Tag: Buckeyes

5-star Ohio State WR commit visiting Georgia football

Five-star Ohio State commitment Jeremiah Smith planning an official visit with the Georgia Bulldogs

Five-star Ohio State commitment Jeremiah Smith is visiting the Georgia Bulldogs on May 19. Smith is the top-ranked wide receiver in the class of 2024.

The five-star prospect committed to the Buckeyes in December. Jeremiah Smith plays high school football Chaminade-Madonna Prep in Hollywood, Florida. Smith and Chaminade-Madonna Prep won a state championship in football last season.

Jeremiah Smith is the second-ranked recruit in the class of 2024 behind five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola. Smith is Florida’s top-ranked recruit.

The Chaminade-Madonna standout is taking an official visit to Georgia. Jeremiah Smith also took a visit to Florida this spring. Smith has a strong connection with Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline. He visited the Buckeyes in April.

Brian Hartline has been the best wide receiver recruiter in recent seasons. He has consistently added elite talent every recruiting cycle. The 2024 recruiting cycle looks to be no different. The Buckeyes currently hold commitments from two five-star wide receiver recruits.

Smith made a fantastic contested catch during the 2022 high school football season:

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound wide receiver also runs track at a high level. Jeremiah Smith has excellent speed and body control.

Ohio State currently has the nation’s No. 2 recruiting class. Georgia has the No. 3 recruiting class. The Bulldogs have 11 commitments including verabl pledges from wide receivers Ny Carr and Nitro Tuggle.

247Sports reported on Jeremiah Smith’s visit to Athens, Georgia, as the Bulldogs try to flip the five-star Ohio State commit.

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Bears QB Justin Fields graduates from Ohio State

Congratulations to Justin Fields on earning his degree from The Ohio State University.

Justin Fields burst onto the scene with the Chicago Bears in 2022, setting both team and NFL records with his electric playmaking abilities. He even earned a vote for Most Valuable Player for his efforts following his second season. But all of those pale in comparison to what he achieved this weekend when he earned his degree from Ohio State University.

Ohio State’s spring commencement took place this weekend, and Fields was among the thousands of students who graduated. Fields left the Buckeyes after his junior year to enter the NFL draft in 2021 and was selected by the Bears with the No. 11 overall pick.

He had a decorated career with the Buckeyes in 2019 and 2020, leading them to the College Football Playoff both years and advancing to the national championship game in 2020. Now as a professional, Fields is making millions on and off the field. But going to the NFL didn’t stop him from continuing his education.

He balanced his professional football career with academics and was able to graduate with a degree in consumer and family financial services. According to Ohio State, Fields was able to continue working toward his degree thanks to the Department of Athletics’ degree completion program.

Saints’ Ohio State duo ranked among best college football teammates in NFL

The New Orleans Saints’ Ohio State duo of Michael Thomas and Marshon Lattimore was ranked among the best college football teammates playing together in the NFL:

There aren’t many NFL players who can say they were college teammates, but the New Orleans Saints have a couple of highly-decorated pros who can make that boast. According to Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon, the duo of wide receiver Michael Thomas and cornerback Marshon Lattimore is one of the best tandems in the league who started out together in college.

And, yeah, that checks out. Even if injuries have cut into their availability in recent years (Thomas was limited to just three games last season, Lattimore only appeared in seven), that doesn’t diminish their accomplishments. Lattimore has been a near-annual Pro Bowl selection. Thomas ended a 20-year drought for a wide receiver to win recognition as NFL Offensive Player of the Year. They’ve just got to get healthy, but that seems to be an unfortunately common problem for New Orleans.

Here’s Kenyon’s recap of each player’s achievements to this point:

The New Orleans Saints leaned on two Ohio State products to help them rattle off four straight NFC South titles from 2017-20.

Michael Thomas, a third-team All-Big Ten selection in 2015, notched two All-Pro campaigns during that stretch. Most notably, the wideout set an NFL record with 149 receptions in the 2019 season.

New Orleans picked Thomas in the second round of the 2016 draft and cornerback Marshon Lattimore in 2017’s opening round. The latter was named first-team All-Big Ten in 2016 and won AP Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2017. He also added Pro Bowl honors three straight years from 2019-2021.

Thomas and Lattimore both missed a majority of 2022 due to injury but are prime candidates for bounce-back years.

