Ohio State senior wide receiver Chris Olave (2) scores a touchdown during the Ohio State-Rutgers game. Ohio State won 52-13. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
When the scoreboard at SHI Stadium struck zero Saturday, senior wide receiver Chris Olave finished with as many touchdown catches as he had total receptions over his two previous games.
Olave made just two catches for 12 yards over Weeks 3 and 4, including his first shutout in the former since Oct. 5, 2019. He blew those totals out of the water with a 119-yard, two-score performance stamped by a 15-yard toe-tap snag and 56-yard bob-and-weave touchdown.
On top of returning to form against Rutgers, Olave’s 11-yard score in the third quarter moved him into a tie for third-most receiving touchdowns in Ohio State history with 27, matching former All-American Cris Carter.
“Coming from where I come from, I wasn’t the biggest recruit. I didn’t know if I could play here my freshman year,” Olave said. “I came into fall camp and started to make some plays, build that confidence. To be able to climb up the record charts is huge. That’s a huge blessing.”
The former four-star recruit ranked No. 54 among wide receivers in the class of 2018. Head coach Ryan Day has said he originally visited Olave’s high school, Mission Hills, to observe quarterback teammate Jack Tuttle but came away impressed with the receiver.
Now, Olave’s skill sets are catching the eyes of far, far more people. Carter, an Ohio State Athletics and Pro Football Hall of Famer, tweeted a message offering congratulations to his new record contemporary, and it meant a lot to Olave.
“Cris Carter is an Ohio State legend, NFL legend,” Olave said. “To get all that from him, that’s huge.”
A 2020 First Team All-Big Ten honoree, opposing teams have long circled Olave’s name when deciding how to limit as much damage as possible from him and fellow preseason All-American junior wide receiver Garrett Wilson.
Olave nearly had a 47-yard reception that would’ve gotten Ohio State into the red zone against Tulsa, but a face mask penalty against sophomore offensive lineman Paris Johnson Jr. erased the would-be completion.
The California native then had a ho-hum pair of catches the next week against Akron, recording the fewest receiving yards in a game with at least one catch since his freshman season. Olave said it was tough to not get in on the action as much as he’s used to.
“[Olave] didn’t really get the ball much the last couple of weeks. He stayed with it,” Day said. “That’s not easy. He didn’t play much in the second half but when he was in there he made an impact, which was great.”
While Wilson currently leads the Buckeyes with 462 receiving yards, Olave leads the team with five touchdowns through the air. His receiver complement added one against Rutgers during Ohio State’s 52-13 win over the Scarlet Knights.
Saturday’s game represented one of Ohio State’s more convincing and consistent ballgames to date in the 2021 season, and Olave said he felt the Buckeyes all came together in a full team effort.
“I feel like we needed this game to build our confidence back up,” Olave said. “We’ve been practicing hard. We just had to show up and put it on the field on game day. I feel like we put in a full game. The defense was real good today. All credit to them. I feel like we played as a team today. It looked good.”
To Olave’s point, the Buckeyes’ defense forced four three-and-outs and held Rutgers to 346 total yards — 204 of which came in the second half.
The return of redshirt freshman quarterback C.J. Stroud not only allowed the gunslinger to rest an ailing shoulder, but also helped Ohio State play with the key pieces needed to put together a game with first-team offense.
Stroud set a new career-high with five passing touchdowns while completing over 73 percent of his passes to the receivers.
“Without them, I wouldn’t be anything,” Stroud said. “We have a great O-line, they played their butts off today. My receivers, you can’t really talk about them because they’re the best. Our tight ends are great, our running backs are great. Having this opportunity by God, just placing all these great people around me and me trying to be the best I can be, it just helps out.”
Olave said he felt relieved after Saturday’s game, and that rekindling the chemistry with Stroud was huge in leading the Buckeyes back to their standard of play: setting records and winning games.
Ohio State has largely seen its youth contribute while understanding the expectations of Buckeye football. That begins with a first-time starting quarterback and trickling through to having seen over a dozen true freshmen see time on the field in 2021.
At the end of the day, Olave said helping the Buckeyes win feels as good as rising up career leaderboards, noting 27 touchdowns are “a lot.” But, he said this is only the beginning for him and Ohio State.
“We have a lot of young guys. They had to get a lot of experience,” Olave said. “We’re five games in, they’re not freshmen no more. C.J.’s back there, we’re having fun out there, a lot of chemistry being built. We’re just getting started.”
