The Ohio State football recruiting class of 2023 is complete and despite some murmurs of negativity in the crowd, this class is fantastic from top to bottom. One of the gems of the class is a four-star wide receiver from the state of North Carolina in Noah Rogers.
Rogers is widely viewed as a top 40 recruit in the class and a top ten receiver overall, but as we previously discussed with Brandon Inniss, it is going to be extremely tough for a wide receiver to crack the lineup in this deep two-deep early in their career, but Rogers has enough talent to be a meaningful contributor early.
Name: Noah Rogers
High School: Rolesville (Rolesville, NC)
Height: 6 feet, 2 inches
Weight: 195 pounds
4-Star Wide Receiver
Strengths
Great adjustment and catch from Ohio State signee Noah Rogers (@noah1rogers)
Making it look easy 👌@UANextFootball | #UANext pic.twitter.com/b3uiFFpAi0
— The Underclassman Report (@TheUCReport) January 1, 2023
Breaking It All Down
Noah Rogers is a burner who was a track star in addition to staring on the gridiron and likely already runs in the 4.4 range. He is a big play waiting to happen, he is a threat to reach the endzone every time he touches the ball. The trait that receives the most hype though, is his release and ability to get off on the line of scrimmage.
Rogers has the quickness and power to beat the defender off the line in various ways. We mentioned his power, but it can’t be emphasized enough how hard Rogers runs behind his pads and he has no problem making defenders pay.
Weaknesses
Ohio State WR commit Noah Rogers is now a 5⭐️ and the No. 17 overall player in the country after the latest rankings update from On3. pic.twitter.com/2xONncb80S
— The Buckeye Nut (@TheBuckeyeNut) July 18, 2022
Breaking It All Down
Noah Rogers is a fun prospect to watch and his weaknesses aren’t necessarily his fault. He did not see a ton of press coverage during his high school career and that was because he dominated defenders when they tried, but the press will be a common occurrence in the Big Ten. Rogers also did not block much, not because he wasn’t good at it, but because he was extremely involved in the offense.
Comparison: Morris Bradshaw
Breaking It All Down
It is hard to compare a player in 2023 to a player from 1973, but the idea is to think outside of the box and provide a more unique comparison. Morris Bradshaw was recruited as a running back and actually played every game there as a sophomore which saw him explode against Wisconsin where he scored on an 88-yard kick-off return and an 88-yard touchdown run — still one of the top ten longest runs in Ohio State history.
Bradshaw made the move to wide receiver once Archie Griffin arrived on campus and finished his career at Ohio State as a receiver during his last two seasons. Playing receiver in a Woody Hayes offense was as sexy as it sounds, but Bradshaw was drafted in the fourth round of the 1974 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders and also spent some time with the New England Patriots and Oakland Invaders of the United States Football League (USFL).
Bradshaw and Noah Rogers are built similarly and are big-play threats that run with creativity with both quickness and power. Rogers runs like a running back after the catch and Bradshaw was a running back. He has the ability to develop into a key contributor in a number of areas on offense, just like Bradshaw.
11-9-1975, the #Raiders Defense picks off 3 Archie Manning passes & John Matuszak recovers a fumble in a 48-10 win @ Oakland. Clarence Davis rushed for 78 yards 1 TD & Morris Bradshaw pulled in two TD passes from 🐍. In all the Oak offense scored 7 TDs.
🐍 hitting MB for TD pic.twitter.com/j4lC64geYK
— Raiders History (@Oaklraiders1976) October 29, 2022
