Ohio State junior wide receiver Garrett Wilson (5) after scoring a touchdown during the Ohio State-Purdue game Saturday. Ohio State won 59-31. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
With the 25th anniversary of the original — and far superior — “Space Jam” earlier this week, I figured I’d dedicate this week’s Casey’s Callouts to the classic that always seemed to find its way onto Disney Channel at 2 a.m.
In the movie, the Looney Tunes are swiped by the Nerdlucks before eventually agreeing to a classic game between the Tune Squad and the Monstars — who had grown freakishly tall and muscular after stealing the basketball talent of former NBA stars Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Muggsy Bogues, Shawn Bradley and Larry Johnson.
In the end, NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and the Tune Squad lead a fierce comeback to win on a buzzer-beating dunk, but for the purpose of proving points, junior wide receiver Garrett Wilson played like a first-half Monstar, as the intergalactic team looked dominant in the opening two quarters of the high-stakes game.
Much was the same with Wilson, as he found the end zone three times before halftime against the Boilermakers, making defenders see stars in the process.
Early in the first quarter, the Buckeyes got on the board with a 21-yard pass from redshirt freshman quarterback C.J. Stroud to Wilson that looked about as easy as passes come.
Wilson and senior wide receiver Chris Olave were split out wide to the formation’s right and ran crossing routes, with Olave cutting in and Wilson jutting out to the boundary. Olave’s man trailed him to the middle of the field while the defender on Wilson took a deep drop into coverage, allowing Wilson room to work with before winning the foot race to the pylon.
Then, after a trio of Buckeye touchdowns — two from freshman running back TreVeyon Henderson and another from sophomore wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba — it was Wilson’s turn again.
The Austin, Texas, native lined up at the Boilermakers’ 12-yard line while Purdue’s defender stood at the 5. Despite the 7 yards of wiggle room the cornerback had to work with, Wilson broke off the line of scrimmage and got by his man.
Wilson ran toward the middle of the field before putting his foot in the ground and breaking for the back right corner of the south end zone. Stroud, knowing he had man coverage, lofted a pass to Wilson that was slightly underthrown.
Wilson, however, made an acrobatic play to overcompensate for the poor throw, leaping into the air and extending back toward the line of scrimmage while contorting his body 180 degrees, as the throw was to his back shoulder.
No. 5 got first-half touchdown No. 3 on the ground — the first rushing touchdown of his career.
After lining up on the right side of the formation, Wilson went in motion as Stroud took the snap, turned behind him, put it in the belly of his receiver and was off to the races. He had a lot of help from Olave and senior tight end Jeremy Ruckert, who sealed off the two defensive backs between Wilson and the end zone.
The 6-foot high school track and field athlete displayed his open-field sprint speed, outrunning the Purdue defense in his 51-yard dash to the end zone.
On his final touchdown, Wilson used the third of his three sports that he played at Lake Taylor High School to help him out: basketball.
The Buckeyes lined up with a trips formation to the left of their formation at the Purdue 24-yard line, with Wilson in between Olave and Smith-Njigba. Side note: Imagine being a Boilermaker defender and seeing that lined up across from you; you’d have to question what bad karma you had on your side to get you in that predicament.
Nevertheless, Wilson ran a quick slant route, but after about 10 yards of catch-and-run, there was a lot of traffic in front of him — his defender, Olave and Olave’s defender.
He slammed on the brakes, and like an Allen Iverson crossover, left Purdue junior cornerback Jamari Brown on ice skates, whiffing in an attempt to arm-tackle Wilson, who easily reached the goal line after a stiff arm of Purdue junior defensive end and projected first-round draft pick George Karlaftis.
Wilson became the first Buckeye since J.K. Dobbins in 2019 to score four touchdowns in a game, going for 177 all-purpose yards on 11 touches for an average of just over 16 yards per play.
If Wilson did steal powers before last week’s matchup, he probably took some of Jerry Rice, Marvin Harrison Sr. and Randy Moss’ primes the way he put his speed, hands and route-running on display, putting the 10 NFL scouts on notice if they weren’t already in on the Garrett Wilson sweepstakes.
