COLUMBUS, Ohio — Bryson Rodgers showed up at Ohio State as the lowest-rated wide receiver in its 2023 recruiting, understanding that his development would take him down a different path than the other three.
He was a Florida native with strong ties to Northeast Ohio eager to develop under Brian Hartline, understanding there would be a lot to learn. That didn’t keep him from flashing his upside early. In fall camp he proved to have the most reliable hands in the room and he continued to show progress once bowl practice started.
Then out of the blue, he decided that one year in Columbus was enough, choosing to enter the transfer portal.
“I just wanted to be valued somewhere,” Rodgers said. “Just really seen (for) what I was doing and not taken for granted. When I had those conversations with Coach (Ryan) Day and Coach Hart, it was nothing taken for granted it was just the path God had me on. I just had to get clarity and see that. Once I did see that I hit the ground running from there.”
Rodgers saw limited action in 2023 as has been the case with most freshmen wide receivers in the Ryan Day era. He played just six snaps and two games, never registering a catch as he and the young group waited their turn behind Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka, Julian Fleming and Xavier Johnson. Egbuka is the only person back from that quartet, leaving plenty of open spots in the two-deep to be claimed.
Two of those spots are expected to be claimed by fellow second-year guys Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss while the other 2023 signee Noah Rogers headed home to N.C. State. Rodgers thinks he’s more than capable of claiming one of those spots as well, but wasn’t always confident in how quickly it would happen.
Even if he’d had every conversation about what it would be like his first few years at Ohio State, it can be easy to grow impatient and fall out of love with the process.
“You’ve gotta be common amongst the uncommon and that’s the definition of Ohio State,” Rodgers said. “You can’t have a bad day amongst the best players in the world and the most elite players in the country. Hearing that sounds good, sounds hard. But being in those shoes of being a player and actually going through that it gets real.
