It might seem like a long time ago to some, but if you’ll think back to this past September, the early season was pocked with dropped passes by Buckeye receivers.
Not a lot, mind you. Just a few that were pretty noticeable in big-time moments.
The talk from some at the time was that six starters at receiver were too many. They can’t find the needed consistency if they are never in the game for longer than one series at a time.
And if you have six, the thought was, then you must not have three.
Eventually, however, the offense began to click, and the receivers were right there clicking as well, culminating in two huge plays in the Big Ten Championship Game by Terry McLaurin and Parris Campbell.
The growth has been quite apparent this season, but it started well before the games ever began.
“The biggest factor has been what we’ve been through, not just this season, but also in the offseason,” McLaurin said. “Honestly, what we do outside of football matters as well. Even outside of football when we’re at our apartments, we’re hanging out and doing stuff together. We’re just a close-knit group.”
It takes more than hanging out to get better, however. It takes plenty of work, and that has never been an issue with this group.
“I can tell you a lot of hard work went into it, no doubt,” McLaurin said. “And not just practice, but there’s been times that me and [Johnnie Dixon] have come in here past midnight just working on our techniques and our skills, just trying to get better not only for ourselves but for our team as well.”
That work has resulted in numbers that have never been seen at Ohio State before. Not in terms of individual prolific statistics, but as a whole. Seven different Buckeye wide receivers have at least 17 receptions, which hasn’t happened in the last 25 years and likely ever before.
Seventeen receptions by seven different receivers might not sound like a lot, but the year before Urban Meyer arrived, Ohio State’s leading receiver had just 14 catches.
Hard work and growing closer as a unit were important for this group, but in terms of the improvement in the execution, the major factor in the unit’s growth was accountability.
“I think the number one thing with that is accountability. Everyone holding each other accountable,” McLaurin said.
“We know as a unit and our coaches know as well, whoever is on the field there is a standard to be set and a standard to be made, so I think every guy just holds himself accountable, not only to himself, but also to his teammates. That’s what makes us do what we do.”