Brian Hartline ranks the Ohio State star receivers he has coached

Sep 17, 2022; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes passing game coordinator Brian Hartline walks across the field prior to the NCAA Division I football game against the Toledo Rockets at Ohio Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus Dispatch

Ohio State has developed a reputation recently for producing some of the best receivers in football. They have so many good receivers that they’ve left many wondering how to rank them all.

Now, one of the men most closely associated with the group of Buckeyes actually has ranked the receivers.

Brian Hartline, who played wide receiver at Ohio State from 2005-2009, has been the Buckeyes’ receivers coach since 2018. He joined “Bussin’ with the Boys” for an interview that was released on Monday. In the interview, Hartline was asked to rank the top three receivers he has coached.

Rather than go the diplomatic route, Hartline surprisingly ranked his star receivers.

Hartline went with:

1. Marvin Harrison Jr.
2. Jaxson Smith-Njigba
3. Garrett Wilson
4. Terry McLaurin
5. Chris Olave

“You’re talking about an elite group of dudes there,” Hartline said.

He also seemed to still be doing some coaching even while answering the question. He put Olave last and seemed to challenge the New Orleans Saints receiver.

“A guy doing it one year is one thing … it’s easy to do it once. It’s really hard to do it two, three, four, five years like that,” Hartline said.

Olave had 72 catches for 1,042 yards and 4 touchdowns as a rookie with the Saints last season.

Hartline added that he wasn’t afraid to rank Smith-Njigba ahead of Wilson or Olave because both players ranked their former teammate ahead of them too.

Harrison making the top of that list is quite a distinction. He also is the only player who will still be at Ohio State next season, so Hartline is also showing loyalty to the remaining player in the program.