Ohio State signed five wide receivers in the 2018 recruiting class, with Californian Chris Olave the lowest-rated among them. Olave was a 3-star prospect and ranked as the No. 68 receiver in the nation. Of the Buckeyes’ 26 signees, 23 of them were rated higher than he was.
Rankings, however, rarely tell the entire story.
In fact, of those five receivers who are now freshmen, only Olave sees the field regularly, and one of them — Cameron Brown — is now a cornerback.
Olave has four catches for 60 yards on the season, with two of those catches and 41 of those yards coming last week at Michigan State.
When starting receiver Austin Mack went down with an injury at Purdue, the Buckeyes had to scramble to replace his production, and one of the players they turned to was Chris Olave. In the Nebraska game, OSU quarterback Dwayne Haskins threw his only interception of the game in an attempt to hit Olave in the end zone.
There was no catch in that game for the Buckeye freshman, but he had a pair of key receptions last week against the Spartans.
The Ohio State coaches and players knew that they could rely on Olave in a larger role because they’ve seen it in practice, and they’ve seen it on special teams.
“Boy, he’s gonna be good,” head coach Urban Meyer said on Wednesday. ” He’s way ahead of schedule. Special teams he’s doing great for us. I think he had a couple of catches in Saturday’s game, and one was a big one for us. He’s going to be a fine player. He’s tough and he’s smart. Very mature for his age.”
Olave didn’t have the benefit of enrolling early, so when he got to Ohio State in the summer he had to hit the ground running or be left behind. He did, however, have the benefit of knowing that there wasn’t going to be pressure on him to see the field immediately.
But that didn’t stop him from doing what he’s done.
“Coming in to Ohio State I knew all of the receivers were coming back,” Olave explained. “I just wanted to come in, get better, and compete. Try to get on the field with special teams or something. I just came in and tried to learn the plays and tried to get everything down and work hard every day trying to earn a spot.”
His teammates saw early on what he was capable of doing on the football field, and they encouraged him to continue doing it.
“It all started in the summer when they saw what I could do,” he said. “They told me I was going to make an impact on the season. I just stuck to it.”
The veterans did more than just encourage him, however. They also set the example for him to follow.
“I think our role is to make sure we’re doing everything right because he’s in the back of the room watching the leaders of the receivers’ room,” senior Parris Campbell said of the veterans’ role in helping the young receivers like Olave.
“We have to stay on our toes and stay on our Ps and Qs obviously for ourselves, but also to set an example for him. Chris is a fast learner. He takes what he gets in the meetings and takes it to the field. It’s like clockwork. I think it’s us always putting great things on film and allowing him to learn from us.”
The Season That Wasn’t
Two years at this time, Chris Olave was watching his Mission Hills High School football team from the sidelines.
A junior season is arguably a recruit’s most important season. That’s when he makes his name known, which then brings in the offers.
For Olave, however, he essentially didn’t have a junior year, which means that his name was virtually unknown.
“That was a long process,” he recalled. “After my sophomore year, I transferred schools and had to sit out my whole junior year, so I didn’t have any junior year highlights. Then my senior year mid-season highlights came out and then Ohio State was the first big offer, so I kind of jumped on it. Then all of the other schools started to come after Ohio State came. I signed late. I signed the week before signing day.”
Happening upon Olave was almost a happy accident for the Buckeyes.
“Actually, [offensive coordinator] Coach [Ryan] Day was coming to see my quarterback,” he said. “My quarterback was a big-time recruit, and my head coach and my quarterback told him about me. He waited until my mid-season [highlights] came out and he finally pulled the trigger.”
As a senior, Olave set a San Diego-area record with 93 receptions for 1,764 yards and 26 touchdowns.
The lack of highlights as a junior left him off the radar, but it didn’t take long into his senior year for the blips to start blipping.
While the production from last year to this year is obviously on a different plane, the impression that he has made on his coaches and teammates is very similar.
When Campbell looks at Olave now, he sees a player with unlimited potential, and a player that can help now and down the road.
“I can tell you it’s pretty high,” Campbell said of Olave’s ceiling. “You just look at a guy like Chris Olave, who you see him and he’s a featherweight right now. He doesn’t have a ton of muscle mass on him, but he’s electric. He’s super-fast, he’s efficient and has great hands. He’s everything you want in a receiver. I think come winter time when Coach Mick gets ahold of him, he’ll look a lot stockier with a lot more muscle. I think his ceiling is through the roof and he has it all.”
