What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder — Michigan (State) Week Edition

I know that I have talked about the wide receiver culture at Ohio State before, but I continue to see it being paid forward by the current leaders on this team. If there was a family tree of this lineage, it would go back to Evan Spencer for me.

I think people see the nine Ohio State receivers drafted in the first, second, or third rounds over the past nine years and assume that these are just talented players — which they are — but they’re also the kinds of players who want to see the receiver room at Ohio State be better than it was when they arrived.

I wonder how different things would be if Evan Spencer was never offered by Jim Tressel.

I know that this is a long way to go to get to the point I wanted to make about Emeka Egbuka, who himself was also the No. 1 receiver in a recruiting class. He obviously missed three games before returning last week, so I asked him on Wednesday how he keeps from trying to make up for lost time on the field. He told me he’s not playing for stats or accolades – he’s playing for championships, so there’s nothing to catch up on because everything is still in front of them.

I think nothing exemplifies the Ohio State receiver culture more than Emeka Egbuka’s answer to me. There are so many eyes and expectations on the receivers and Egbuka is in a contract year right now with first-round potential, but he’s not lamenting lost opportunities to make his mark. He was lamenting lost opportunities to help his team.

I wonder if Jameson Williams would be a more successful pro if he had stayed at Ohio State.

To read the rest of this extended edition of What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder, you can click here, but you must be a premium subscriber. Additional topics include the ongoing Michigan cheating scandal, more on the receiver culture at Ohio State, the unselfish nature of the defensive line, Jack Sawyer’s impact, the future of the OSU defensive line, the future of the OSU receivers, Sonny Styles, James Franklin, and more.

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