Spring Position Preview: Another Elite Ohio State Wide Receiver Corps Prepares to Dominate in 2025

That truth has been known for years and is more apparent than ever entering the 2025 season. Even as Ohio State loses school career receptions record-holder Emeka Egbuka, the Buckeyes are slated to have the best collection of wideouts in the country once more, chiefly due to the presence of star sophomore Jeremiah Smith.

Those flanking Smith in Ohio State’s starting trio will be no slouches either, though there are steps to be taken as spring ball fast approaches. Developing depth will be an objective for Hartline’s crew, too, as there’s a lot of youth filling out his ranks after the transfer portal departures of Kojo Antwi (Colorado State) and Jayden Ballard (Wisconsin).

In line to start: Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate, Brandon Inniss

Smith is entering his second season and most national experts will probably tell you he’s the best player in college football coming into 2025. The No. 1 prospect in the recruiting class of 2024 more than delivered on his hype with 76 receptions for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns in his freshman year, making the catch that sealed Ohio State’s national championship victory on a play now known simply as 3rd-and-Jeremiah.

There are no boundaries to what Smith can achieve in 2025. He’s already developed a reputation as a weight room and practice field workhorse, becoming the first Ohio State freshman ever named an Iron Buckeye by the team’s strength and conditioning staff last offseason. A year one to year two leap for Smith is a scary thought for college football.

Tate racked up 52 receptions for 733 yards and four touchdowns as arguably the best No. 3 receiver in the nation in 2024. But the junior is ready for a bigger breakout as he moves up a rung on the ladder to be Smith’s right-hand man. There’s perhaps no better evidence of that than the fact that teams were reportedly willing to shell out $1 million to get Tate to enter the transfer portal.

The unknown (somewhat) in the equation is Inniss. Fans have been waiting eagerly for the junior’s breakout as the highest-rated prospect of a highly touted 2023 receiver haul for Hartline that included Tate and redshirt sophomore Bryson Rodgers, alongside Noah Rogers, who has since transferred to North Carolina State. Inniss barely missed five-star status in the final composite rankings for his class as the No. 38 prospect and No. 5 receiver in the country.

Inniss has shown flashes of the dynamic athleticism and competitive fire that could make him a breakout star playing out of the slot, where he’s in line to play, though the Buckeyes’ projected starting trio can all line up at all three of Ohio State’s receiver positions. His lone touchdown of the 2024 season was a massive one at Penn State, giving the Buckeyes a 14-10 lead on the road that they held for a 20-13 victory.

Inniss – who, like Smith and Tate, hails from South Florida and played on the famed South Florida Express 7-on-7 team – finished with 14 receptions for 176 yards and the above touchdown as the top wideout off Ohio State’s bench in 2024. He added 14 punt returns for 107 yards. His development into a steady option for the Buckeyes’ new quarterback will be arguably the most important development for OSU’s receivers room to reach its ceiling in 2025.

The depth

Throughout the 2024 calendar year, Rodgers subtly showed that Ohio State believes he can be a threat.

Hartline worked hard to get Rodgers back on the Buckeyes’ roster after he entered the transfer portal following 2023. Inniss’ status as the team’s No. 4 receiver was contested early in the year by Rodgers, who played the third-most snaps among wide receivers against Iowa when Tate was sidelined for one game with an injury.

Rodgers finished the season with five receptions for 46 yards, all of which came in the first five games of the season. He told Eleven Warriors before the CFP national championship game that he “feels like” he’s one of the best route runners in the country, then doubled down on that statement with more confidence on X.

RELATED Route Runnin’ Rodgers

While he nips at Inniss’ heels for reps, other young pups will be nipping at his. Mylan Graham, the other five-star prospect Hartline landed with Smith in the 2024 recruiting class, has the potential to take a massive leap in his second season after entering as a less-polished product coming out of New Haven High School in Indiana. His blazing speed will make him a candidate to return kicks and punts, if not for reps in the offense.

Former walk-on David Adolph, who was placed on scholarship ahead of 2024, will provide additional depth as a redshirt junior. All four freshmen Hartline landed in his 2025 recruiting haul – Quincy Porter, Phillip Bell, Bodpegn Miller and De’zie Jones – are also on campus this spring as midyear enrollees.

Freshman to watch: Quincy Porter

Porter was a four-star prospect when he committed to Ohio State in June but earned five-star status in the 247Sports composite rankings after the calendar turned to 2025. It was warranted.

With 57 receptions for 969 yards and 11 touchdowns, Porter pushed Bergen Catholic to its fourth consecutive New Jersey state championship in 2024. Smith proved how lethal a size-speed combo can be at the receiver position last season and the 6-foot-3 Porter logged a 100-meter dash time of 11.12 seconds as a junior. That time would have placed him 12th in the highest classification of New Jersey’s state track and field championships.

Porter closed the book on his decorated high school career with a dominant performance against the nation’s best high school defensive backs throughout the week of the Navy All-American Bowl, which earned him his fifth star.