Junior wide receiver Garrett Wilson (5) hauls in a touchdown during the Ohio State-Michigan game Nov. 27, 2021. Ohio State lost 42-27. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
As he watched his teammates play in the Rose Bowl from his home, wide receiver Garrett Wilson was already well into the NFL draft process.
Since declaring for April’s draft in December 2021, Wilson said this offseason has been different from past offseasons. Wilson said during Ohio State’s Pro Day Wednesday he’s been challenged as he focuses on moving to professional football, but it’s “good stress.”
“I can’t lie, this has been the most stressful three months of my life,” Wilson said. “So much is riding on how you perform on a certain day. You can wake up not feeling good that morning and then what? I’m a competitor, I love doing this. Getting to that next level is my dream. This is what it takes.”
Wilson said he’s had multiple team visits and private workouts with prospective franchises ahead of the NFL draft beginning April 28. Plenty of executives and representatives from NFL teams attended Pro Day at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center where they saw 11 Buckeyes take part in drills and workouts.
Receiving passes from teammate and sophomore quarterback C.J. Stroud, Wilson flashed his catching ability during Pro Day. He didn’t participate in other drills like 40-yard dashes or bench press, but measured at 5-foot-11 and 184 pounds.
Wilson projects to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft, and he said he wants to prove to teams he’s worthy of being chosen early.
“I’m so blessed. I don’t want to say ‘lottery ticket’ because it took a lot of things to get here,” Wilson said. “People got to make decisions, my family had to make sacrifices for me to get in this position. All those things. I can’t say lottery ticket, but I’m just super blessed and I’m super thankful.”
Wilson said he felt his Pro Day went well, making note of one pass he missed that pushed him to put more effort into the following one. Another source of motivation, Wilson said, came from his teammate who also participated at Pro Day.
Wide receiver Chris Olave is also a first-round hopeful ahead of April’s NFL draft. He and Wilson combined for over 4,700 receiving yards in the last three seasons, including First Team All-Big Ten selections across the last two seasons.
While the two receivers used Pro Day to showcase their skills for the draft, Wilson said instead of competing against one another, they pushed each other and embraced the process together.
“We both want to see each other go to a team that we can succeed at and be in the best scenario,” Wilson said. “I’d say it’s more pushing each other than competition. We’re not too caught up in where we go. We just want to get the right situation and make plays once we get there.”
Similar to Wilson, Olave said the offseason and focusing on professional opportunities has been demanding. He said prospects began training for the NFL Combine in March quickly after the regular season, which presented a “huge opportunity.”
“It’s been a long, stressful offseason,” Olave said. “We didn’t really have an offseason, so it’s been a stressful time. It’s a huge blessing to be in this position that we’re both in.”
Wilson earned First Team All-American honors from the Football Writers’ Association of America after last season, hauling in 1,058 yards and 12 touchdowns — both second among Buckeyes. Playing in a national championship and declaring for the NFL draft after three seasons represent two things Wilson said he wanted to reach at Ohio State, and he said wide receivers coach Brian Hartline helped him do that.
Spending seven seasons in the NFL, Hartline said he knows what it’s like to perform in front of NFL scouts and teams. He said he told Olave and Wilson to take deep breaths throughout the process and he understands the grind of it all.
“Just to understand that they’re definitely now the CEO of their own brand,” Hartline said. “They have great parents and great support systems. They know what it looks like. If anything it’s probably a little harder because there’s nobody controlling their time.”
There’s still over one month left until the NFL draft, but Wilson said he’s done his due diligence of the class. He said he wants to see “who my competitors are” and he’s studied other receivers entering the NFL draft.
Wilson said Pro Day allowed him to display “what I have worked towards showing.” Ohio State hasn’t had a wide receiver selected in the first round since Anthony Gonzalez in 2007, and Wilson said having the chance to flash in front of NFL scouts and potentially rewrite history is something he will hold dearly.
“When you come out here and work hard every day and put footwork in on the field and then go home all day and think about the game still, you want to make sure everything’s perfect,” Wilson said. “It’s always a chase to perfection. That’s what I’ve been doing.”
