COLUMBUS, Ohio – While the quantity of mid-year freshmen is great, the quality and potential of the recruiting class will be realized in the weight room over the coming months.

With enough early enrollees to field a basketball team, Mickey Marotti will be one of the first people within the Ohio State organization to see the potential of these players up close. The 15 players make up the largest group of early enrollees Marotti has ever worked with, and he is impressed by the attitude and potential of the group.

“So No. 1, from a size standpoint it’s pretty impressive,” Marotti said on the mid-year freshmen. “From a togetherness, serious standpoint, these guys are ready. They came mentally ready for what’s coming. They came focused, they’re into it. It’s a really good group.”

While the season will come down to 12 to 15 games, the process of development is year round. The veteran players know what to expect when it comes to the winter workouts, but the group of newly arrived freshmen are in for an awakening.

Marotti has always followed the process of separating the early enrollees from the rest of the team in the month of January in order to offer a less chaotic training environment. The more focused teaching opportunities are what help prepare the new Buckeyes for the collegiate game and routine.

“Spend more time on technique, spend more time on coachability,” Marotti said on why they separate the mid-year players from the rest of the group. “Spend more time on teaching, not just technique, but teaching of taking care of your body, making sure you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, the importance of the exercise as opposed to this exercise, where you need to be in five weeks, where you need to be at in four weeks.”

While the development of the group as a whole is intriguing, there are a few position groups that will draw extra attention in 2020. Four of the 15 early enrollees are wide receivers, and the talented group has had high expectations set for them before even taking the field.

Between Julian Flemming, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Gee Scott Jr. and Mookie Cooper, the talent is undeniably at wideout. Marotti’s early impressions of the group are positive, but he understands that talent needs to be coupled with hard work.

“I think they can be as good as they want to be, but the receivers that have been here in the past have put an important amount of work in to get where they were, you look at Terry McLaurin,” Marotti said on the wideout group living up to their potential. “If they do that and they follow the culture that has been built in that room, hopefully. They haven’t put pads on yet, at least here so we’ll see but just focus so far, and all that. You hope, I mean they have to be.”

At the quarterback position, the Buckeyes will be able to follow the lead of Justin Fields, but the backup position is very much up for grabs. C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller will be vying for the No. 2 spot in the depth chart, but they must first develop the necessary tools in the weight room to be successful quarterbacks in college.

“Once again, they’re hungry like you could see them being hungry and just trying because they gotta improve things physically,” Marotti said on the Stroud and Miller. “You can see them, you know, at least the vision of I gotta get there, I gotta get there, because you see Justin Fields. Like it’s probably not fair to see a 6-foot-3 and half, 230-pound athlete like Justin that loves to lift weights.”

While the expectations at Ohio State are sky high, Marotti continued to emphasize that it was too early to tell if the group would live up to the billing. One thing is for sure, however: a successful development of this group of 15 players will have a huge impact on the success of the Buckeyes down the road.