Another member of Ohio State’s 2022 wide receiver class has entered the transfer portal.
Just a couple hours before the end of the final window for players to enter the transfer portal this offseason, second-year wide receiver Kaleb Brown entered his name into the portal.
Ohio State second-year wide receiver Kaleb Brown has entered the transfer portal, @on3sports has learned.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) May 1, 2023
Brown ranked as a top-110 overall player in the 2022 recruiting class.https://t.co/eVdQABcSl0
Brown becomes the second member of Ohio State’s 2022 class to enter the portal after just one year as a Buckeye, joining fellow wide receiver Caleb Burton, who put his name in the portal on Tuesday. Collectively, Brown is one of four scholarship players to enter the portal in the post-spring window, also including kicker Jake Seibert and offensive lineman Ben Christman.
Ranked as the No. 13 wide receiver and No. 79 overall prospect in the 2022 class, Brown arrived at Ohio State with aspirations of becoming a weapon out of the slot and as a return specialist for the Buckeyes. He was the first of the four receivers in the 2022 class to have his black stripe removed last summer, and he played in five games as a freshman, catching one pass for five yards.
Coming out of spring, however, he appeared unlikely to play a substantial role in 2023 with Emeka Egbuka and Xavier Johnson leading the slot receiver depth chart.
While Brown would have had a potential opportunity to play a bigger role in the slot in 2024, when Johnson and Egbuka will likely both be gone from Ohio State, he was set to face competition from incoming five-star freshman Brandon Inniss, who is expected to begin his Buckeye career in the slot. Fellow true freshmen Carnell Tate and Noah Rogers also had impressive springs, as did redshirt sophomore Jayden Ballard, leaving Brown unlikely to earn a spot on this year’s two-deep behind starting receivers Egbuka, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Julian Fleming.
As such, Brown has decided to look elsewhere for an opportunity to earn more immediate playing time.
Even with the departure of Brown, Ohio State is still set to have 11 wide receivers on scholarship for the 2023 season.
