Ohio State football: Julian Fleming makes Garrett Wilson more dangerous

The receiving corp for the Ohio State football team will be ridiculous this season, and the top receiver recruit in the country will be a big reason why.

Julian Fleming is the top receiving recruit in the country. Every major recruiting service has him as the top receiver, and ESPN has him as the top player overall. Fleming is an immense talent that can break a game open with his deep ball skills and his speed.

Fleming stands at 6’2 and 200 pounds, giving him the size he needs to win jump balls on the outside. Pairing him with Chris Olave on the outside should give the Ohio State football team a great 1-2 punch on the outside. But he also helps last year’s standout receiver recruit.

Garrett Wilson showed some flashes of unbelievable play in his freshman season. He caught 30 balls for 432 yards and 5 touchdowns in a receiver room that was extremely crowded. He did all of that as a true freshman and had an unbelievable catch in the semi-finals against Clemson.

Fleming allows Ohio State to move Wilson around

Wilson played a decent amount of snaps in the slot last season. It makes sense for him to do so, with him being a bit smaller at 6’0 and 188 pounds. His speed can be used as an asset in the slot better as well. Adding a player of Fleming’s caliber on the outside should give Wilson more opportunities on the inside.

Most of Wilson’s opportunities came later in the year after he had built more trust with Justin Fields. He caught 3 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown against Michigan and had 4 catches in the loss to Clemson in the College Football Playoff loss.

Those late-season opportunities will pave the way for Wilson to get more catches and more opportunities to make plays. With K.J. Hill, Austin Mack, and Binjimen Victor all gone, there are plenty of catches to go around. Fleming and Wilson will get plenty of those.

Expect Wilson to have a monster season in 2020. Fleming and Olave will both garner plenty of attention, as will Wilson. Wilson and Fleming are lesser-known commodities and should both be able to play a big role in Ohio State’s success this season and beyond.