There’s one story Brian Hartline will never forget involving Garrett Wilson.

Ohio State was in the middle of summer workouts prior to the 2021 season, and his wide receivers were doing speed endurance drills on the practice field. Wilson was in a group with freshman phenom Emeka Egbuka: the No. 1 wide receiver in the 2021 class, a player with something to prove against a proven receiver.

“I'll never forget, these guys were running pretty good and Garrett was competing to always come in first,” Ohio State’s wide receiver coach said. “It was good. It was really good to see. It’s not about the time, it’s about the competition with yourself and do you want to be in first.

“We went out, touched the line and came back. Emeka was on his heels. We’re getting back to the last two or three. Those guys went after each other. Emeka, he’s a freshman, he just got here and he went after Garrett. And these guys, coming in with times like 15 seconds, were coming in at nine. It was ridiculous.”

To Hartline, this is the maturation of an Ohio State wide receiver on full display: Wilson would have never gone that hard if not for Egbuka, Egbuka would have never gone that hard if not for Wilson.

It’s a process every single receiver goes through in Hartline’s room. But it’s one he experienced under the microscope, with the attention playing time brings when it’s given from the get go.

Under the pressure came a star, one that now has the opportunity to shine at the next level.

Wilson announced Monday his intention to forgo his senior season at Ohio State and the Rose Bowl and enter the 2022 NFL Draft, fulfilling an expectation that was given even before he showed up to campus.

From the moment the No. 6 wide receiver in the 2019 class showed up on campus, he was given chances to play, bringing in 30 catches for 432 receiving yards and five touchdowns, including one in his collegiate debut against Cincinnati.

But it wasn’t like he knew how to play receiver. Wilson said that process really didn’t start until he came to Columbus and linked up with Hartline.

“I probably really started learning receiver my first year when I got here,” Wilson said. “A lot of stuff leading up to my freshman year was just ability and just watching ball a lot. I’ve always watched ball, loved the game. There’s something to be said about spending more time in an offense. Just as I’ve been here three years and spent more time in Coach Day’s offense, seeing how he likes to run things, I’ve started to figure things out more. I’d say it came naturally. It was one of those things that as I spent more time in the program, I kind of got better at.”

As the years continued, Wilson continued to get better.

The 6-foot, 192-pound receiver brought in 43 more catches as a sophomore for 723 receiving yards and six touchdowns. That only improved in his third season, finishing second on the team with 70 catches, 1,058 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns, including a three-touchdown game against Purdue.

Wilson was maturing with the spotlight on him, matching the expectation of beating defensive backs like Clemson’s A.J. Terrell and Isaiah Simmons, figuring out at a young age, right out of Lake Travis High School in Austin, Texas, how he stacked up against NFL-bound players.

He was forced to measure up, something that Wilson did.

And it’s the expectation Wilson continued to push with each rep against a wide receiver younger than him: setting the bar higher and higher, especially in a room filled with NFL-bound talent like Chris Olave and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Over the past three years, with the tradition of development Ohio State has shown, it’s what Wilson’s a product of.

“It all came fast here,” Wilson said. “It doesn’t seem like I’ve been here as long as I have. When you play at a great program like Ohio State and play at the highest level you do and you are one of the players involved in that, you are going to have the opportunity to make important decisions that are good decisions to make, but hard ones. I put myself in that position where I have a hard decision to make.”

It was a decision Wilson finalized Monday, declaring for the NFL Draft forgoing his remaining year of eligibility and his final game of his junior season to prepare for the next level, prepare for what Ohio State has helped Wilson prepare for over the past three years.

And it’s something Ohio State is set to continue even with Wilson gone.

Wilson knows it’s nothing new. He was just next in line.

“Ohio State has put me in a great position,” he said. “It’s really been everything I ever dreamed of.”