Ohio State freshman wide receiver Brock Boyd sheds black stripe

COLUMBUS — The murmurs and whispers have turned into loud buzz for Ohio State freshman wide receiver Brock Boyd.

And after just six practices in his Buckeyes career, the Texas native seems to be on the fast track to being a first-year impact player. The latest example of that: Boyd shed his black stripe on Tuesday after practice, a mark that he’s officially a member of the program.

Boyd is the first freshman from the class of 2026 to shed his stripe, a major milestone for the former three-star recruit from Southlake Carroll (Texas) High School.

Boyd is becoming a bigger piece of the puzzle with every practice.

“He’s made plays when the opportunity, when his number has been called,” wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton said Saturday. “And he’s a great, you know, what makes Brock truly a good football player is his football IQ first and foremost. You know, as a young guy, he’s truly instinctive. He understands conceptual football. You can tell that he comes from a family.His dad is a high school football coach. And so he comes from a family where they live, eat, and breathe football. And so he understands the game like he’s a three-year college student, like he’s been here a while.And so he’s been really fun to coach.”

It’s why our Jeremy Birmingham was speaking highly of Boyd last week, when Boyd was just two weeks into his Ohio State tenure.

From last week…

While we’re on the topic of things people have shared with Lettermen Row, here’s this nugget: we’ve been told to not be surprised if Brock Boyd ends up being Ohio State’s most productive freshman receiver in the Class of 2026.

That’s not entirely surprising because the Carroll (Southlake, Texas) standout was one of the country’s most productive prep receivers in his time with the Dragons but for many people, especially outside looking in, he was a throw-in weapon alongside five-star talents Chris Henry Jr. and Jerquaden Guilford.

What Boyd has shown in his short time with Ohio State is that he’s a bad dude in his own right. Boyd is fearless on the field and catches everything thrown his. He’s got elite short-area quickness and has actually drawn some comparisons to Jaxon Smith-Njigba in that way. Obviously Boyd has a long way to go in order to make the impact JSN did in his short time with the Buckeyes but he’s making it quite clear to anyone watching that he’s no afterthought to anyone inside the WHAC and shouldn’t be viewed as one for anyone outside of it, either.

In a receiver room that’s full of players of similar size and style, Brock Boyd is turning heads already and there’s no reason to think that won’t continue heading into the next four weeks of spring football.