Scarlet Sunrise: After starring in the slot, Emeka Egbuka ready to move around in final season

IMG_7408by:Andy Backstrom•03/05/24•

andybackstrom

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After starring in the slot, Emeka Egbuka ready to move around in final season

Marvin Harrison Jr. opted out of the Cotton Bowl, effectively starting his NFL Draft process. Julian Fleming was already in the transfer portal by the time the Dec. 29 New Year’s Six matchup rolled around in Arlington, Texas.

With those two out of the picture, Buckeyes star slot receiver Emeka Egbuka lined up out wide for 75% of his pass snaps against Missouri, in other words for 21-of-28 pass snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. He was in the slot for the other seven pass snaps in the 14-3 loss.

Despite quarterbacks Devin Brown and Lincoln Kienholz facing pressure on a combined 14-of-27 dropbacks, per PFF, Egbuka hauled in a team-high six catches for 63 yards. Brown connected with Egbuka three times on the same drive in the first quarter. Then, in the fourth quarter, Kienholz found Egbuka on three separate occasions, once for 25 yards and once for 18 yards.

“Coming into college, I had never played the slot before,” Egbuka explained Monday in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. “I was always outside growing up. So it felt natural to me going back there for the Cotton Bowl. I just feel like if you get the ball in my hands on the outside quickly, I feel very confident with the ball in my hands and my ability to gain yards after the catch.”

Egbuka continued: “On the outside you even have more of a mismatch because you’re not matched up with linebackers and safeties. You’re typically lined up with corners who are smaller in frame and not as great as tacklers. So I feel like just having that YAC ability on the outside has a huge potential for X plays.”

Of Egbuka’s 63 receiving yards against Missouri, 19 came from YAC, according to PFF. For reference, Egbuka lined up in the slot for 72.5% of his pass snaps in 2023 and 68.3% of his pass snaps in 2022. Those years, he piled up 247 and 526 YAC yards, respectively. His 526 YAC yards — thanks to 7.1 YAC per reception — were tops on the team in 2022. Although it’s worth noting that Egbuka missed three games this past season with an ankle injury he suffered versus Maryland in Week 6. And, while he returned Week 10 at Rutgers, he wasn’t really himself again until Week 12 against Minnesota.

Egbuka wasn’t far off Harrison’s receiving totals in 2022. As a sophomore, he logged 74 receptions, 1,151 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, not to mention his two rushing scores.

Those numbers dropped significantly during his injury-riddled 2023 campaign, during which he recorded only 41 catches, 515 receiving yards and four touchdown receptions.

But Egbuka — at one point a projected first rounder last year — is back for 2024, and he’s now the face of the Buckeyes receiving room with Harrison off to the next level.

En route to becoming a Heisman Trophy finalist, and a more valuable NFL prospect, Harrison moved around more his final year at Ohio State, registering a career-high 71 pass snaps in the slot, according to PFF.

Egbuka could be in line for an even more significant bump in pass snaps out wide.

“Probably bouncing around a couple of different spots,” Egbuka said, when asked where he’ll be lining up this spring. “Just honing my craft on the inside and outside in preparation for the next level.

“Don’t necessarily know where I’m going to be playing at the next level so just want to continue honing my craft everywhere I can.”

Aside from the Cotton Bowl, there have been just two other times in Egbuka’s career that he’s recorded more than 70% of his pass snaps in a game out wide, per PFF: Week 2 against Arkansas State in 2022 and the Rose Bowl against Utah at the end of the 2021 season.

Egbuka will be in a bigger spotlight his senior season, and the 6-foot-1, 206-pound receiver knows what that can do for him as a prospect. Moving around more, inside and out, will only help him along that journey.

“I feel like me coming back obviously was kind of big news,” Egbuka said. “And with that comes more viewership on all my platforms and stuff like that. So I’m gonna use that to glorify the Lord to the maximum and just use this next year to make sure His name is exalted and show people the hope in Jesus Christ.”

Will Howard building relationships, asserting himself as leader for Buckeyes

Will Howard was thrust into a leadership role as a true freshman at Kansas State during the COVID-19-affected 2020 season. He went on to start 27 total games for the Wildcats, even leading them to a Big 12 title in 2022. Now, since transferring to Ohio State, he’s had to prove himself as a leader again.

He’s just in town for one season but a very important one at that.

“I think a lot of it has to do with just hanging out outside of the facility, you know, and even in the facility,” Howard said. “Just chopping it up with guys — and guys I wouldn’t normally talk to. I’m probably not going to hang with D-lineman that much, but trying to hang out around J.T. [Tuimoloau] and Jack [Sawyer] and those guys, and just developing these relationships. Step by step, that’s how it has to start. Because once we get out on the field, that’s when it’s go-time.”

For the full story, go here.

Motivated Devin Brown shuts down transfer portal speculation

Ohio State brought in Howard, but Devin Brown isn’t going anywhere. He shut down transfer portal speculation Monday.

“I’ve said it through and through,” Brown added, when asked if he’ll still be with the Buckeyes in the fall. “I’m a Buckeye, and I’m here to compete no matter what.”

Brown was then asked why he thinks people have a hard time believing that in this portal era of the sport.

“Honestly, I think people are cowards,” the redshirt sophomore said. “I think people have this thought in their own heads that I’m going to leave, and I’m a quitter. But that’s never been me. I mean, these people live in their mom’s basement saying something about me and they don’t know shit.

“Excuse my language, but they don’t know anything. They don’t know who I am. They don’t know who I’ve been. And that’s always who I’ve been.”

Get the full story here.

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