Ohio State’s elite recruiting at wide receiver with Brian Hartline coaching that position is already set to continue for at least two more years.
After landing the five-star duo of Jeremiah Smith and Mylan Graham in the 2024 recruiting class and signing another five-star wideout in Quincy Porter this year, Ohio State already has four wide receiver commits in the 2026 class including another five-star in Chris Henry Jr., the third-ranked WR and 15th-ranked overall prospect in 247Sports’ composite rankings for the 2026 class. The Buckeyes also already have a commitment from Jamier Brown, the top-ranked wide receiver in the 2027 class, and are a strong contender for the class’ second-ranked (Monshun Sales) and fourth-ranked (Dakota Guerrant) wide receivers, who are both also five-stars.
Hartline has already begun identifying candidates to continue the trend of elite receiver recruits becoming Buckeyes in the class of 2028, and one of the top candidates was on campus Tuesday to participate in Ohio State’s third high school football camp of the summer.
Anyone who didn’t know who Brysen Wright was when they arrived at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Tuesday probably wouldn’t have guessed that Wright hasn’t even started his sophomore year of high school yet. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound wide receiver from Jacksonville, Florida, looks the part of a college-ready talent, both in terms of his well-built frame and his skill set running routes and catching passes.
Brysen Wright looked the part of one of the 2028 class top wide receivers during Tuesdays camp at Ohio State.
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) June 11, 2025
Following the camp, Wright said he chose to camp at Ohio State because of how Brian Hartline and the Buckeyes develop WRs: Im going to go to school for development. pic.twitter.com/L9k01WnuJE
Wright chose to camp at Ohio State on Tuesday even though he injured his groin last week. He didn’t feel fully healthy as he went through drills on Ohio State’s practice fields on Tuesday, but that didn’t stop him from standing out as one of the camp’s top performers.
Ohio State was the first school Wright camped at this summer, which is a testament to how Hartline and OSU have developed wide receivers in recent years.
“Going to college, what you want is to develop, right? If you come to Ohio State, you know you’re gonna develop, and they can get you to the league as they've done for very many years with other receivers,” Wright said.
Tuesday was Wright’s first time working out with Hartline, but he said it didn’t feel that way as Hartline coached him through drills.
“His vibe is very cool,” Wright said of Hartline. “Coming out here, I thought it was going to be like a first time, it felt like my fifth or fourth time. It was just a very good vibe with Coach Hartline. … All the coaches are very good. All the staff is cool.”
Ohio State has become a go-to destination for elite wide receivers from Florida in recent years, setting it up to have a starting lineup of wideouts in 2025 who all played their high school football in the Sunshine State (Smith and highly touted 2023 recruits Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss). Wright said it is inspiring to see the success Smith had last year at Ohio State as a freshman, when he helped lead the Buckeyes to a national championship, and it increases his interest in potentially becoming a Buckeye himself.
“It inspires me a lot to come and fill in his tracks and just do what he did or have a very outstanding freshman year and just keep going on from there,” Wright said of the possibility of following in Smith’s footsteps.
The potential to continue Ohio State’s legacy of elite receivers is enticing to Wright, but he says his college decision will ultimately come down to who he thinks can develop him best.
“I'm going to go to school for development, so knowing who can develop me to where I want to be is very important,” Wright said.
“If you come to Ohio State, you know you’re gonna develop, and they can get you to the league.”– Brysen Wright
Wright will also camp at LSU on Thursday. He doesn’t yet have any other camps scheduled for this summer, but says Miami, Oregon and Alabama are among the other schools standing out to him early in his recruitment.
Recruiting rankings for the 2028 class aren’t yet widely available, but Wright’s offer sheet is telling of his potential to be one of the best receivers in his cycle. Georgia, Texas, Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Colorado are among the other marquee programs that have already offered him. He’s one of just five receivers in his class so far with an Ohio State offer along with Eric McFarland (the first player in the 2028 class to receive an offer from OSU), Peter Pierre (from Smith’s alma mater, Chaminade-Madonna High School), Jett Harrison (the younger brother of Marvin Harrison Jr.) and Braylon Clark.
Being the No. 1 wide receiver in the class is Wright’s goal, and he believes he will be because of how hard he works.
“I've got my mind in the game. I take the game very seriously,” Wright said of why he thinks he can be the best receiver in his class.
With three years of high school still to go, Wright – who’s seen what it takes to be an elite wide receiver recruit as he played opposite four-star Texas signee Jamie Ffrench at Mandarin High School last year – still has plenty to work on in his game. He says the biggest thing he’s working to improve on in his game right now is his route breaks, which was something he worked on with Hartline on Tuesday.
That said, it’s already apparent that Wright – who caught 31 passes for 646 yards and eight touchdowns as a freshman – has the physical attributes and the receiving skill to be a future collegiate star. And Ohio State has done what it’s needed to do so far to become one of the early frontrunners in his recruitment.
“This is a very good school to be at,” Wright said of Ohio State.
