OSU receivers gaining respect

By Tim May

Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS

Label the Ohio State wide receiver corps’ sudden return to relevance as a chain reaction.

One game after they had no catches for the second time this season, freshman Devin Smith made the grab of the year — a wide-open clutch of freshman quarterback Braxton Miller’s 40-yard-long, 40-yard-high touchdown rainbow with 20 seconds left that upset Wisconsin on Saturday night. And during the game, sophomore Corey Brown led the team with four catches.

Granted, that’s a mere five, one fewer than Wisconsin’s Jared Abbrederis pulled in all by himself that night. Then consider that there are four receivers in the Big Ten alone who have caught more passes than the OSU wide receivers combined (39) this season.

“Everyone, the media and all, they don’t believe in us,” Smith said. “But in that room, the receiver room, we all believe in each other. [Receivers] coach [Stan] Drayton has this chain with everyone’s numbers on it, and we all believe that we are locked in, that we’re linked up.

“That’s one thing that I really like about coach Drayton, that he is very family-oriented. That’s, to me, the most important thing.”

The five combined catches for a team that doesn’t throw it a lot is at least a step in the right direction, Brown said.

“Hopefully, we’re back,” Brown said. “Hopefully, us catching a few passes gives coach Bolls more confidence in us, and maybe he starts to call more pass plays.”

He was referring to OSU offensive coordinator Jim Bollman, who has been reluctant to dial up passes in batches for a variety of reason, the two biggest being the inexperience of his freshman quarterback and receivers.

Returning starter DeVier Posey was sent to the NCAA penalty box for what’s turned out to be the first 10 games. Then Brown, one of the opening-game starters, suffered a high-ankle sprain in game two that knocked him out of the next three games. The other first-game starter, Verlon Reed, was lost for the season after suffering a knee injury in game five, the loss to Michigan State.

“It’s been pretty hard,” Brown said. “But we’ve got Evan [Spencer] and Devin, the two freshmen; and T.Y. Williams, Chris Fields and myself. And we’re working hard.

“DeVier and Verlon are doing a good job grooming those young guys, getting them right. We’ve just been trying to prepare them for games like [Wisconsin and down the stretch], and they are coming along real well.”