'He got the wiggle': Mylan Graham turning heads as route runner in first summer at Ohio State

True freshman wide receiver Mylan Graham created so much separation on a dig route in 7-on-7 last Thursday during Ohio State training camp practice that Brandon Inniss found himself surprised.

“There [are] guys who are just built different for route running. I feel like he’ll be a very good route runner,” Inniss said of Graham Friday, also noting how effective Graham’s releases are off the line of scrimmage.

Inniss is a sophomore potentially on the verge of a second-year breakout, but he was in Graham’s position this time last year.

Both enrolled in the summer, whereas most Buckeyes receivers arrive in January.

Inniss said his best advice to Graham is to stay in the playbook. Learning the playbook is the first and hardest thing, according to Inniss, who described Graham’s progression as steady.

“His daily habits are just getting better and better,” Inniss said.

Graham clocked out as the No. 39 overall prospect, and the No. 9 receiver, in the 2024 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. The former four-star prospect made quite the impression as a junior at New Haven High School, where he became the top Indiana recruit in his cycle. That year, he hauled in 48 passes for 1,149 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. In the process, he averaged 23.9 yards per catch.

Graham is twitchy off the line and quick out of his breaks. He’s hard to track down in the open field, too.

“Mylan’s gonna be good,” said Carnell Tate, another Ohio State sophomore wideout. “He got the wiggle. He can do it all. He just got here. So it just a lot being thrown at him and stuff like that.

“When he relaxed, get the ropes up, he’s gonna be really good.”

Tate hit the ground running with the Buckeyes as an early enrollee last offseason and still finished with only 18 receptions and 264 receiving yards in 2023. That said, those numbers exceeded the output of Marvin Harrison Jr., Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Chris Olave when they were true freshmen.

Jeremiah Smith, the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2024 class, might be the exception to the rule, but, for the most part, the transition from high school stardom to Ohio State stardom takes time for Buckeyes wideouts, in large part because of how talent-laden the receiver room is in Columbus.

Graham has started that long process, however, and he’s off to a good start due to his work ethic.

“He’s really done a good job of learning the offense, learning what we want,” Buckeyes co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach Brian Hartline said. “I would say that he takes a lot of pride in his work. He does not like having MAs (missed assignments), almost to the point where he tries to justify himself on why he did things.

“I’m like, ‘Mylan, calm [down], take a deep breath.’ But I appreciate that edge. I really do. He’s jumping in and trying to take reps. He’s really doing a good job. And I think right now he’s just chasing building a body of work to justify where he’s at, right? That’s the hardest part about coming in June. I mean, what body of work have you really developed or proven to your peers or your coaches to really justify what you want to accomplish? So that’s what he’s chasing right now.”

Hartline said that when a player arrives in the summer, every snap you take in training camp is worth three snaps since you didn’t get the reps you would have had in spring ball.

“If you do something great, it’s worth three,” Hartline said. “If you do something bad, it’s worth three. It’s not one minus, it’s three minuses. So not saying that’s perfect, but that’s probably a decent way to look at it.”

Regardless of when a Buckeyes receiver gets to campus, Tate said the hardest thing is not getting in your head. In other words, if you have a bad day and another receiver in the group has a great day, you can’t be too hard on yourself and lose the confidence you’ve built.

It’s a receiver room that doesn’t wait for anyone to catch up, but summer arrivals have made up lost ground before, and they’ll continue to do so.

Graham might just be the next one, especially if he keeps surprising like he did last week.