One of the biggest questions surrounding Ohio State going into the Rose Bowl is whether any of its star players will opt out, and there might not be any more obvious candidate to do so than Garrett Wilson.
By virtue of what he’s already accomplished in his Ohio State career, in which he’s caught 143 passes for 2,213 yards and 23 touchdowns, Wilson has put himself in position to likely be the top Buckeye selected in the 2022 NFL draft. Although he hasn’t made a final decision yet on whether he’ll go pro after this season, he’s been widely projected as a top-20 pick if he enters the draft.
That gives Wilson reason to consider not only whether he should enter the NFL draft in his first year eligible, but whether he should even play in one more game for Ohio State. The chance to play for a championship is no longer on the table, and he doesn’t need to play in any more games to elevate his draft stock at this point, but an injury in the Rose Bowl would potentially hurt his draft stock.
As of Monday night, Wilson hadn’t decided yet whether he would play in the Buckeyes’ season finale against Utah on New Year’s Day.
“I’m still figuring it out,” Wilson told Eleven Warriors in an exclusive interview before an autograph session in Dublin on Monday night. “Between me and my family, we’ve been talking about a lot of different things, and we’re trying to figure out all the different circumstances, all the different factors.”
Wilson acknowledged the Rose Bowl isn’t the game Ohio State wants to be playing in to end the season. The Buckeyes had visions of competing for a national championship in the College Football Playoff, but that opportunity slipped away from them when they lost their regular season finale against Michigan.
“We had a lot on the line and it was a really special season in the making, and it kind of went away with the way we finished,” Wilson said. “We knew what was at stake when it came to the team up north game, and we didn’t finish ... so we have to deal with it right now. We’re not playing in the playoff, which is what we all came here to do at the end of the day, and we didn’t get that done.”
Wilson said the Buckeyes are still excited about going to Pasadena, though.
“We kind of knew, once we lost and we saw how things were gonna play out, we figured that it was gonna be the Rose Bowl,” Wilson said. “So we’re really excited to go, it’s a great venue and we’ve been there before, so we’re really excited and hopefully we can come out with the W.”
Although there’s no doubt the Buckeyes will be reminded constantly about their loss to Michigan until next year’s edition of The Game in Columbus, Wilson says they’ve turned their attention toward playing the Utes, who Ohio State will be playing for just the second time ever.
“We got a new opponent in Utah now and we’re trying to focus on that and win this next game,” Wilson said. “We want to finish on a good note. We didn’t finish against the team up north, but we’ll have another shot at them. Utah, we don’t know when we’ll get another shot on them, so this is kind of a special game.”
If Wilson ultimately makes a business decision and decides not to play in the Rose Bowl, it won’t be for any lack of care toward Ohio State or his teammates. Wilson said last month being a Buckeye “has been everything I could have dreamed of and a lot more,” and he said Monday he continues to appreciate the opportunity he has to be a Buckeye.
“When you come to a tradition-filled university like Ohio State and play for the great players and the great coaches around you, it’s gonna build you up and make you the best you can be, so I try to take full advantage of that,” Wilson said. “And just to be able to be part of something like this is something that I’ll never take for granted.”
Regardless of whether he plays in another game for Ohio State, he knows what he’s learned both on and off the field over the past three years in Columbus will benefit him when he gets to the NFL.
“You see all the success of people that have came out of Ohio State had at the next level, and that’s for a reason,” Wilson said. “Ohio State does a great job building men up on and off the field, and it shows at the next level.”
Thanks to the NCAA allowing athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness now, Wilson was able to meet some Ohio State fans and get paid for it on Monday night without compromising his collegiate eligibility, and he appreciated receiving that support from Buckeye fans, too.
“To be in this position, this is awesome,” Wilson said. “Playing ball and being fans of who I was growing up and to have people like that now growing up and being a fan of me, it’s something that I can’t really explain. It’s surreal. To have something like this going on, it’s really exciting.”
