Brandon Inniss enjoying recruiting opportunities, sees Ohio State as NFL path

COLUMBUS — On Sunday, Brandon Inniss was in Oklahoma.

On Monday, he was back home in Fort Lauderdale.

By Tuesday afternoon, he was on campus at Ohio State.

Welcome to life as a big-time 2023 recruit. The Covid-19 pandemic put recruiting on pause for nearly 15 months. It’s been playing out in double-speed this June. Inniss, the country’s No. 1-ranked wideout, is not complaining.

“I’m just enjoying the process,” Inniss said following Tuesday’s one-day recruiting camp at Ohio State. “I’m just glad everything is open. We’ve been closed for so long, so I’m just enjoying every moment of it.”

The visit to Columbus started about 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. He landed at the airport, got some lunch at Raising Cane’s and immediately met Brian Hartline on the practice fields at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Inniss was the headliner in an electric group of receivers from Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Ohio. That kind of competition is par for the course at Ohio State, but for a recruit it’s a good chance to measure himself against comparable talents.

“I like competition,” Brandon Inniss said. “I see the guys I was with doing good and that makes me want to do good, because I don’t want to be one of the bad guys going up there.”

Brian Hartline’s receivers room doesn’t have bad guys in it. It’s a room full of former high school stars just like Inniss. That depth is something he has to consider as he takes a deep dive into his college choice.

“I think very highly of [Ohio State],” he said. “And the production [of guys] that went to the NFL, because that’s my final goal. I want to be in the NFL, so the guys that they produce, and the guys that they’re going to produce this year — Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson — it’s just amazing to see. Just learning from older guys and taking everything I can and working on my craft.”

And that’s where Hartline comes in. The Ohio State receivers coach has been on a remarkable recruiting run over the last few years. The Buckeyes signed the No. 2-ranked receiver in 2019 with Garrett Wilson. Ohio State inked the top-ranked receiver in 2020 and 2021 with Julian Fleming and Emeka Egbuka, respectively. 5-star 2022 prospect Caleb Burton is one of three receivers already committed in the current cycle. When Hartline offered Inniss, there was almost an expectation that he would be next.

But that’s folly. Recruiting is about relationships. The relationship between Ohio State and Brandon Inniss can now really begin. The Buckeyes offered in February.

“It was just hard to get to every school,” Brandon Inniss said. “But I was trying to find a time for every school. Once I got the opportunity to come to Ohio State, I would never back down from it. Hartline is all about the details, very attentive to them. He shows you what you need to do and tells you how to get better at what you’re doing. He taught me a couple of releases off the line. I feel I can really make that a thing that I work on, and using my hands more as well.

“It’s a difference in knowledge. What he’s heard from people in the NFL, he’s teaching us now. That’s what makes him different.”

The first Ohio State visit for Brandon Inniss continued on Wednesday morning. So far, so good for the 6-foot-1, 190-pound standout from American Heritage (Fort Lauderdale) High School. He’ll head to Alabama on Friday and then finally, maybe, slow down a bit.

“I’ll probably drop my top schools in a couple of months or after the season,” Inniss said. “I’m looking for production to the NFL, trust and the chance to play right away.”