Ohio State fighting off Texas and Oregon to keep its next future first-round wide receiver in town
The Ohio State Buckeyes are doing their best to keep as many players and coaches in-house after its incredible journey to winning the 2024-25 National Championship. With defensive coordinator Jim Knowles being wooed by Oklahoma, head coach Ryan Day is also working to keep sophomore star receiver Carnell Tate in the building. Just days after […]
The Ohio State Buckeyes are doing their best to keep as many players and coaches in-house after its incredible journey to winning the 2024-25 National Championship. With defensive coordinator Jim Knowles being wooed by Oklahoma, head coach Ryan Day is also working to keep sophomore star receiver Carnell Tate in the building.
Just days after Tate answered a ridiculously timed question from a reporter about his transfer portal status, one Ohio State insider shared some insight on his potential future. Tate is being courted by Texas and Oregon, with the latter being especially involved in offering him a massive NIL deal and the chance to be the team's No. 1 receiver in 2025, per Jeremy Birmingham of THE Podcast.
"Oregon, Texas, and others are going hard after Carnell Tate. This tampering, especially from Oregon, has been going on a while," Birmingham shared.
It's somewhat hard to see why the Buckeyes are even in this position. With the excitement building around its next generation of stars set to take over for an experienced senior group, Tate will inherit a valued role next to Jeremiah Smith.
Tate broke the 100-yard mark once but had eight games with at least four catches, including his breakout performance against Texas. He had seven catches for 87 yards in the Cotton Bowl and could've had more if not for an easy dropped touchdown.
Tate, a 6-foot-3, 191-pounder who totaled 733 yards and four touchdowns on 52 receptions in 2024, will be the offense's No. 2 target in 2025 in what should be a pass-happy attack. Adding Julian Sayin to the offense and losing two high-end backs could spur a return to the days of CJ Stroud slinging the ball all over and producing three 1,000-yard receivers.
We'll see how it goes. Oregon brought Evan Stewart back but doesn't have a bonafide superstar quarterback. Texas makes more sense as they replace both Matthew Golden and Isaiah Bond, plus have Arch Manning and Steve Sarkisian to sell to Tate.
Still, Tate can simply stay put and become a first-round prospect, so that bag had better be worth it.
