Might Tate crack the lineup in his freshman year? #GoBucks
Show me a deeper room among college football than the [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] wide receivers. It’s an extremely difficult task.
There is talent all over, from proven stars such as [autotag]Marvin Harrison Jr.[/autotag] and [autotag]Emeka Egbuka[/autotag], to solid contributors like [autotag]Julian Fleming[/autotag] and [autotag]Xavier Johnson[/autotag]. That’s not even including [autotag]Jayden Ballard[/autotag], who many believe is the next player to makes waves among the group.
It’s an extremely hard lineup to crack but early enrollee [autotag]Carnell Tate[/autotag] is making his case to play right away. The freshman wowed during today’s scrimmage and as someone who has known the Illinois native since his freshman year of high school, it doesn’t surprise me one bit.
Check out below some of the clips of practice along with reactions from Tate’s impressive showing.
After last year’s rash of injuries, [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] will try and create depth throughout the whole roster. One position where you wouldn’t expect much of that is wide receiver, but new offensive coordinator, [autotag]Brian Hartline,[/autotag] wants to have multiple players ready to go.
When [autotag]Jaxon Smith-Njigba[/autotag] went down in the season opener and wasn’t able to get right, he eventually sat out the remainder of the season with a hamstring injury. This wasn’t the only time a recent Buckeye star has gotten hurt and then missed their final season — see Nick Bosa.
The receiver group has plenty of firepower, but they’re all upperclassmen. [autotag]Marvin Harrison Jr.[/autotag], [autotag]Emeka Egbuka[/autotag], and [autotag]Julian Fleming[/autotag] could all leave, and reloading the position is something Hartline wants to do this year.
When asked about the receiver depth, he mentioned that the group is six or seven deep. Hear from Hartline below.
Hartline said the Buckeyes are "a good six-seven deep right now."
"The four-five-six is much better than it was this time last year."
When asked who those six or seven guys are, Hartline had three words.
We know the first three-plus [autotag]Xavier Johnson[/autotag], but the remaining three to four are unknown. There is some hype around [autotag]Jayden Ballard[/autotag] and early enrolling freshman [autotag]Carnell Tate[/autotag] has already lost his black stripe in record-breaking time.
At this moment it’s just a guess as to who will make their mark on one of the deepest position groups in the country, but you feel pretty good about there being plenty of options.
Although walk-ons don’t typically see the field much, the [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] football program has done a good job of finding some that do.
This past season wide receiver [autotag]Xavier Johnson[/autotag] made some huge plays when games counted for the Buckeyes. His touchdowns against Notre Dame and Georgia were extremely important.
The Buckeyes might have found another player to fill that role. Illinois wide receiver [autotag]Nolan Baudo[/autotag] announced he will join the team in the fall as a preferred walk-on. At 5 feet, 10 inches and 170 pounds, he has slot receiver written all over him.
Baudo comes from the same high school, Marist, as 2023 signee [autotag]Carnell Tate[/autotag] before he transferred to IMG in Florida. Every year the program sends multiple players to Power Five schools. Their program is one of the best in the Chicagoland area.
Ranking Ohio State wide receivers by 247Sports composite recruiting ranking #GoBucks
The Ohio State football program has 13 wide receivers on scholarship and appears super deep. Still, as any Buckeye fan knows, this unit took a massive hit last season with the injury to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but the youngsters stepped up in a big way.
It was a bit shocking to see Xavier Johnson return, not that he was an early-round lock for the NFL, but he will undoubtedly get a shot at the next level. There is also a ton of excitement surrounding the stud freshman arriving on campus.
We rank the scholarship wide receivers on the roster based on their 247Sports recruiting rankings. You might be surprised by some of these …
There is something to be said about what [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] offensive coordinator [autotag]Brian Hartline[/autotag] has done with his wide receiver group. Two of his “graduates” just came off 1,000-yard seasons in their rookie NFL seasons, the Saints’ [autotag]Chris Olave[/autotag] and Jets wide receiver [autotag]Garrett Wilson[/autotag].
Another, [autotag]Jaxon Smith-Njigba[/autotag], is expected to be selected in the first round of this coming NFL draft, following the footsteps of the two above. We know that [autotag]Marvin Harrison Jr.[/autotag] is most likely to do the same in the following draft but Hartline thinks there will be two more.
The recently elevated leader of the Buckeye offense replied to a Twitter thread that he believes three more will join Olave, Wilson, and soon-to-be selected JSN as first-round picks.
