Since Brian Hartline's departure, Ohio State's biggest roster strength has become a gaping hole. Five receivers have entered the transfer portal, including impact recruit Quincy Porter. The priority right now is to maintain the program's brand of being the country's 'WRU', and head coach Ryan Day has been trying to ensure that.
Ohio State has now tasked Cortez Hankton, a former co-offensive coordinator at LSU, with coaching receivers. He has some extremely big shoes to fill, having to ensure that the top receivers in the country still consider OSU their home. Receiver recruiting is off to a good start as well, as Columbus got to host top 2027 stars Jamier Brown, Monshun Sale, and Eric McFarland. However, it seems to be too early for Ryan Day to completely let the new hire lead the charge on his own.
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"Big trio of those guys up with Cortez Hankton, the new wide receivers coach, just spending time with him, getting to know him and kind of establishing that relationship,"Lettermen Row's Mick Walker told Rivals on January 12. "Also, a good connect point with Ryan Day, who's kind of been leading the charge with wide receiver recruiting with Brian Hartline out the building right now. Now that you have Cortez Hankton, it's just a familiarization process with those guys, and it looks like that went well on Saturday."
The OSU head coach and his staff need to convince these new stars that Cortez Hankton will continue to do what Brian Hartline did. According to Rivals, Sale, Brown, and McFarland are the second, third, and fourth-best receiver prospects in the 2027 cycle. Under Ryan Day, Ohio State has been replete with elite receivers year after year. So, it wasn't out of the blue to have all these top receivers visit. But the deciding factor that keeps them on for the future is how Cortez Hankton develops those relationships from now.
"It seems like whether it's the football aspect, the relationship aspect, all the initial phases of Cortez Hankton's hire has gone pretty swimmingly so far," Walker added.
Cortez Hankton
Hankton has a pretty impressive resume, having coached at LSU and Georgia. He is no stranger to elite talent, having developed icons likeMalik Nabersand Brian Thomas. But at Columbus, the pressure on him is unlike anything he's seen in his career. He has to match up to a coach who has developed first-round picks for the past 5 years. IfHankton is already making progresswith these three targets, Ohio State might still be on track to retain its title of being a WRU.
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As the new WR coach, Hankton is also making some big moves in recruiting. Sure, Ohio State seems to be the destination for this talented trio. But he also went for the biggest fish in the pool bymaking an offer to Texas-commit Easton Royal, the No. 1 WR of the 2027 cycle. The momentum created from recruiting Brown, Sale, and McFarland could persuade Royal to consider Columbus as well. How Hankton fares with these four can also be a deciding factor in when he gets the keys from Ryan Day to take over WR recruiting fully.
Hankton has also been busy, hoping to solve something that could become a problem next year.
The new OSU WR coach is trying to win over one of his own recruits from LSU
Ohio State still has elite talent to rely on for 2026. But the depth is extremely thin at WR right now, as 5 WRs have entered the portal. That brought Ryan Day and Cortez Hankton to pursue one of the latter's former recruits from LSU, Kyle Parker. He played a total of 18 games in the past two years but did not get enough reps. He entered the portal with a total of 34 catches for 385 yards and 4 TDs.
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OSU already has a connection with Parker, having recruited him out of high school. But now that his former coach will lead the team from now on, he can hope for a better career here. According to Rivals, Parker was ranked the No. 33 receiver of the 2023 cycle. He comes with a production healthy enough to build the depth for Ohio State.
As long as Brian Hartline was the WR coach, OSU rarely had to depend on the portal for receiver talent. But that has changed drastically ever since his departure. Elite 2026 receivers Chris Henry Jr. and Jerquaden Guilford will have to step up big time as freshmen, while veteransJeremiah Smithand Brandon Inniss will have to lead the charge. The only receiver the Buckeyes have secured from the portal is Devin McCuin, who was at UTSA. Kyle Parker will be a crucial element in the WR room, especially because of the presence of more inexperienced players.
If Hankton is successful in rebuilding Hartline's elite WR pipeline, Ohio State may just be able to retain its 'WRU' crown. The early recruiting visits have shown some promise. However, the five players who exited via the portal have forced the OSU head coach and co. to scramble for quick fixes.
