Draft Profile: Ohio State WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba 

This series will feature the top NFL Draft prospects with insight from the beat reporters that covered them in college. This article is just a preview of the full interview which can be heard on the Deep Slant podcast.

Name: Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Position: Wide receiver
School: Ohio State
Height/Weight: 6-1, 200
Hometown: Rockwall, Texas

(Below is a portion of Deepi Sidhu’s interview with Phil Harrison, beat reporter for USA Today’s Buckeyes Wire.)

Sidhu: It wouldn’t be a draft prospect series, Phil, if we didn’t talk about some Ohio State wide receivers, because I feel like it’s Wide Receiver U, especially over the past few years. This year is no exception with WR Jackson Smith-Njigba. What separates him from some of the other Ohio State wide receivers you’ve seen in the past?

Harrison: Ohio State has had a run of wide receivers here and had two first rounders taken last year between Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave. Both of them could have won Rookie of the Year and, of course, Wilson did. Both are really good wide receivers but, believe it or not, the year that all three of them were playing together, Jackson Smith-Njigba led the team in receiving. So we had two first rounders and Smith-Njigba had 1600 yards of receiving offense on that team, better than Olave and better than Wilson.

Now, what sets him apart? He’s not the fastest guy. He doesn’t get down the field. He’s been invited to the NFL Combine, I don’t know what he’s going to do at it, but his 40-time probably won’t be great for a wide receiver. He’s not going to break the gun, but his ability to accelerate out of his routes and to gain separation in the middle of the field and then his ability after the catch to make guys miss kind of in a subtle way, he’s kind of moving forward and making guys miss. Just his vision, really sets him apart and then he makes unbelievable catches. I mean, his ability to use his hands and go up in traffic is second to none. Again, he doesn’t outrun people, but he just finds…