Hartline is entering his third season as the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator, but it’s his first real gig as the full-time play-caller.
As preseason camp begins this week, Land-Grant Holy Land is diving into its final theme every week of the off-season. This week is all about making predictions that may or may not be reasonable, in fact, some might say they are bold. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Bold Predictions” articles here.
This is, perhaps, a broken record at this point, but we’ll say it again: Ohio State is a hotbed for developing wide receivers. The pipeline of wide receivers from Ohio to the NFL began with Brian Hartline, who played at Ohio State from 2006 to 2008.
Now, Hartline is Ohio State’s sole offensive coordinator going into the 2025 season. Hartline has been the Buckeyes wide receivers coach since 2018, and the Buckeyes have produced several first-round draft picks at the position since that season.
Wide receiver is, once again, the strength of the Buckeyes team going into the upcoming season. Given that, Hartline is in a position to have a lot of success in his first season as the Buckeyes sole offensive coordinator. So much so that I’m making a bold prediction that Hartline will win the Art Broyles award this season, given to the best assistant coach in college football.
The great thing for Hartline is that he has already been the Buckeyes offensive coordinator for the last two seasons. He handled the role solo in 2023 — albeit with Ryan Day still calling the plays — before sharing duties with Chip Kelly in 2024. Having handled the job by himself before, that’s an indicator that he can have success running the offense solo in 2025.
Having Jeremiah Smith back is an absolute boost for the Buckeyes offense. With all the changes Ohio State has on offense this season, especially at running back and quarterback, a player as great as Smith returning can help the new players settle in on offense.
But being a former receiver at Ohio State himself, Hartline knows where this offense runs through. After Smith made a 57-yard catch on third-and-11 to seal the National Championship, it proved that when a play needs to be made to just call Smith’s number and have him go make a play. That’s what Hartline, Kelly, and Will Howard did throughout the College Football Playoff.
This season, Hartline will have Smith and Carnell Tate to call plays for, in addition to a stable of other former four and five-star talents. Smith has the potential to win the Heisman Trophy this season, and his numbers could be outrageous. In addition, Tate could have the best season of his Buckeyes career in 2025. He could climb the NFL Draft board this season, coming off campaignwhere he hauled in 733 yards on 52 receptions while playing alongside Smith and Emeka Egbuka.
Even though the Buckeyes will have a new quarterback, likely Julian Sayin, a new running back in C.J. Donaldson, and a new tight end in Max Klare, Hartline is still in a position to coordinate the Buckeyes to be one of the best offenses in the country. Again, he’s not a first-time offensive coordinator. This is, technically, his third season coordinating the Buckeyes offense. He knows Sayin can lean on the veteran wide receivers to help settle in to being the Buckeyes new quarterback in the early part of the season.
Smith has more than lived up to the hype that he had coming into Columbus last year. He played like a multi-year veteran in the College Football Playoff, and he has high expectations coming into this season. Hartline knows him as well as anybody, and he knows what Smith is capable of this season.
He also knows Tate is ascending, Klare could have one of the best seasons by a tight end in the country this season, and that Sayin could have a prolific season, taking advantage of all the weapons around him.
Ohio State enters 2025 with aspirations of repeating as national champions. If the Buckeyes are a high seed in the College Football Playoff and make a deep run, Hartline will be in a great position to win the Art Broyles Award.
The Buckeyes have a team with a lot of stars, and new stars could emerge throughout the season. That could be what propels Ohio State towards another run at a national championship, and it could make Hartline the best assistant coach in the country.