The Buckeyes may be losing one of the program’s all-time great wide receivers this offseason in Chris Olave, but its 2022 recruiting class features a player that has drawn plenty of comparisons to the record-setting wideout during his recruitment.
A three-star prospect when Brian Hartline and company found him, the Chandler, Arizona, native has nearly the same build that Olave possessed out of high school at 6-foot, 175 pounds. Since committing to Ohio State on Feb. 28, though, Grayes has blown up to a be a far more highly-rated recruit than Olave was, earning four-star status as the No. 106 player in the country and the 15th-ranked wide receiver.
But Grayes still sees the comparison to the Buckeye star as an apt one.
The Grayes File
- Class: 2022
- Size: 6-foot/175 lbs
- Pos: WR
- School: Chandler (Chandler, Arizona)
- Composite Rating: ★★★★
- Composite Rank: 106 (15 WR)
“Really, it was just crazy to think because I had never looked at him like that,” Grayes told Eleven Warriors. “I knew who he was, but I didn’t really know he was like that. So when I looked him up, me and him are like the exact same kid, the exact same person. So it’s crazy to think about seeing him in that system. Every time I watch them on Saturday, I picture myself in their system and in that same spot. ... I looked at his 247 (profile), I looked at his film and his high school film, I looked at all of it and was like, ‘Dang, this is me. It’s just like me.’”
Grayes initially committed to Arizona on Aug. 11, 2020, but Grayes received an offer from Ohio State on Oct. 20 of the same year and had decommitted from the Wildcat program by Dec. 14, 2020. Despite additional offers from the likes of USC, Oregon, Penn State, Arizona State, Michigan State and Miami, just to name a few, Grayes opted to join the scarlet and gray two-and-a-half months after reopening his recruitment.
BOOM!
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 15, 2021
This guy is as smooth as silk #Zone6 @KyiongrayesII #BOOM22 pic.twitter.com/LSLP55GT2t
“The one thing I love about coach Hart and the whole coaching staff, they never promised me a thing. That's what I want. I want a coach to be real with me,” Grayes told Eleven Warriors in July. “I don't want them to tell me that I'm going to come in and play for them right away, blah, blah, all this, all that extra stuff. I want to know the real behind it – how hard it's going to be, all that. He told me it's not easy. Boom, there we go. That's all I need to know.”
In 13 games as a sophomore, Grayes caught 48 passes for 883 yards and six touchdowns, and he caught another 28 balls for 562 yards and 10 scores during an undefeated run to a state championship with Chandler as a junior.
Ahead of his senior season, Grayes suffered a dislocated right elbow that cost him a significant portion of the season. But he still managed to play in six games and put up impressive numbers, including 27 catches, 471 yards and four touchdowns.
At Ohio State, Grayes joins a recruiting class that features three other four-star wide receivers who all rank in the nation’s top-150 overall prospects, including Caleb Burton (No. 68), Kaleb Brown (No. 72) and Kojo Antwi (No. 146). With the expected losses of Olave and Garrett Wilson this offseason, young wideouts will have opportunities to step up in 2022, but the true freshmen will still likely have to bide their time behind the likes of Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka and Julian Fleming.
As for where Grayes might work best in Hartline’s system, he certainly fits Olave’s mold as an outside threat, but Grayes is more than willing to move around wherever the coaching staff wants him to.
“I’ll go anywhere,” Grayes said. “Whatever he wants me to play. If you need me to play slot, Coach, I’m there. If you need me to play outside, I’m there. I’ll go wherever you need me to be. ... I kind of like the slot because I get to work against the linebackers, but at the same time I like to go deep so I like being on the outside.”
