Ohio State Receiver Talent ‘A Good Problem To Have’

Marvin Harrison, Jr. is no longer going to be wreaking havoc on defenses for the Buckeyes, but nobody will be weeping for an Ohio State receiving corps that still contains senior Emeka Egbuka, sophomore Carnell Tate, and others.

While Harrison is certainly the most notable departed receiver for the Buckeyes this year, Ohio State also lost starting wideout Julian Fleming to the transfer portal. Sixth-year senior Xavier Johnson is also gone. He started three games last year but has been a regular part of OSU’s offense the past two seasons.

The Buckeyes lose 63% of their receiver production from last year, but also have an enviable base that includes true freshman Jeremiah “JJ” Smith, second-year guys Brandon Inniss and Bryson Rodgers, and fourth-year veteran Jayden Ballard.

Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly may have only arrived in February, but by the end of spring, he was happy with what he saw over the course of 15 practices.

“Emeka has reminded me in the other 14 practice sessions of what he can do. Special player,” Kelly said. “And JJ is a really talented player also. Carnell Tate did some really good things watching him this spring.”

This was Kelly’s first real exposure to the Ohio State receiver room, so while he may have come in with some assumptions of the talent level, he didn’t assign any names to those assumptions.

“For all of them, I came in with a blank slate and I had no opinions formed. Really just wide eyed and just observed them,” he said. “But I think that wide receiver room is really special, and I think there’s a bunch of guys in there. And again, when you have to play multiple games after the regular season is over, you’re gonna need depth like that. “

Kelly has observed every practice frontward and backward. It would be normal for that blank slate to lament the fact that there is no Marvin Harrison, Jr. out there any longer. Any program would still love to have him, of course, but Kelly wasn’t worrying about who the Buckeyes didn’t have. He was too busy being impressed by the guys they did have.

“The fact is, you feel a little bit comfortable right now that we’ve got some guys there that can make some plays on the perimeter,” he said. “That really dictates how people are going to defend you.”

The Buckeyes are going to be breaking in a new starting quarterback this year. Whether that is Kansas State transfer Will Howard or redshirt sophomore Devin Brown, Kelly believes the receiver talent is good enough to be an issue for the defense.

Those issues then get compounded by Ohio State running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, who have over 5,000 yards rushing combined in their respective careers.

The passing game and the running game are just two sides of the same coin, and however Chip Kelly flips that coin, he likes his odds.

“So you’ve got a couple of really good running backs, so are they going to load the box? Are you really going to load the box and leave those guys in one-on-one coverage?” he asked.

“Well, then it’s the quarterback’s responsibility to decipher that and to get the ball with those guys. Or do they elicit with double coverage? If they elicit double coverage, and now it’s a little bit lighter box, then you can run the ball. So having too many weapons is a good problem to have.”

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