Buckeye Receivers On Pace to Enter Rare College Football Air
11/18/2021 7:39:45 AM | Football
Ohio State could become the first team in Big Ten history with three 1,000-yard receivers
COLUMBUS, Ohio – It took Jaxon Smith-Njigba 10 games to accomplish what only five other wide receivers had done in the 131-year history of Ohio State football.
Soon, however, he figures to have company in the group of players to reach 1,000 receiving yards in a season. Because Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave have reservations in the exclusive club and, powered by the nation’s most explosive offense, they figure to be there sooner rather than later.
Smith-Njigba, the youngest player in the group as a true sophomore and a first-year starter, currently leads the team in receptions (59), receiving yards (1,027) and yards per catch (17.4). In the last two weeks, he has put up video game type numbers: 24 catches, 379 yards and two touchdowns.
JSN Record-Setting Game at Nebraska
Wilson and Olave each have over 50 receptions and figure to surpass the 1,000-yard receiving mark in the next two-to-four weeks, based on statistical projections. Wilson is 187 yards short while Olave needs 292 yards. If it happens, it will mark the first time in Big Ten history that a team has featured three 1,000-yard receivers, and just the sixth time in FBS history.
Wilson Four TDs. vs. Purdue
FBS Teams With Three 1,000-Yard Receivers
- Fresno State, 2013: Davante Adams (1,718), Isaiah Burse (1,026) & Josh Harper (1,011)
- Houston, 2009: James Cleveland (1,214), Tyron Carrier (1,029) & Patrick Edwards (1,021)
- Hawaii, 2007: Ryan Grice-Mullen (1,372), Davone Bess (1,266) & Jason Rivers (1,174)
- Tulsa, 2007: Brennan Marion (1,244), Trae Johnson (1,088) & Charles Clay (1,024)
- Texas Tech, 2003: Carlos Francis (1,177), Wes Welker (1,099) & Nehemiah Glover (1,081)
What makes the 2021 version of the Buckeyes different, though, is how they’re compiling the yardage. Or maybe more specifically, how many are getting a piece of the pie. Ohio State is on pace to have a 4,000-yard passer, three 1,000-yard receivers and a 1,000-yard rusher. The balance this high-powered offense possesses is almost unmatched. In fact, of the five team previously to have three 1,000-yard receivers, only one – Tulsa in 2007 – also had a 1,000-yard rusher.
For now, the Smith-Njigba-Wilson-Olave trio will continue to rewrite the Buckeye record books. Olave needs two more touchdowns to set the career record, breaking a 23-year-old record of 34 set by David Boston in 1998. He’s tied for the lead nationally with 11 TD catches, followed closely behind by Wilson, who has nine. Smith-Njigba etched his name in the record book two weeks ago, catching a school-record 15 passes in a win over Nebraska.
Olave speeds in for six vs. Akron
And don’t forget about redshirt freshman QB C.J. Stroud, who has 30 TD passes, or freshman RB TreVeyon Henderson, who surpassed the 1,000-yard mark last Saturday. Because perhaps the best way to describe Ohio State’s offense in 2021 is simple: balanced.
