COLUMBUS, Ohio -- With less than nine minutes remaining in the first half of Saturday’s Ohio State football spring game, Team Scarlet was still looking to put points on the board.
Its defense had just given up a 1-yard touchdown to Master Teague and Team Gray led 7-0. Quarterback Matthew Baldwin had just switched over after playing his first series with the first team. It was the first time he’d shared the field with a certain freshman wide receiver since both were playing for Lake Travis High School in Texas.
The three-play, 20-yard drive began with Baldwin being sacked by Antwuan Jackson to make it second and 13.
The next play, Baldwin threw a 9-yard pass to that certain freshman. He’d again try to find him again on the following play, but a pass interference call on Sevyn Banks gave the Scarlet team a first down. After completing a 19-yard pass to Jaelen Gill to put them on the 18-yard line Baldwin decided to go back to his old high school teammate.
The result, an 18-yard touchdown in the back right corner of the end zone and a tie game.
For those who weren’t already aware, Garrett Wilson is going to be a special player for the next three to four years that he wears a Buckeye jersey. He came to Columbus as a five-star prospect who Ryan Day personally assured he’d have plenty of chances to catch a football.
“Two years ago I trusted what Coach Day said to me about the passing," Wilson said before the start of spring workouts. “Seeing it (last year) was just awesome to watch.”
On a day where the offense didn’t necessarily look its best for a multitude of reasons, Wilson stood out. He finished the afternoon with four catches for 44 yards.
It didn’t take long for him to turn some heads from the moment he stepped on campus in January. He was the third true freshman to lose his black stripe — he was later joined by Zach Harrison — during the spring since former head coach Urban Meyer introduced the tradition. And he’s quickly worked his way up the depth chart to the point that it’s almost guaranteed that he’ll play from day one.
“You saw that play today when he got up on that fade route,” quarterback Justin Fields said. “He’s been doing that all spring. That’s just him, nobody on the team was surprised by that. We knew that was going to happen.”
Last season Wilson watched as Clemson’s Justyn Ross caught 46 passes for 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns to help the Tigers reach the National Championship game for the third time in five years. Two days after he arrived in Columbus, he watched Ross catch six passes for 153 yards and one score in Clemson’s title win over Alabama.
As he watched someone considered to be the seventh-best wide receiver in the 2018 class, he envisioned himself. He saw what Ross did and came to the conclusion that he could do the same if given the chance.
“I still a have to come in and earn my stripes and get ready to play,” Wilson said. “A lot of different things can happen so we’ll see.”
He’s the best wide receiver Lake Travis has ever seen, and according to 247Sports.com, and he’s the best wide receiver prospect the Buckeyes have ever signed. What he did on Saturday was just a continuation of the things he did in high school.
Ohio State is without three of its top four receivers from last season, leaving a void that will need to be filled. For now, those starting spots are filled by K.J. Hill, Austin Mack and Binjimen Victor, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be that way when November rolls around. Wilson is only 18
If you watched Wilson’s catch on Saturday and walked away impressed, get used to it. There will be plenty more where that came from.
“He definitely can be a great player,” Hill said. “One of those players that’s going to end up on the wall in the receiving room.”