In a room full of five-star playmakers, Julian Fleming was the highest-rated recruit among all of Ohio State's wide receivers.
Rated as the No. 1 wide receiver (No. 3 overall) in the 2020 recruiting cycle, Fleming’s composite recruiting rating of .9979 ranks just above Emeka Egbuka (.9945) for the highest in the room. Fleming always had the talent to be a star, and although it took a little longer than expected due to a number of different injuries in his two-plus years in Columbus, the Pennsylvania native is showing the type of wideout he can be for the Buckeyes now that he is finally fully healthy and able to contribute.
Throughout the preseason, Ryan Day raved about Fleming's progress, saying it was the wideout's best offseason yet as a Buckeye, one in which he was named an Iron Buckeye for his hard work. After missing the first two games of the season, Fleming has certainly made the most of being 100% and having a bigger role for the first time in his career.
The highly touted receiver has 15 receptions for 222 yards and five touchdowns in just four games, scoring at least one touchdown in every game he has played. In Ohio State's last game prior to its bye week, Fleming had the best game of his career to date, hauling in four catches for a career-high 81 yards and a touchdown. His five receiving touchdowns are tied for the 28th-most in the FBS, and he's had four catches in each of the Buckeyes' last three games.
For comparison's sake, Fleming had just 12 catches for 86 yards and a touchdown for the entire 2021 season and only seven catches for 74 yards as a true freshman in 2020.
Whether it's a toe-tap touchdown in heavy traffic like he had against Toledo, breaking an opponent's ankles against Wisconsin or muscling through opponents in order to score a touchdown, Fleming has shown plenty of flashes of why he was a five-star recruit. Add in his blocking ability, which might arguably be the best among the Buckeye wide receivers, and he’s become the latest standout in Brian Hartline’s unit.
“I like the one he caught where he ran a couple of guys over to finish it off. I mean, just the toughness, the physicality,” Ryan Day said of Fleming a few weeks ago. “You know, he had a really good offseason with Mick in the weight room, and you can see it pay off right there."
Fleming's emergence is one reason why C.J. Stroud and Ohio State's passing attack hasn't missed a beat even with Jaxon Smith-Njigba missing the majority of the first six games of the season.
Marvin Harrison Jr: 86.5 (2nd)
— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 12, 2022
️ Emeka Egbuka: 84.0 (4th)
Julian Fleming: 78.9 (16th)
Only school with three WRs to rank inside the top 20 at the position this season pic.twitter.com/ZR4Bb2VDW7
While Fleming has just 15 catches in four games, he has made the most of each of them as he is third on the team in receiving yards and also third in receiving touchdowns, and Stroud’s trust in Fleming has been evident.
"I feel like a (being a deep-ball threat) is one of my stronger points," Fleming said Wednesday. "I was always an athlete and then just developed into being a receiver so it's just a constant development phase and just getting better at every aspect of the game.
"The connection (with Stroud) really comes from practice. The games, obviously, that's what everyone gets to see but just coming into practice and making the routine plays routine. Maybe just working on plays that don't necessarily work right away and just getting that extra rep, I feel like that builds the best connection. ... Practice helps ease the nerves knowing that you put in that preparation earlier in the week."
Fleming’s biggest obstacle so far in his career has just been staying healthy, but if he can continue to do so, he’ll continue to play a significant role in Ohio State’s receiver rotation even when Smith-Njigba returns.
“Everybody has their own journey, and everyone has a different background of where they come from. And he's on his own journey,” Day said after the Wisconsin game. “And I think he's made a lot of progress in his few years here, and I think now he's playing his best football. He has come a long way in his development."
In addition to making plays with consistency for the first time in his career, the junior receiver has also become a veteran leader for his unit.
"Based on the offseason and everything like that, I feel like I kind of have grown into that leadership role as time went on,” Fleming said. “I'm starting to become more vocal and really go out of my way to try and help everybody out whether it's in the receiver room or even outside of our room. It's definitely a role I'm growing to.”
While Fleming is happy with how he’s played so far, he knows there is still plenty of work left to do.
"(My success through four games this season) has definitely been a confidence boost and it's definitely been exciting," Fleming said about his strong start to the year. “It's just really something to constantly build on and constantly look at. Critique myself into being better and better each week because I know there are still holes in my game. I'm very happy about it, but we still have a long way to go.”
