Ohio State Football: 3 early signees who’ll have instant impacts in 2020

Recently upgraded to a five-star in many places, Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a 6-foot-1 wide out from Rockwell, Texas. This rankings bump is in large part due to a record-breaking senior season for Smith-Njigba, in which he caught a whopping 103 passes for 2,162 yards and 35 touchdowns.

The high-volume pass catcher also shows an affinity for highlight-reel grabs, sometimes with one hand, sometimes overtop of a defender in the end zone.

There are plenty of snaps to be found for Smith-Njigba in 2020. The Buckeyes lost three of their top five receivers by nearly any measure imaginable: snaps, receptions and yards.

Only two players returning next season had over 200 snaps played in 2019 (via ElevenWarriors.com): Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. Jameson Williams should see an increased role in 2020. Ohio State usually rotates five or six wide outs, so that leaves two or three open spots. Smith-Njigba has the talent to claim one for himself, if he can beat out returnees Jaelen Gill, Jaylen Harris and a few other blue-chip freshmen.

Smith-Njigba is my personal favorite of Ohio State’s stacked wide receiver class, but even given his high ranking, eye-catching stats and impressive highlight reel, there is another wide out in this class ranked ahead of him.