Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson still have a difficult decision to make regarding whether or not they will play in the Rose Bowl, and C.J. Stroud won’t try to change their minds one way or the other.
Even though the pair has accounted for more than half of Stroud’s passing yards and 25 of his 38 touchdowns, the Buckeye quarterback said Wednesday he isn’t petitioning the draft-eligible wideouts to remain with the program for the final game of the 2021 season.
“I told them, ‘Do whatever is best for you.’ At the end of the day, whatever they decide to do, I’m behind them,” Stroud said. “In this sport, in this life, in this college football world, a lot of people do what’s best for them, so you kind of gotta do what’s best for you – even if it might look like a selfish situation. But those guys gave everything to Ohio State, I’ve never seen them make a selfish decision. If they don’t play, then it’s probably a benefit to them, and I fully respect it. Then it’s time for guys to step up, to get their feet wet.”
Both Wilson and Olave are projected first-round draft picks after stellar Ohio State careers to this point. This season alone, Wilson caught 70 passes for 1,058 yards and 12 touchdowns during the regular season; each of those numbers are among the top-10 single-season marks in Ohio State history. Olave made 65 catches for 936 yards and 13 touchdowns, becoming the new school record for career touchdown catches with the last of those scores.
Given that the Buckeyes have no national championship to play for this postseason, the decision to sit out would be far from unprecedented. That option is not a foregone conclusion, though, as Wilson told Eleven Warriors in an exclusive interview Monday that his mind is not yet made up on whether he’ll suit up in scarlet and gray one last time.
“I’m still figuring it out,” Wilson said. “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.”
When asked at a press conference Sunday if any players had indicated that they would not play in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said “right now I'm counting on everyone playing in the game.”
Even if the wideouts in question don’t play, Stroud thinks the remaining level of talent in the Ohio State receiver room will suffice. And that’s no knock on the level of competition the Buckeyes will be facing in a nationally stout Utah defense.
“Everybody's gonna be fine, even if my boy (walk-on wide receiver) Sam Wiglusz gotta play,” Stroud said. “It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. We just gotta go win a game. It’s not gonna be easy, Utah’s a hell of a team, they do a lot of good things, and I’m definitely not taking them lightly at all. I feel like whoever has to step up will.”
Should one or both of Wilson and Olave opt to prepare for the draft instead of playing in Pasadena, Ohio State fans could get their most prolonged look yet at the Buckeyes’ rising crop of talented wideouts. True freshmen Emeka Egbuka and Marvin Harrison Jr. will both compete for starting jobs next to Jaxon Smith-Njigba as soon as Olave and Wilson exit the program, and Julian Fleming will have something to say about that as well.
Stroud expects any Buckeye that does stick around to approach the Rose Bowl with the same level of intensity as any other game even though the stakes are considerably less tangible than they were just a few weeks ago.
“I feel like it’s the right thing to do, especially to leave the seniors out with a win,” Stroud said. “It’s definitely a big-time game anyways. Just being a competitor at this level, if you don’t want to play, I don’t know why you’re on this team. No one on my team is like that though, thank God. I don’t really question anybody’s willingness to play, except for the guys who are going to the league next year, which I totally understand.
“We have a great attitude, dudes are showing to our workouts, killing it, running hard, lifting hard. We’re throwing as well. We’re doing the little things, which I feel will turn into big things.”
Stroud said bowl practices, which begin Friday for the Buckeyes, will afford younger players the opportunity to impress coaches and begin earning trust for the year to come, if not the bowl game itself.
“I feel like last year my time was during the scout periods and showing what I can do,” Stroud said. “I feel like that had to do with coming into this year with play calling and things like that – the coaches can see what you like and what you don’t like even off a scout basis. So I feel like a lot of dudes are starting to do really well in scout, they’re showing, ‘OK, I can play next year.’ So I think that’s a big thing for our program.”
Two players that have already shown plenty for the Buckeyes are Olave and Wilson, and while they still have a chance to show more in the Rose Bowl, their quarterback won’t begrudge them if they opt not to.
