We are a little over a month away from the college football season starting and what better way than to evaluate athletes who are on the rise. This segment will feature The Ohio State University’s wide receiver Emeka Egbuka.

Egbuka is a route technician and captured 41 receptions for 515 yards and four touchdowns in 2023 and will look to have a breakout senior campaign this season.

One thing to note is that Egbuka had an injury-plagued year with only 41 receptions, but in 2022, he registered 74 receptions for 1,151 yards and ten touchdowns. He is capable of reaching over 1,000 yards and double digit touchdowns, and with the loss of Marvin Harrison Jr. to the Arizona Cardinals, he should become the leader of the wide receiver room.

Pro Football Focus wrote an article titled: ‘College Football: The top-10 returning wide receivers for the 2024 season’ in which they listed Egbuka at number three on the list just behind Luther Burden III of the Missouri Tigers and Tetairoa McMillan of the Arizona Wildcats.

Author Max Chadwick mentioned how missing three games due to an injury really skewed Egbuka’s numbers in 2023, but he should be poised for a breakout season.

Egbuka entered 2023 as my No. 2 wide receiver in college football, trailing only his teammate in Marvin Harrison Jr. While Harrison continued to shine and is now off to the NFL, Egbuka is returning for his senior season after missing three games due to an ankle injury as a junior. The year before, he finished as the second-most-valuable receiver in the Power Five according to PFF’s wins above-average metric, trailing only Harrison. He was fifth in that same group in receiving yards (1,151) and tied for seventh in receiving touchdowns (10) in 2022. 

Egbuka is a smooth route-runner who routinely finds the soft spots in zone coverage. His 86.1% open-target rate puts him in the 96th percentile of wide receivers over the last couple seasons while the junior’s 97.7 PFF receiving grade since 2022 against zone/underneath/top coverage places him in the 90th percentile. Egbuka will be the veteran leader in Ohio State’s receiving room this year, bringing along the next generation of Buckeye greats at the position.

Egbuka’s Collegiate Statistics: 

2021: 9 Receptions for 191 Yards, 21.2 Average, 0 TDs

2022: 74 Receptions for 1,151 Yards, 15.6 Average, 10 TDs | 11 Carries for 87 Yards, 2 TDs

2023: 41 Receptions for 515 Yards, 12.6 Average, 4 TDs | 5 Carries for 25 Yards, 0 TDs

2024: TBD

Injuries plague athletes each year and this is solely the case from Egbuka as he looks to get back on track in 2024. Having already produced at a high level, the only question mark coming into this year will be the quarterback and wide receiver connection.

While it is very early in the college football process, it is looking like Kansas State transfer Will Howard will become the signal-caller. He and Egbuka must get on the same page early to have the success that he captured in 2022.

If Egbuka can stay healthy and he also builds a strong rapport with his quarterback, there should be little to no doubt that he reaches over 1,000 yards and becomes a vocal point in Ryan Day/ Chip Kelly’s offense.