No Buckeye has perhaps grown more in his time at Ohio State than wide receiver Parris Campbell, who will trade his Scarlet and Gray colors for Blue and White as he goes to the Indianapolis Colts with the No. 59 overall selection in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Campbell's draft stock shot up with the dynamic senior season that he had alongside teammates Terry McLaurin and Johnnie Dixon making a deadly trio of weapons for the now highly drafted Dwayne Haskins. Campbell's senior season saw 90 catches for 1,063 yards and 12 touchdowns while setting the single-season record for receptions with those 90 catches passing David Boston's long-standing record of 85 set in 1998.
A former four-star recruit from Akron, Ohio, Campbell brought elite and game-changing speed with him to Ohio State, but early in his tenure, struggled with a multitude of things like blocking, route running and just catching the ball in his pursuit to being a dependable, well-rounded wide receiver.
As the years and seasons went by, Campbell had a lot of adversity nailing down these challenges and overcoming them and with the help of his teammates and also with now wide receiver coach and former Ohio State wide receiver Brian Hartline, Campbell broke out as that dependable wide receiver that he always knew he could be.
Campbell leaves Ohio State with the record in single-season receptions but is also tied with Boston for fourth all-time in single-season receiving touchdowns with 12, fifth in single-season receiving yards with 1,063 just behind Michael Jenkins' 1,076 receiving yards and seventh all-time in career receptions with 143, one behind senior wide receiver K.J. Hill.
Campbell has no doubt left his mark as a wide receiver, but the amount of hard work and patience that he had to display over the years to even get to the opportunity presented to him in his final season is a lesson that many young and future wide receiver can learn from.
Along with Campbell's preparation for the NFL Draft, Campbell took part in the NFL Draft Combine and showed off his blistering speed, tying Massachusetts wide receiver Andy Isabella with the fastest 40-yard dash at 4.31 seconds.
Campbell is the seventh Ohio State wide receiver to be selected since the 2015 NFL Draft. Three of the wide receiver were selected in the second round with Devin Smith in 2015 (37th overall), Michael Thomas in 2016 (47th overall) and Curtis Samuel in 2017 (40th overall).