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Ohio State WR Coach Brian Hartline Proves Monster Recruiter

Sports-talk Radio Proved Too Controversial, but Coaching Works Fine
Bruce Hooley|
Ohio State WR Coach Brian Hartline Proves Monster Recruiter
Ohio State WR Coach Brian Hartline Proves Monster Recruiter

Brian Hartline isn't the first and won't be the last former Ohio State player to enter his post-football life without a clear plan for the future.

Quarterback Bob Hoying eventually settled on being a major developer in the capital city.

Many others find their niche in some other private business or with a corporation in a local climate where the two most valuable words on any resume are, "Former Buckeye."

Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George is now immersed in acting and theater after trying the familiar path many of his former teammates followed into sports media.

You can't swing a dead cat in Columbus, or nationally, without hitting a former Buckeye opining on the airwaves.

Four seasons ago, when Ohio State was last in the College Football Playoff, readying like it is now to play Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl, Hartline was nearing the end of his first fall without playing football and was approached to try his hand at sports talk radio.

So, just like he was as a player with OSU from 2006-2008 and over seven seasons in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns from 2009-15, Hartline went at it boldly and without reservation.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day wasn't around then, still working with the San Francisco 49ers, to know how fortunate he is now that Hartline made such a splash -- well, more like, a cannonball -- on his first day on air.

As luck -- what's proven very good luck for Hartline, Day and the Buckeyes' program now -- would have it, the front-and-center topic that day was Cleveland Browns' wide receiver Terrelle Pryor's hope for a long-term contract near the end of his first season with the NFL's most woebegone franchise.

Hartline, a teammate of Pryor's at OSU in 2007-08 and a training camp teammate of Pryor's in Cleveland that fall, did not exactly -- or even marginally -- reign in his candor.

"If I’m building a team, what is he?" Hartline said of Pryor. “Is he my No. 1? God, I hope not because let’s put it this way: For me, I want a guy day in and day out I know what I’m getting. You don’t know what you’re going to get. You don’t know who’s going to show up. You don’t know if he’s going to get in trouble. You don’t know if he’s going to smart off. I need stability. That’s so more important to me. I need a guy that runs routes. I need stability. I need constant production. Is he a No. 2? OK, yeah. I mean maybe. He kind of disappeared the last couple weeks.

“So I’m very apprehensive as a Cleveland Browns guy to give out a contract. Listen, you had one year. You’re a flash in the pan. You’re trying to tell me with a guy that had suspect personality characteristics, I’m going to go ahead and hand you a bunch of money but you’re going to work harder? Uh, I think I’m going to bet against that if I’m a betting man.”

That was, and is, the sports-radio definition of scorched earth, and Hartline wasn't finished:

"I’m not paying a guy off of one year," Hartline added. "I’m wishing him well, and I’m going to go ahead and go build something else because I’m not sure Terrelle Pryor is a building block.”

Pryor's uneven career since has proven Hartline correct, but the fallout from those incendiary comments wasn't something Hartline felt comfortable dealing with on air the following day.

Even though Pryor had few friends among former OSU players, Hartline's candor offended some fans, who were noisy in airing grudges they'd held against him since he left Columbus after three seasons to enter the NFL.

After that second day, Hartline sought the comfort and cloister of the OSU football program, where Urban Meyer offered him a spot practicing against the Buckeyes as they readied for DeShaun Watson and Clemson in Glendale.

That led to Hartline hanging on in a support role, and then being available in the fall of 2018 when Meyer fell afoul of the university for his failures to monitor wide receivers coach Zach Smith and allegations of domestic violence and inappropriate behavior.

Hartline gained the interim promotion to succeed Smith, did such a great job with OSU's wide receiving corp that Meyer hired him full-time, and did so well coaching Terry McLaurin and Paris Campbell into NFL draft picks last year that Day retained him this year.

The dividends from that were evident on the field this fall in the continued development of seniors Austin Mack, Bin Victor and K.J. Hill, the emergence of sophomore Chris Olave and the promising debut of freshman Garrett Wilson.

Now, after the first of the three-day fall signing period, there's ample evidence Hartline can procure great talent as a recruiter.

OSU signed five-star receiver Julian Fleming and four-stars Gee Scott Jr., Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Mookie Cooper.

Fleming and Smith-Njigba are SI All-Americans.

Hartline has clearly found his niche, and he has no plans to stray from it.

"I have a strong passion for Ohio State," he said Wednesday. I don't know what would get me out of the city, frankly, unless I'm just not good. My passion lies in this receiver room."

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Bruce Hooley
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