Ohio State’s 2021 wide receiver room was one of the most loaded position groups in college football history, especially during spring practice.
Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Jameson Williams, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka made up Ohio State’s two-deep at wide receiver that spring. Four years later, all six of them are now in the NFL as first-round draft picks.
Wilson (No. 10 overall, New York Jets), Olave (No. 11, New Orleans Saints) and Williams (No. 12, Detroit Lions) were all selected in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft. Smith-Njigba (No. 20, Seattle Seahawks) was a first-round pick in 2023. Harrison became the highest-drafted wide receiver in Ohio State history (No. 4, Arizona Cardinals) in 2024. Egbuka became the sixth first-round pick from that group when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected him with the No. 19 overall pick in Thursday night’s first round of the 2025 NFL draft.
Amazingly, none of them were even the most highly touted recruit in Ohio State’s 2021 receiver room, a distinction that was held by Julian Fleming, who also hopes to land an NFL opportunity as either a late-round pick or undrafted free agent after finishing his college career at Penn State. That receiver room also included Kamryn Babb – a top-100 recruit who Ohio State had high hopes for before his career was derailed by knee injuries – and Jayden Ballard, who was a top-100 recruit alongside Egbuka and Harrison in the 2021 class.
Egbuka said at the NFL Scouting Combine that he believes becoming part of such a loaded wide receiver room when he arrived at Ohio State is a big reason why he ended up becoming a first-round pick himself.
“The room that I stepped into at Ohio State, there was Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Julian Fleming, Jameson Williams, Kamryn Babb, Marvin Harrison Jr.; that's probably one of the craziest rosters I've ever heard in my life,” Egbuka said. “And that was really the reason I decided to go to Ohio State was because I didn't want to go to a place where I wasn't going to be challenged by my peers. I wanted to go to a place where in order to see the field, I had to grow at an exponential rate because they were all growing as well. So being able to play with them and just being in that competitive atmosphere is why I'm standing before you all today.”
Williams transferred to Alabama after Smith-Njigba took his starting job that spring, but Ohio State still had one of the nation’s most prolific passing offenses without him. With Wilson, Olave and Smith-Njigba leading the way at receiver, C.J. Stroud threw for 4,435 yards and 44 touchdowns in 2021.
The depth of Ohio State’s 2021 receiver room became especially clear when Olave and Wilson opted out of the Rose Bowl to preserve their health as projected first-round pick. Smith-Njigba, Harrison and Egbuka all stepped up in their absence. Smith-Njigba had the greatest game ever for an Ohio State receiver as he caught 15 passes for 347 yards and three touchdowns, Harrison had his coming-out party by catching three touchdown passes and Egbuka flashed his star potential with three catches for 46 yards.
While that would prove to be the peak of Smith-Njigba’s Ohio State career as his final season as a Buckeye was derailed by a hamstring injury, Harrison went on to become the best receiver in college football over the next two years while Egbuka went on to become Ohio State’s all-time receptions leader (205 catches for 2,868 yards and 24 touchdowns) over the next three years.
“The room that I stepped into at Ohio State, there was Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Julian Fleming, Jameson Williams, Kamryn Babb, Marvin Harrison Jr.; that's probably one of the craziest rosters I've ever heard in my life.”– Emeka Egbuka on Ohio State’s 2021 receiver room
Now, Egbuka will look to follow in the footsteps of his former teammates by becoming an NFL star. Wilson, Olave, Smith-Njigba and Williams have each already had at least one 1,000-yard receiving season in the league, and Harrison wasn’t far off as a rookie with 62 catches for 885 yards and eight touchdowns last season.
Even with all of them now gone from Ohio State, the Buckeyes’ wide receiver room remains loaded. Jeremiah Smith already looks destined to be a future top-five NFL draft pick even though he’s still two years away from being draft-eligible. Carnell Tate is also well on his way to being an early-round pick in either 2026 or 2027, while Brandon Inniss, Mylan Graham and Quincy Porter have all flashed the talent to develop into early-round draft picks themselves.
When the likes of Smith and Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline talk about continuing to chase a higher standard, though, the 2021 wide receiver room is the only example they need to show just how high the standard of receiver play at Ohio State can be.
