COLUMBUS, Ohio –– The Ohio State football program isn’t typically drawn to an abundance of three-star recruiting prospects, but then again, Chris Olave wasn’t necessarily drawn to Ohio State either not too long ago.

A West Coast kid, Olave grew up on Pac-12 football, and in particular, Chip Kelly’s high-flying offenses at Oregon. Olave would have been pulling for Kelly and the Ducks in the 2014 National Championship, but with a win in the game, the Buckeyes inadvertently made their first impression on the San Marcos, California, native.

But even when both sides met face-to-face for the first time years later, it wasn’t Olave that the Buckeyes wanted to meet.

“They weren’t on my radar at all. When I first met them, they were coming to see my quarterback,” Olave said Wednesday. “My coach called me out of class to come catch balls for my quarterback.”

Little did Ohio State’s then-quarterbacks coach Ryan Day know, the spindly wideout catching balls for four-star QB Jack Tuttle at Mission Hills High School would go on to become who Day said this past week might just be the best wide receiver he’s ever been around.

Still, there was a process that had to unfold before Olave officially became a Buckeye.

“That first interaction was with Coach Day, and he told me to come out to a camp in the summer. I wasn’t really looking to come out because I wasn’t really a big recruit,” Olave said.

Olave said he never really thought he would get an offer from Ohio State, but there was definite interest given the program’s pedigree. The prospects started to become more realistic when Day reached out to Olave again after the third game of his senior season, and the relationship continued to develop from there.

By midseason, Olave had his offer from Ohio State.

After that, Olave said offers from the big-time Pac-12 programs that he likely once dreamed about playing for started to trickle in, but something bothered him about the timing of it all.

“I always wondered why the Pac-12 wasn’t first,” he said.

In November 2017, Olave visited Columbus, Ohio, to see the program first-hand, and after watching the Buckeyes beat Michigan State 48-3, Olave said it “felt like home” at Ohio State.

But home back in California was so far away that Olave said he delayed his commitment to make sure he was making the right choice. By the end of January though, Olave was pledged to be a Buckeye.

“It was so far away, so I waited it out and tried to visit some Pac-12 schools, but I always felt like this was home and I ended up committing the week before the second signing day.” and it was the best decision I ever made,” Olave said.

The importance of family is what made Olave second guess the long-distance move at first, but he said the bond built with Day over the recruiting period went a long way in easing the ultimate decision.

“Me and Coach Day, we built that relationship, he built that relationship with my family,” Olave said. “He always was honest with me throughout the whole recruiting process.”

Any player at Ohio State, let alone a three-star recruit, usually needs a couple years of development before jumping in the deep end, but Olave quickly shot up the ladder from standout performer in his first-ever Michigan game to the shortlist of America’s best receivers this season.

It would be hard to imagine that Olave’s star wouldn’t have risen in similar fashion no matter where he ended up, but he sure is pleased with how the chips fell.

“It was the best decision I ever made,” Olave said.