Ohio State Football: Receivers in the Spotlight in 2017
Will the Ohio State receivers step up?
After combing through all the pre-season magazines, it is painfully obvious that no one thinks highly of the Ohio State receivers.
Can you really blame them?
The top four returning receivers had 766 yards and five touchdowns. Not exactly a body of work that exudes praise and confidence.
By comparison, Penn State’s Mike Gesicki had 679 yards and five touchdowns and Wisconsin’s Jazz Peavy had 635 yards and five touchdowns.
I use these two players as examples because the Nittany Lions and Badgers are the teams with legitimate chances to win the Big Ten this season.
Maybe the good news is Indiana’s Nick Westbrook had 995 yards and six touchdowns.
What caused the passing problems in 2016? Was it a lack of talent, sub-par coaching, weak offense line protection, poor play calling or J.T. Barrett’s arm?
It was a combination of all these factors. More than anything, lack of confidence probably led to the sharp decline in productivity over the last three games of the season.
As bad as the passing game appeared to be, I don’t think it was quite as awful as it seemed. I think many are incorrectly assessing that the passing game will be a weak spot for the team again in 2017. Here’s why.
Barrett still finished fifth in the Big Ten in passing yards finishing with 2555 yards, third in completion percentage at 61.4-percent, third in touchdowns thrown with 24 and he tied for the least amount of interceptions thrown at seven.
The offense also led the Big Ten in total offense and finished second in points-per-game.
Granted, it had two monster blow out wins over Nebraska and Maryland that inflated the numbers a bit and Curtis Samuel was the only legitimate receiving threat, but overall, production was better than it felt.
It just did not come from the guys returning as Samuel, Noah Brown and Dontre Wilson are gone.
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I am banking that this unit’s youth and inexperience has matured over the off-season under the guidance of offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson.
Wilson’s teams at Indiana passed for over 3500 yards in four out of his six seasons. Even more impressive was ball distribution. In those four years, three players had over 500 yards receiving and two times he had a receiver finish with over 1000 yards.
Wilson came up through the ranks coaching the offensive line. Ultimately, the success of the passing game this year relies on fixing the inconsistencies up front that led to Barrett being harassed by every good defense he faced in 2016.
With four starters returning and more depth, Wilson’s biggest impact will be his ability to forge a solid offensive line that can protect Barrett. If the line gels, expect Parris Campbell, Marcus Baugh, K.J. Hill, Terry McLaurin and Benjamin Victor to have breakout seasons.
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The offense will still need to find a deep-threat receiver to extend the defense if it really wants to explode, but even a modest increase in production will provide the needed balance to create a more lethal offense. The receivers are in the spotlight, it is now time for them to shine.