Duh but numbers don’t matter. We have 3 1st rounders next year…
We obviously expect Harrison Jr. to go and the other clear choice is [autotag]Emeka Egbuka[/autotag] as mentioned in the thread, but who would be the third? Could it be [autotag]Julian Fleming[/autotag]? Maybe [autotag]Xavier Johnson[/autotag]?
It’s hard to know who Hartline was inferring, but his track record speaks for itself. If he believes that three will get selected, I don’t think many are going to doubt Hartline’s statement.
Ohio State vs. Georgia halftime review: three things #GoBucks
The Ohio State Buckeyes are currently beating the Georgia Bulldogs to the tune of 28-24 going into halftime and Ohio State is sitting in the ideal situation. Most experts expected the SEC champions to be blasting the Buckeyes at this point, but Ohio State is in a prime position to snag an upset victory and a bid to the CFP national championship game.
It it can hold on.
Georgia does receive the ball to start the third quarter and the Buckeye defense hasn’t exactly been in lockdown, but they have been solid and had a strong drive to end the half and all of the momentum heading into the locker room. Let’s dive into three things that were most notable about the first half in this College Football Playoff semifinal.
The Buckeyes take the lead back before the half #GoBucks
The Buckeyes led for the majority of this contest against Georgia in the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] semi-finals but found themselves trailing for the first time all game with just 1:44 before the half. [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] head coach [autotag]Ryan Day[/autotag] had been adamant about being aggressive, taking chances and he took one.
With no timeouts, the Buckeyes drove right down the field in four plays, spanning just 55 seconds to retake the lead. Quarterback[autotag]C.J. Stroud[/autotag], who has been on fire during this game, went 4-for-4 finding [autotag]Xavier Johnson[/autotag] to start the drive, with a pass to [autotag]Emeka Egbuka[/autotag] and [autotag]Julian Fleming[/autotag] sandwiched around another pass to Johnson which was the scoring play. Stroud found the walk-on over the middle for a 37-yard touchdown pass to give Ohio State a 28-24 lead just before the half.
A quick answer from Ohio State before the half on this 37-yard bomb from Stroud to Xavier Johnson. OSU now leads 28-24. https://t.co/yLbMUMnHnX
The response was much needed as the Bulldogs were on a 17-0 run to take the lead. The Buckeyes would go into the half a slim lead in the [autotag]Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl[/autotag].
INDIANAPOLIS — Notre Dame’s decision to back out of the Crossroads Classic led to the event’s demise. Given its history in the event, it probably won’t missed in South Bend. Indiana dealt the Irish one more bad memory by beating them, 64-56, to give the program a final event record of 4-7.
During the second half, the Irish (4-5) erased a 10-point Hoosiers (9-2) lead with an 11-1 run, tying the game at 46 with over eight minutes to go. That was as good as it got for the rest of the game as the Hoosiers went on an 8-0 run that came too late for the Irish to overcome. Soon after, a two-handed dunk by future NBA player Trayce Jackson-Davis served as the final dagger and whipped the heavy Hoosiers contingent at Gainbridge Fieldhouse into a frenzy.
Appropriately, Jackson-Davis was the most productive Hoosier with 17 points and 12 rebounds, completing a double-double. Parker Stewart had 12 points, most of which came on three 3-pointers. Xavier Johnson scored 11 despite shooting only 3 of 11 from the field and committing four turnovers. Race Thompson also had 11.
Dane Goodwin, one of three active Irish players to play in the Crossroads Classic four times, was responsible for much of the Irish’s scoring with a team-high 15 points. Blake Wesley was just behind with 14 points, though he was compounded by 5-of-16 shooting from the field. Paul Atkinson Jr. had a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds to go with four steals.
NCAA prospects have until April 26 to declare early entry for 2020 NBA Draft. There are several notable prospects who could join this class.
NCAA prospects have until next week to declare early entry for 2020 NBA Draft. There are several notable prospects who could join this class.
Two freshmen (Precious Achiuwa and Jahmi’us Ramsey) are widely projected as first-round prospects. Meanwhile, three sophomores (Isaiah Joe, Aaron Henry and Joel Ayayi) typically appear on mock drafts.
Others who are likely Top-100 prospects: Romeo Weems, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Filip Petrusev, Joe Wieskamp, Corey Kispert, Terrence Shannon Omer Yurtseven, Yves Pons, AJ Lawson, Charles Bassey, Anton Watson and Miles McBride.
Below is a list reviewing all of the key players in college basketball who have yet to make a public decision about their NBA futures, even if it is simply just to test the waters so long as they already applied to receive feedback from the Undergraduate Advisory Committee before April 16.
