Buckeyes star receiver Emeka Egbuka named finalist for Paul Hornung Award
COLUMBUS — Emeka Egbuka has been a versatile weapon in both the receiving and return game for Ohio State this fall.
His versatility isn’t going unnoticed.
Egbuka, the Buckeyes leading receiver and primary punt returner, was named one of the four finalists for the Paul Hornung Award, given annually to the country’s top versatile player.
Emeka Egbuka is joined by Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs, Oregon State do-it-all weapon Jack Colletto and Clemson running back Will Shipley. All four have good cases to make for winning the award at the end of the season.
The Paul Hornung Award has been given every year since 2010. An Ohio State player has never won the award.
For Egbuka, his versatility is helping power the Ohio State offense as it continues to be without star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The sophomore receiver from Steilacoom, Washington, and former five-star prospect has 49 catches for 794 yards and seven touchdown grabs this season for the Buckeyes. He has one kick return for 25 yards and nine punt returns for 77 yards this fall after breaking out as a kick-return specialist a season ago.
Egbuka isn’t just up for the Paul Hornung Award. He was added to the Biletnikoff Award watch list in early October and was named a midseason first-team All-American by The Athletic and by CBS Sports.
What makes Egbuka so versatile? Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline answered that in the preseaosn.
“His ability to assess a situation and make it right. That’s what route-running is, right?” Hartline said. “Getting certain hurdles, disadvantages or leverage problems and being able to problem-solve throughout routes, that’s what route-running is all about.
“His ability to sell a return one way and go the other, that’s like body language on a route run. So a lot of those things that he does translates. But it just shows you, again, how smart of a player he is and how he applies it to his game.”
Egbuka has consistently proven that versatility. And the Paul Hornung Award is within reach because of that.