Hopefully both Lattimore and Thomas can return to full health and reestablish themselves on the national stage in 2023. The Saints redoubled their commitments to Lattimore through another contract restructure this spring while also signing Thomas to what’s effectively another one-year extension — meaning they’ll have to circle back and figure out a long-term solution with him next offseason. If he and Derek Carr can play as well together as they hope, that may end up being an easy decision.

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College football: Former Notre Dame starter transfers to Ohio State

He’ll be reuniting with his brother there, too.

When Notre Dame hosts Ohio State in late September the connections between the two programs will run deep. [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] obviously wore scarlet and gray in college and now heads the Fighting Irish football program.  Meanwhile [autotag]James Laurinaitis[/autotag] recently went from being a graduate assistant at Notre Dame to the same post under Ryan Day at Ohio State.

Add another to the mix as former Notre Dame wide receiver [autotag]Lorenzo Styles[/autotag], Jr. has announced his next home – none other than Ohio State.  Styles entered the transfer portal the day before Notre Dame’s spring game and announced his decision this weekend.  At Ohio State he’ll be teammates with his younger brother [autotag]Sonny Styles[/autotag] who plays in the Buckeyes secondary.

Styles, Lorenzo that is, is one of 14 players from Notre Dame’s 2021 recruiting class that is no longer with the program.  He has stated he wants to make the transition to defensive back which will probably be a good idea if he wants to see much of the field as nobody has recruited and developed the receiver position better than Ohio State in recent years.

Notre Dame is set to host Ohio State on Sept. 23.

See some of the best photos of Styles during his time at Notre Dame below.

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Jaxon Smith-Njigba says he ‘wouldn’t be here’ without Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson

Jaxon Smith-Njigba excited for the 2023 NFL draft, says he ‘wouldn’t be here’ without his Ohio State mentors Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson:

The New Orleans Saints have done really well with former Ohio State Buckeyes, but it could be tough for them to pair Chris Olave with his former protégé Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Olave, Smith-Njigba, and Garrett Wilson kept defenses on their hills when they were running together in Columbus, and soon he’ll be joining them in the NFL.

And Smith-Njigba wants it known that he appreciates the mentorship they both shared with him. He expressed as much during an interview with noted Saints fan Kay Adams, who suggested Smith-Njigba can be an even greater pro than his old Buckeyes teammates.

“Those guys are in the league right now and I’m just trying to chase those guys.” Smith-Njigba said on the Up & Adams program. “I always appreciate, you know, Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, the guys before me and who have already done it. I wouldn’t be here without them.”

When asked what advice they had given him going into the 2023 NFL draft, Smith-Njigba replied: “They just told me to be myself, they know I’m a hard worker and I want to be great. If I keep my head on straight and stay present, good things can happen.”

Smith-Njigba is projected to be a top-15 pick in Round 1 on Thursday night, so the Saints would have to make a big trade up the board to go get  him. They have more pressing needs than adding another receiver but the idea of pairing him with Olave again has to be enticing.

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Mylan Graham commitment adds another 5-star WR for Ohio State

Ohio State gets another five-star wide receiver commit in Mylan Graham from Indiana.

Ohio State has become a veritable factory for producing top-notch NFL wide receivers in recent years. That’s a credit to Ryan Day’s staff, but it certainly doesn’t hurt that they continually recruit the top receiver prospects from around the country. They’re working hard to continue that trend, too.

The Buckeyes already had the best wide receiver in the class of 2024, with Jeremiah Smith on board. Yesterday, they added another five-star recruit at this position when New Haven (Ind.) wide receiver Mylan Graham announced his commitment to Buckeye Nation.

The scouting report on Graham (6-foot-1, 170 pounds) credits him for his technical expertise and sharp route running. Last season he put those qualities to work, racking up 48 catches, 1,149 receiving yards (that comes out to 23.9 yards per catch) and 13 touchdowns. 247Sports has his pro comparison pegged as CeeDee Lamb from Dallas.

According to the composite rankings, Graham is fifth among wide receivers, first overall in Indiana and No. 27 in his class.

Graham had offers from 24 other programs, including Alabama and Georgia.

Ohio State’s class of 2024 now ranks fifth in the country.

