In the midst of his second NFL season, Terry McLaurin was waiting in line at a Chick-fil-A drive-thru when he got a call from Brian Hartline, his former receivers coach at Ohio State. Hartline wanted the Washington Commanders receiver to help him out with a recruit.
“Hartline called me and was like, ‘T, I need you,’” McLaurin told me. “He doesn’t ask for much, so when he called me, I wanted to come through.”
McLaurin made the call, spoke for a few minutes with the recruit, and his wife, Caitlin, was impressed enough that she asked who it was.
“I told her I was talking to the No. 1 receiver in the country, trying to get him to come to Ohio State,” he said.
That recruit was Emeka Egbuka, who chose the Buckeyes, became Ohio State’s all-time leader in receptions and is now a standout rookie with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
At the time of that recruiting call back in 2020, Ohio State hadn’t had a receiver selected in the first round of the NFL Draft since 2007. When Egbuka was picked No. 19 overall this past April, it marked four years in a row an Ohio State receiver had gone in the first round.
Today, you’d be hard-pressed to name any college program or position group with more of an NFL presence than Ohio State receivers. A league-high nine of them have caught touchdown passes this season, combining for 28 scores, also the most in the NFL and on pace to surpass the 45 touchdowns they caught in 2024.
And the pipeline isn’t drying up anytime soon.
“Before I committed, I knew Chris Olave was going in the first round and I knew Garrett Wilson was going in the first round. I just wanted to go and be the next guy,” said Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who was selected No. 20 overall by the Seattle Seahawks in 2023 and now leads the NFL with 1,041 receiving yards (an NFL record for the most in a team’s first nine games in a season). “Then I had two more behind me. I knew it was going to be a special group, even just coming in as a freshman.”
Garrett Wilson began Ohio State’s four-year run of having a wide receiver selected in the first round of the NFL Draft, while Emeka Egbuka continued it in 2025. Will they extend the streak to five in 2026? (Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The nickname for Ohio State’s receivers room is “Zone 6,” coined by wideout Dontre Wilson in 2014 as a nod to the end zone and the ultimate goal on any play.
“When you say Zone 6, when you say you’re a receiver at Ohio State, we wanted to push that bar and make it special,” Smith-Njigba said in our conversation. “I feel like the young guys have an opportunity. They see where the bar is set, and their job is to push it further. That’s the standard at Ohio State.”
Egbuka, 23, has been immersed in NFL-level talent since before he even got to college. Olave hosted him on a recruiting visit, Wilson recruited him with texts just as McLaurin did by phone, and he and Marvin Harrison Jr. were roommates as Ohio State freshmen. When Egbuka was selected by the Bucs in April, Smith-Njigba was with him at his draft party.
Every generation credits the receivers who came before them. McLaurin, 30, and Buffalo Bills receiver Curtis Samuel, 29, arrived in Columbus together in 2015 and are now the old guard of the active NFL Buckeyes. Samuel says his inspiration was Michael Thomas, a 2016 second-round pick out of Ohio State who spent eight years with the New Orleans Saints and was the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2019.
“I haven’t been there in nine years, long time ago, but it’s always nice to see guys come into the league from Ohio State,” Samuel told me. “I’m older, but we’re still holding strong and taking over the league.”
Chris Olave (No. 2), WR coach Brian Hartline (top right), Garrett Wilson (No. 5), Emeka Egbuka (far right, center row) and Marvin Harrison Jr. (second from left, front row). (Photo courtesy of Ohio State’s athletic department)
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The common thread that connects all these receivers is Hartline, a former Buckeyes receiver himself who played in the NFL and returned to Columbus as an assistant in 2017. The 38-year-old is now the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator in addition to coaching receivers.
