Emeka Egbuka recognized on Paul Hornung Award preseason watch list
COLUMBUS — Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka has returned kicks and punts, caught passes and scored on the ground in his Buckeyes career.
He’s not a one-trick pony, and that was once again highlighted Thursday when Egbuka was one of 53 players named to the Paul Hornung Award preseason watch list.
In memory of the late football icon Paul Hornung, the award is in its 14th season and is given annually to the most versatile player in major college football by the Louisville Sports Commission.
The ACC has nine players on the award’s preseason watch list, more than any other conference. The Big 12 has eight, the Pac-12 has seven and both the Big Ten and Conference USA have six apiece.
Egbuka is coming off a breakout sophomore campaign, during which he piled up 74 receptions for 1,151 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns. He averaged 15.6 yards per reception in the process. Plus, he registered 526 yards after the catch, good for 12th among all players nationally in 2022, according to Pro Football Focus.
Egbuka reeled in at least five passes in nine of the Buckeyes’ 13 games last season. But he also carried the ball 11 times for 87 yards and a pair of touchdowns: one against Toledo and the other at Northwestern.
What’s more, Egbuka returned 11 punts — at least nine more than every other Buckeyes player last year — for 75 yards.
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The year before that, Egbuka was Ohio State’s lead kick returner. He brought out 20 kicks, averaging 29.0 yards per return along the way. That season, however, Egbuka made just nine grabs for 191 receiving yards, and he didn’t find the end zone once.
Although Marvin Harrison Jr. has been in the spotlight this offseason, Egbuka wasn’t far behind Harrison’s production last year.
Harrison is currently projected to be the highest-selected wideout in the NFL Draft since Calvin Johnson Jr. went No. 2 overall in 2007. Egbuka, though, is expected to join Harrison in the first round next year as well.
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