Ohio State 2017-2020 WR - Jaylen Harris

Top 50 Ohio State football players for 2018: No. 38, Jaylen Harris https://t.co/g7mLPMFfFr

— OSUBasketballJunkie (@ScarletBuckeye2) June 16, 2018

 

Cleveland Heights head coach Mac Stephens saw sophomore wide receiver Jaylen Harris right before the 6-5, 215-pounder reported to Ohio State.

Why does Stephens believe Harris is in line for a breakout year with the #Buckeyes?https://t.co/V2HcqATTVx

(FREE via @GarrettStepien)

— Buckeye Sports Bulletin (@Buckeye_Sports) August 4, 2018

 

LAS ➡️ CLE@TheTateMartell to @JHarris5_ was too easy 🙌#WinTheMoment #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/HYxpdWZBWs

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 11, 2018

 

"Jaylen Harris is going to attack this offseason and take a job." https://t.co/iBMaIVBzAy via @TonyGerdeman

— Tony Gerdeman (@TonyGerdeman) January 25, 2019

 

Am told that Jaylen Harris' early exit from today's practice was not because of the scuffle with Arnette, but because trainers instructed him not to return to practice after helmet-to-helmet contact with Isaiah Pryor during a drill.

— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) April 5, 2019

 

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Jaylen Harris enters his third season at Ohio State trying to compete his way into the wide receiver rotation and earn substantial playing time for the first time in his career. https://t.co/bV2mRIIA1e

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) May 30, 2019

 

Jaylen Harris, WR
As Harris enters his third season as a Buckeye, it seems like it should be time for him to find his way into Ohio State’s wide receiver rotation. He’s the Buckeyes’ biggest wide receiver, at 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, and offers intriguing upside as a downfield playmaker with the potential to create mismatches as a downfield playmaker because of his size.

Yet with Austin Mack and Binjimen Victor entrenched as leaders of the outside receiver rotation, Chris Olave also in line for substantial playing time and five-star freshman Garrett Wilson making a major push for an immediate role, it remains uncertain whether there will be room for Harris to get on the field regularly this year. Ryan Day said earlier this month that the Buckeyes want to have a six- or seven-man wide receiver rotation (which also includes K.J. Hill and whoever else makes the rotation at the slot receiver/H-back position), but Harris is still going to need to have a big camp to force his way into that rotation.

 

WR Jaylen Harris
Harris is a skill position player who stayed home in Ohio to play for the Buckeyes, but hasn’t been able to crack the rotation. Although Ohio State lost three of its top receivers from a year ago, Harris’ path to playing time will be just as difficult this season. The wide receivers ahead of him, Chris Olave, K.J. Hill, C.J. Saunders, Garrett Wilson, Binjimen Victor and Austin Mack, aren’t going anywhere. All of them, with the exception of Wilson, have already proven what they can do on the field.

If Harris doesn’t make a push for playing time this season, it could be an even tougher road next season, as the Buckeyes prepare to add the country’s best receiving haul in recruiting, including top-ranked wide receiver Julian Fleming. Harris’ time to make a name for himself is now.

 

The thing is, it’s not always the guys you expect.

Chris Olave had his head down, just shocked and heartbroken and it was Jaylen Harris who picked him up, a guy people think is “unhappy” in his role at OSU.

The bonds that athletics create and cultivate are truly special.

— Jeremy Birmingham (@Birm) December 29, 2019

 

💪 @JHarris5_ #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/c9dgkz3yrK

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) February 19, 2020

 

Jaylen Harris is among the Ohio State seniors with one last spring to stake claim to a bigger role. So far, one Buckeye coach said the Cleveland native is having "the best offseason of his career." https://t.co/bmvLQlq77k pic.twitter.com/GsOXEQHEy6

— Nathan Baird (@nwbaird) March 6, 2020

 

WIDE RECEIVER JAYLEN HARRIS
During the first – and only – week of spring practices, Harris ran with the first-team offense. He had the unenviable task of holding off a cast of fast-charging underclassmen hoping to overtake him. Since spring practices got cut short, though, they never jumped him on the depth chart. Whether or not that would’ve happened, no one truly knows.

But now, Harris will likely begin preseason camp as a first-team wide receiver with less time for someone to leap him. Though the senior only has five career catches, he’ll probably enter August still running with the starters in practice.

Cade Stover, Jack Miller, C.J. Stroud and Steele Chambers are among the players most affected by Ohio State's spring practices getting canceled. https://t.co/pGpQjcqc5Z

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) April 5, 2020