More football stories

4 stars commit to Ohio State, Penn State and Alabama

Florida adds another blue chip QB in Austin Simmons

Ohio State: The top-10 ranked recruits in their class of 2023

Saints brass met with ‘a big group’ of Ohio State draft prospects before Buckeyes pro day

Report: Saints brass met with ‘a big group’ of Ohio State draft prospects over dinner before the Buckeyes pro day, but not top slot receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba:

Here’s something: the New Orleans Saints sent eight coaches, scouts, and front office executives to Columbus for the Ohio State Buckeyes pro day this week, but they made sure to arrive in town early. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reports that head coach Dennis Allen and general manager Mickey Loomis “had dinner with a big group” of Ohio State draft prospects for dinner on Tuesday night.

But top slot receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba wasn’t in their party — he was tied up with a prior commitment to the New York Giants (picking at No. 25 in the first round, ahead of the Saints at No. 29), who were reportedly seated a couple of tables away in the same restaurant. Odds are good that the Saints will catch up with Smith-Njigba at another time if they haven’t already.

This isn’t uncommon for the Saints. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill adds that they like to get groups of players together around pro day workouts in a more casual setting “to see how they interact and put them in more natural settings to see what they’re really like.”

So it doesn’t necessarily mean any of these Buckeyes are going to end up wearing black and gold just because the Saints went through the trouble of traveling to Ohio. But their history of drafting players out of Ohio State speaks for itself. As many as a dozen draft-eligible prospects are working out in front of NFL teams on Wednesday, and it’s very possible one or two of them are in the Saints’ plans for 2023.

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Re-drafting for the Saints in latest 3-round Draft Wire projection after free agency

Re-drafting for the Saints in the latest 3-round Draft Wire projections, after the first week of free agency signings: What we changed and what stayed the same

The first week of free agency signings has come and gone, so it’s time for an updated 2023 NFL mock draft from our own Jeff Risdon over at Draft Wire, who has the New Orleans Saints acting quickly to improve their receiving corps as well as their depth on the other side of the ball.

But are these the best picks for the Saints given the prospects available at each draft slot? We took a stab at what might be best for New Orleans based off the other picks in Risdon’s projection. Here’s what we would do differently — and what we would keep the same:

Notre Dame football: Irish to wear green vs. Ohio State!

The Irish will wear green in their showdown vs. Ohio State this September!

It’s going to be one of the biggest games Notre Dame Stadium has hosted in quite some time and it’ll be greeted with the Fighting Irish wearing green uniforms.  Announced this St. Patrick’s Day, the Irish will wear green as they welcome Ohio State to South Bend on September 23.

Notre Dame very possibly will be a top 10 team to start the year.  A quick look at their schedule says that they should be unbeaten headed into the showdown with the Buckeyes.  Ohio State figures to be a preseason top-five team and unbeaten when late September comes around.

Notre Dame will be looking to end what is a five game losing streak against the Buckeyes.

Check out the best pictures of Notre Dame wearing green over the years below (please note it doesn’t feature every game, but a few from each that we had in our photo archives)!

 

Chris Olave congratulates his college teammate Garrett Wilson’s OROY win

New Orleans Saints standout Chris Olave congratulated his college teammate Garrett Wilson’s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year win:

Now this is cool. Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson went from making plays together in college to praising each other in the pros. The New York Jets’ Wilson was named the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year during Thursday night’s NFL Honors awards show, and his old Ohio State Buckeyes teammate Olave took time to congratulate his friend on the accomplishment. It’s a nice move by the young New Orleans Saints star player.

Never mind that Olave averaged more yards per catch (14.5) and yards per game (69.5) than Wilson (13.3 and 64.9, respectively) while posting a higher catch rate (60.5% against 56.5%) and dealing with similarly inept quarterback play. The Associated Press voters were more impressed by Wilson’s final tally of 83 receptions for 1,103 yards than Olave’s 72 catches and 1,042 yards.

If Olave hadn’t missed two games with injuries or dropped a couple of deep shots early in the season, he might have run away with the award. Ah well. At the end of the day they’re both great players who will be cornerstones for their respective franchises. Olave and Wilson set high standards for themselves in 2022. Let’s see how they improve upon those marks in 2023.

One other interesting note: Wilson and Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner accomplished something that hasn’t happened since the Saints themselves did it: winning both Rookie of the Year awards as teammates. Another former Buckeye, Marshon Lattimore, won the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award in 2017 with running back Alvin Kamara being named the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year. This kind of success doesn’t come around very often, so it’s impressive to see such rare overlap.

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