After playing catch-up in his freshman year as a summer enrollee, Mylan Graham is confident his first full offseason at Ohio State will lead to a breakout season in 2025.
www.elevenwarriors.com
Five-Star Wide Receiver Mylan Graham “Growing At An Exponential Rate” in First Full Offseason at Ohio State
“I have high expectations for him through spring. And I don't see that changing.”– Brian Hartline on Mylan Graham
Mylan Graham had a quiet first year at Ohio State, but a full offseason in Columbus this spring and summer could allow him to make much more noise in his second year as a Buckeye.
While fellow five-star freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith immediately became one of college football’s biggest stars, Graham played only sparingly in 2024, receiving no targets on just 16 snaps. But Ohio State never expected Graham to play a huge role last season.
Unlike Smith, who had a full offseason at Ohio State last year, Graham didn’t arrive in Columbus until summer. That left Graham playing catch-up for most of his freshman season.
“The other freshmen who got here in the spring, they were already pretty adjusted to it pretty quickly. But it's been pretty hard for me just getting adjusted to the playbook, the speed and everything, the tempo of college football,” Graham told
Eleven Warriors at Ohio State’s media day before the Rose Bowl. “When you get to college, you have to be able to read defenses, pre-snap, post-snap and all that. So it's definitely something I had to get used to.”
By the end of the year, however, Graham felt like he had improved significantly from when he arrived at Ohio State.
“I feel like I've gotten way better,” Graham said. “Especially toward the end part of the season, when the games started kicking in more, I feel like I've gotten way better.”
That gives Graham confidence that he can play a much bigger role as a redshirt freshman in 2025.
“I definitely feel like I'll be one of our top receivers going into next year, and I'll be able to create a bigger role for our offense going into next year,” Graham said. “I feel pretty confident about that.”
There’s no question that Graham has the talent to be an impact player for the Buckeyes. Ranked as the No. 7 receiver and No. 33 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, Graham is a fluid route runner with excellent speed and shiftiness. Now that Graham has a full offseason at Ohio State to continue developing both physically and mentally, offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline says he’s already making major strides.
“He’s doing a great job. He's growing at an exponential rate,” Hartline said last week. “He's getting stronger. He's getting bigger. He's got weight added. I always explain to him, you don't realize how much you've missed when you come in in June vs. a midyear. It's massively different. Not saying you can't overcome it, some do; at the end of the season, some have. But I think that's probably reliant on the room.
.
.
.
continued
