 2019. “So if anybody can weather the storm, it’s him.”
Even though he hasn't played in any games yet at Ohio State, Kamryn Babb's positive energy has made an impression on his coaches.
Babb was healthy enough to participate in winter workouts earlier this year, and Mickey Marotti and his strength and conditioning staff named him as one of the team’s most improved players from those workouts.
“Great person, great worker, great teammate,” Marotti said of Babb in January. “He's so positive. It's been awesome. He's the best of the best.”
Third-Year Outlook
Although Babb wasn’t a participant during the lone week of spring practices the Buckeyes had this March, he is expected to be back on the field when Ohio State resumes practices. A video shared on Twitter by his mother in May showed Babb appearing to move as well as he ever has as he ran routes and caught passes during a workout back in his hometown of St. Louis:
No has seen is the endless hours of hard work! The silent fight when no has been watching, all have been thinking the negative you have kept your eyes on God, believed in yourself, kept fighting when the world gave you every reason to give up! So proud of u son, I u @kamm_o pic.twitter.com/VaUrmLP5vr
— Momma Bear (@AlanaTempleton) May 17, 2020
Still, the elephant in the room as Babb enters his third season at Ohio State is whether he will be able to stay healthy. Given that he has now missed each of his last three years of football due to knee injuries, he needs to make it through an offseason and play in some actual games again before any real expectations can be set for the rest of his Buckeyes career.
As a result, Babb’s name isn’t one that’s come up often this offseason in projections for what Ohio State’s receiver rotation could look like this season. Even though Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson are the only returning receivers from last year’s core rotation, there are many other candidates also vying for playing time at the position this year, including Jaylen Harris, Jameson Williams and the talented freshman quartet of Julian Fleming, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Gee Scott Jr. and Mookie Cooper.
Babb still shouldn’t be ruled out as a potential contributor at receiver this season, though, if he can prove he’s fully healthy in preseason camp. With as many as three spots up for grabs in the outside receiver rotation with Wilson in line to play slot receiver, Babb is talented enough to make a push for a spot on the two-deep at Z or X if he can finally stay on the field long enough to demonstrate his skill.
Williams and Harris will enter preseason camp ahead of Babb in the pecking order, and Fleming and Scott are both strong candidates to push for immediate playing time at outside receiver, as well. Because it’s been so long since he’s played in a game, Ohio State might prefer to ease Babb back into action rather than thrust him into the rotation immediately.
That said, Babb’s continued perseverance through adversity has made enough of an impression on his coaches to believe he will at least get a fair shot to earn a spot on the depth chart this fall.
“If anybody can weather the storm, it’s him.”– Brian Hartline on Kamryn Babb
Beyond 2020
If Babb can stay healthy this year and finally start to see some playing time for the Buckeyes, he could set himself up for a chance to finish his Ohio State career strong in similar fashion to former Buckeye wide receiver Johnnie Dixon, who was also plagued by knee injuries early in his Ohio State career.
While Dixon missed time in each of his first three years at Ohio State, nearly pushing him to the point of quitting football, he ended up becoming a top playmaker for the Buckeyes as a fourth-year junior and fifth-year senior, catching 18 passes for 422 yards and eight touchdowns in 2017 and snagging 42 receptions for 669 yards and eight touchdowns while serving as a team captain in 2018.
Like Dixon did then, Babb still has time now to make his presence felt at Ohio State before his career is over, even though it seems as if nothing has gone his way so far.
Starting to climb his way up the depth chart this year will be a crucial step in that process, as there is no shortage of young talent that threatens to keep him out of the rotation. The four top-100 receivers Ohio State signed this year are set to be joined by at least two more (Jayden Ballard and Marvin Harrison Jr.) in 2021, so the competition for playing time isn’t going to get any lighter.
That said, the respect Babb has gained from his coaches and peers for the way he has battled through his injuries could go a long way toward enabling him to become a leader and contributor in the receiving corps on the back end of his career.
With three more years of eligibility, Babb will become one of the top veterans at his position if he stays at Ohio State for the 2021 and 2022 seasons, and both Smith-Njigba and fellow St. Louis native Cooper named Babb in February as one of the veterans who had already taken them under his wing and helped show them the ropes of what it’s like to be an Ohio State receiver.
Depending on how things go for him in 2020, we could have a better idea going into 2021 of whether Babb really will have a chance to become a top receiver for the Buckeyes before his career is over and what his future prospects could be for the NFL. His injury history will certainly be a question mark whenever he does enter the NFL draft, but that concern could be lessened if he can stay healthy for the rest of his Ohio State career.
Nothing is certain for Babb at this point, and given the amount of talent Ohio State is stockpiling around him in the receiver room, his career trajectory needs to start moving in the right direction. He’s too talented himself, though, to be written off or forgotten about even in a position group full of potential future stars.
