Cortez Hankton, you are now in charge of developing arguably the most talented individual position group in all of college football.
Ohio State is set to name Hankton as its new wide receivers coach multiple outlets shared Thursday morning and FootballScoop can confirm. He'll replace Brian Hartline, who accepted the head coaching job at South Florida last month and will now move to Tampa full-time following the conclusion of the Buckeyes' season with their 24-14 loss to Miami in the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday night.
Hankton spent the past four seasons as the pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach under Brian Kelly at LSU, and previously served as the wide receivers coach at Georgia from 2018-21, helping the Bulldogs win the first of two consecutive national titles. He spent 2015-17 coaching the position at Vanderbilt, and 2012-14 at Dartmouth.
Undrafted out of Texas Southern, Hankton played in the NFL from 2003-08, then played in the United Football League from 2009-11.
Though the Buckeyes weren't exactly hurting for wide receivers prior to his arrival, Ohio State's NFL draft production at the position hit another gear in the last decade, and especially once Hartline took over the position in 2018. They call themselves Zone 6, and 14 residents have been drafted in the last 11 years, including five first-rounders in the past four years, with at least two more expected to join them in the next two drafts in Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith.
Buckeye Wide Receivers in the NFL Draft, 2015-25
2015: Devin Smith (2nd round), Evan Spencer (6th)
2016: Michael Thomas (2nd), Braxton Miller (3rd)
2017: Curtis Samuel (2nd), Noah Thomas (7th)
2018: None
2019: Parris Campbell (2nd), Terry McLaurin (3rd)
2020: KJ Hill (7th)
2021: None
2022: Garrett Wilson (1st), Chris Olave (1st)
2023: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (1st)
2024: Marvin Harrison, Jr. (1st)
2025: Emeka Egbuka (1st)
Tate is expected to declare for the 2026 NFL Draft, and he could be joined by fellow junior Brandon Inniss. Assuming no attrition, the room will still include the most talented returning player in all of college football in Smith, plus 4-star senior Bryson Rogers, 4-star junior Mylan Graham, 5-star sophomore Quincy Porter, 4-star sophomore Phillip Bell, 4-star sophomore De'Zie Jones, 4-star sophomore Bodpegn Miller, plus 5-star freshman Chris Henry, Jr., and others.
Of course, Hankton's story as a player was similar to Hartline's, and he put seven players in the NFL at Georgia and LSU, including first-rounders Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas, Jr.