“He wanted to change the trajectory of receivers at Ohio State,” McLaurin said. “He came in with instant credibility because he’d done it at the highest level. He was a Buckeye and had success, so it was easy to buy into everything he was teaching. He focused on the details. We were learning NFL techniques, NFL releases, learning to be the best college receivers but with an NFL mindset — everything from taking care of your body to studying film to winning 1-on-1s, just being a pro in general.”
Hartline had two 1,000-yard seasons with the Miami Dolphins and can still run a route to show a young player how it’s done. Egbuka said he knows now not to take for granted having a coach who’s played the position he’s teaching.
“I’m not going to name any names, but I have a friend in college — he doesn’t go to Ohio State — but his receivers coach played like fullback or something,” Egbuka told me. “There’s a different type of knowledge when it comes to experiential knowledge. Coach Hart has been through everything we went through, seen all the looks, played at a high level as a WR1. When he’s talking, it’s not like he’s blowing smoke.”
For all the Ohio State pass-catchers who have played in the NFL, the single-game record for most receiving yards by a Buckeyes alum is held by Hartline, who had 253 yards in an overtime game in 2012.
“What people tend to forget is that he’s been in all of our shoes before,” Harrison told me. “He played in the NFL and knows exactly what it takes to be successful. He gave us everything he learned in his NFL journey. Coach Hart put up 200 yards in an NFL game. He can show us: ‘This is what I did.’ He understands what we’re all going through.”
Before becoming Ohio State’s wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator, Brian Hartline was a standout receiver in the NFL for seven seasons. (Photo credits: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images, Jason Mowry/Getty Images)
At Ohio State’s football facility on Sundays, while the Buckeyes staff reviews game tape from the day before and starts the game plan for the following week, the coaches always have “NFL Red Zone” on in the background. That way, they can sneak peeks when they hear familiar names finding the end zone around the NFL.
“They’re taking some things I used to know and learn and they’re doing it much, much better, because they’re more talented,” Hartline told me. “It’s a cool blend. I get a lot of satisfaction in them being successful at the NFL level.”
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The intersection of the most future NFL receiving talent at Ohio State was in 2021, when Smith-Njigba, Olave and Wilson combined for 34 touchdowns and 3,600 receiving yards. Even before that season began, quarterback C.J. Stroud, who would throw 85 touchdowns in two seasons as the Buckeyes’ starter, was keenly aware of the talent at his disposal.
“We would just go to a field and throw to the receivers and tight ends,” Stroud told me. “We’re just playing catch and running routes, and guys are making one-handed grabs, getting off the line super quick, running great routes. From that point on, I kind of knew this was the place were receivers were really good, naturally. I went to practice, and the guys were doing all the same things.”
C.J. Stroud (center) formed a quick connection with Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson (far right) in his first season as Ohio State’s starting quarterback in 2021. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
The group was so talented that Harrison and Egbuka barely played as freshmen. Harrison had 68 total yards in his first 12 games until the Rose Bowl, when Olave and Wilson opted out and the freshman broke out with three touchdowns.
“I was a four-star recruit, which I wouldn’t say is high on Ohio State’s standards of receiver recruiting, so kind of like an underdog,” Harrison said in our conversation. “I tried to prove myself each and every single day, learning from Chris, Garrett, Jaxon. They were the older ones, and me and Mek (Egbuka) were freshmen, just working our way through. It was great. Obviously, it was my first time ever not playing on a team on a week-to-week basis, just sitting the bench a little bit. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, learning from those guys.”
At a position where the most talented players can act like divas, Harrison said he learned humility early on. His college experience started by watching other players have success on the field.
“It teaches you one, that you have to make the best of your opportunities when your opportunities come,” Harrison said, “and two, you have to be competitive, and three, just allowing you to be happy for others, to celebrate others’ success.”
Did this group of receivers realize there were five future NFL stars in one room? The group included Jameson Williams, who left Ohio State after two seasons for Alabama, where he became a 1,000-yard receiver and first-round pick of the Detroit Lions.
