As the Buckeyes return from spring break and resume March practices at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, Ohio State’s six freshmen of the 2019 class gain experience.
Among the early enrollee skill players, all eyes remain on Garrett Wilson. The five-star wide receiver from Austin (Texas) Lake Travis was OSU’s highest-rated recruit out of the past cycle as the 247Sports composite’s N0. 20 overall prospect, No. 2 wide receiver and No. 3 player in the Lone Star State.
With voids to fill in Ohio State’s rotation of receivers, can Wilson (6-0, 188) make his mark by the end of the spring? He looked ahead to becoming a Buckeye, discussed sticking with head coach Ryan Day and more when BSB interviewed him in February.
Garrett Wilson
On his early enrollment…
“I love it. This is what I dreamed of growing up. It’s here now. It didn’t seem real to start, but it’s awesome.”
On his physical development…
“Yeah, I’ve put on six pounds since I’ve been here, so I’m like 186 right now. The weight training program here is real. They get you right.”
On his decision to stay committed despite the retirement of former head coach Urban Meyer…
“Just trust in the people that are at the helm here. I have a lot of trust in people here. I’ve got built up good relationships with them. My family has as well. It didn’t change whenever things went a little bad. I’d say just the trust we have with the people at the top.”
On his relationship with Day…
“He was just that person that we didn’t build a relationship like that with any other coaches in the process as a family. So he’s that guy for my family, and we trust him.
“He’s everything you want in a coach. He’s a good person off the field, but then on the field, he’s going to be hands-on, he’s going to be teaching you and you’re gonna a lot from him.”
On his impression of Georgia transfer and sophomore quarterback Justin Fields…
“He’s a dual-threat, but he’s a guy who throws better than he runs. He still runs top notch, so … he’s really accurate, every pass I caught from him was right on me. So I’m excited for the competition this spring.”
On his perspective of quarterback after Dwayne Haskins declared for the NFL draft…
“No, it doesn’t (change the perspective), just because you’ve got to expect that when you go to a big university. A lot of people want to go here. It’s a prestigious university, win a lot of games. So people want to be a part of that. I expect change you’ve got to expect change. It’s going to happen. That’s life.”
On his chance to compete for early playing time in the receivers rotation…
“I can’t speak for the coaches or anything. I don’t know what to expect with that, but I’m going to just put myself in the best circumstance to play early. That’s all I can do. I can just focus on doing everything I can to put myself in the best situation.”
On his technical development under veterans and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline…
“The older guys, having the four older guys (K.J. Hill, Austin Mack, C.J. Saunders and Binjimen Victor) — that’s huge, to have those seniors in the room. That’s something that I’m never going to have those same guys in the room again, so I get to learn something that I won’t be able to any other time. They’re different. I love them already. I love them already. We’re in the receiver room, we’re all cracking up. They’re breaking my stuff down. Coach Hart doesn’t even have to be in the room for them to be coaching, so that’s, something like that’s super special. You don’t get that everywhere. So that puts me in a good spot to have those older dudes with me.”
