COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It took a while for Julian Fleming to finally get on the field as an Ohio State football player, but he immediately started making an impact once he did.
Injuries have constantly gotten in the way of a player who was once the top wide receiver in the 2020 recruiting class. They’ve at times stunted his development and limited his contributions to times when the person in front of him wasn’t available.
Those days are now behind him as he’s spent the past three weeks establishing himself as a threat in the Buckeyes’ offense that brings a different approach. In a room that’s been filled with a ton of guys who are elite route runners with top-end speed and elusiveness, Flemings stands out in a way that provides matchup problems no one’s solved yet.
“I’m a little bit of a bigger body receiver,” Fleming said. “Obviously, I don’t love getting hit, but if contact comes, I’m definitely not gonna shy away from it. That’s definitely something I embrace in myself. A little bit of physicality that some receivers don’t have.”
Fleming stands at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds and physically looks every bit of the part. But none of it is for show. He often uses that size to his advantage against smaller defensive backs. That’s both his how he attacks a ball at its high point and how he runs with it afterward.
It’s what Ryan Day and Brian Hartline liked about him in the first place.
His approach is both a result of his physical and mental makeup but also his upbringing in Catawissa, Pa., where he led Southern Columbia High School to multiple state championships while catching 255 career passes for 5,514 yards and 77 touchdowns, all of which are state records. Five-stars put up crazy stats in high school, so him doing it shouldn’t be surprising. Except he played for a school where he was literally the only receiving threat, and he spent more time as a blocker than a pass catcher.
“The high school I went to, we only had one receiver on the field, and we ran the ball a lot,” Fleming said. “It was something that came with it in high school.”
That experience, in some ways, made him the perfect five-star receiver for OSU, given that for a long time, players were more known for their blocking than what they brought to the passing game. But in 2022, that approach makes him a valuable part of a passing attack. That was apparent the moment he took the field this season.
But it also meant there’d always be a learning curve for him that someone like Jaxon Smith-Njigba wouldn’t have to go through just because of their backgrounds.
“Everyone has their own journey,” Day said. “Everyone has different backgrounds of where they come from. He’s on his own journey. I think he’s made a lot of progress in a few years here. Now he’s playing his best football, and he has come a long way in his development.”
A small setback forced Fleming to miss the first two weeks, but it didn’t take long for him to start flashing when he finally made his debut against Toledo. He’s scored four touchdowns in three weeks, and each shows why he’s so important.
“I feel like some stuff is starting to show through,” Fleming said. “There’s little glimpses going on, but there’s still a lot of football to be played and still a lot of improvements to be made in regards to myself.”
The first touchdown was a 5-yard pass that wasn’t even meant for him.
The second showed off how far he’s come in his development from being a player that could just out-athlete everyone for most of his high school career to actually being a technically sound receiver. He ran a simple 7-yard curl route to perfection, then ran the final four yards of a score.
“(I’ve gotten better at the) little details, route running, top ends, foot space, depth on routes, distance from DBs,” Fleming said. “Just stuff that I never really had to think about in high school. Coming here, talent’s equated. What really wins is technique. You’ve gotta have better technique than the man across from you to really be successful.”
His touchdown against Wisconsin the following week was Day’s favorite. First, there’s this simple curl route that he ends up turning into a 31-yard gain, showing off some of his playmaking ability.
Then two plays later, he followed up with this slant route where he literally forced his way through two defenders into the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown.
“In the passing game, you can see all physically was on a couple of those runs after he caught the ball,” Day said. “In particular, that touchdown (was) just strong and powerful. You have to understand what kind of a receiver you are. Because of his strength, he’s a mismatch for a lot of DBs.”
He followed up with another score against Rutgers on Saturday that showed off the type of deep-ball threat we’ve become accustomed to seeing from Ohio State Z-receivers. It’s the one thing that’s been the constant question mark for this passing game is who’d replace Chris Olave in that role.
Fleming checks that off while also bringing his list of pros Olave didn’t have. His physicality as a blocker makes a ton possible for Day as a play-caller because he can line him up anywhere instead of sacrificing a wide receiver in place of a tight end.
“What you didn’t really notice probably — or maybe you have to go back and watch — is how physical he is in the run game,” Day said. “Cracking safeties, and going down and being physical. In the run game, there’s typically somebody extra coming down in the box. We’ve talked about this for years. If you have a wide receiver (that’s) going in and making blocks on those safeties now, we can get the ball to the corner, and that makes a big difference. That part’s big.”
The hype around Fleming’s potential has been high ever since he committed to Ohio State. But most of his time as a Buckeye has been dedicated to talking about his injury status and wondering what exactly he brings to the table. The health problems are finally behind him, and he’s spent the past three weeks answering the other question.
Now we know what makes Fleming so good and why everyone has spoken of him so highly, even if the general public hadn’t seen it. He’s started flashing as a wide receiver in the only way he knows: being a reliable blocker and using his physicality to his advantage as a pass catcher.
Those are two elements that make his presence so valuable to what might be the nation’s best offense.
“It was a great feeling,” Fleming said. “Not a long time coming (but something I) anticipated. I was hurt (because) I was really good in camp. I was solid in camp. I was feeling good, feeling healthy. Then boom, I had something little happen.
“It was hard sitting down those first two weeks, but you’ve still gotta encourage your team. Just being able to be out there with them again, it was awesome.”
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