“That was the most competitive room I’ve ever been in. Insane, every single day,” Smith-Njigba told me. “We all respected each other and were fans of each other, but we wanted to show the coaches we were that guy. It was awesome, just in practice, how competitive it was. It brought the best out of all of us.”
Jameson Williams (left) was a part of Ohio State’s loaded wide receivers room in 2019 and 2020 before transferring to Alabama in 2021. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
“Everybody worked hard in practice, everybody wanted to win every rep, to see who could put the best on film, and every day we attacked it like that, so that’s how we got to where we are today,” Olave told me.
From there, the run of first-round picks began, with Wilson and Olave going back-to-back at 10th and 11th in 2022, Smith-Njigba going 20th in 2023, Harrison going fourth in 2024 and Egbuka going 19th in 2025.
“NFL teams were coveting Ohio State receivers. It was the talent, but [also] the preparation and the readiness, such that the NFL felt like you’re a Day 1 starter, given the opportunity,” McLaurin said. “It’s really cool to see how the Ohio State Wide Receiver U. legacy has continued, back from even the David Bostons, the Ted Ginns and Cris Carters. The lineage is so good that now it’s the expectation. Guys come to Ohio State because they want to be a first-rounder.”
So above all else, what’s the key that has turned Ohio State into a first-round factory? Is there a shared trait that has allowed so many Ohio State receivers to translate their success to the pro level?
“I would say their mental makeup,” Hartline said. “They’re highly competitive. They’re all very willing to get coached and want to be elite and play with their minds. It’s not just physical. The mental [aspect] allows them to unlock what they’re physically capable of.”
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There are enough Ohio State receivers in the NFL now that each one knows a few times a season he’ll go up against a familiar face. There’s always a hug before the game, reminiscing about college days, and usually a jersey swap on the field afterward.
Harrison, in only his second NFL season, has already swapped jerseys with McLaurin, Wilson and is getting one from Olave and will get Egbuka when their teams meet in Week 13. The jersey the Arizona Cardinals receiver has yet to get is Smith-Njigba’s.
“Jax said I can’t get his until I beat him,” Harrison told me recently. “So we’re working on that one. I hope I’ll have everybody’s by the end of the year.”
Alas, Harrison will have to wait until next year. The Seahawks beat the Cardinals 44-22 in Week 10 to sweep the season series between the division rivals, leaving Harrison still searching for Smith-Njigba’s jersey.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Marvin Harrison Jr. shared some laughs following the Seahawks’ Week 10 win over the Cardinals, but there hasn’t been a jersey swap between the two yet. (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images)
Just as McLaurin helped Ohio State land Egbuka, the Bucs rookie knows that while he’s the newest Buckeyes star receiver in the NFL, he won’t be the last. He knows the current Ohio State receiver room well enough to drop several names, even some still in high school who are committed to play in Columbus next fall.
“Carnell Tate is solidifying himself as WR1 [in the 2026 draft] in my opinion,” Egbuka said. “He’s been going crazy. He had 183 yards a few weeks ago, had two touchdowns last week. He’s making a case. The one everybody’s really excited about in two years is Jeremiah Smith. And behind them, you’ve got Mylan Graham, you’ve got Chris Henry (No. 2 WR in the Class of 2026, per 247 Sports, and son of former NFL receiver Chris Henry), who’s not even there yet.
“It’s going to keep on going. They’re like my little brothers, so I am always checking in, making sure they’re good — mentally, spiritually, physically. I know they have big dreams for themselves.”
Like he did with Egbuka, McLaurin is always willing to help out with a recruit. He knows he’ll see that receiver down the road in the NFL.
“You see guys on Sundays on the field, and you always have that conversation,” McLaurin said. “I’ve talked to guys I was there with and guys I didn’t even cross paths with at Ohio State, and it speaks to the brotherhood. You wear that block O, you take it with extreme pride. It’s always love, and it’s a lasting legacy you never forget.”
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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