Devin McCuin didn’t arrive at Ohio State carrying the kind of recruiting buzz that usually comes with a potential Buckeye star. Out of Jacksonville, Texas, in the 2023 class, he was a three-star prospect and the country’s No. 92 overall athlete in the 247Sports rankings, with offers from schools such as Colorado, TCU and Washington State, along with mostly Group of 6 programs.
But Ryan Day saw something different on film, and it kept pulling him back.
“I remember watching the film of him, and it was against A&M, and he was just competing his tail off out there,” Day said of McCuin in the build-up to the Buckeyes' season-opening win.
That game against Texas A&M wasn’t flashy - McCuin caught six passes for 33 yards - but it was enough to get Ohio State’s attention. Day said the comparison that came to mind was Chris Olave.
“I sort of thought to myself he could sort of be like a Chris Olave type,” Day said. “That was sort of the comp.
We always try to look at comps, and that was sort of the one that I used. He has high-end speed.
He can change direction. He's got really strong hands, good quickness.”
McCuin’s three seasons at UTSA gave the Buckeyes a fuller picture. He totaled 152 catches for 1,696 yards and six touchdowns, and while he showed speed in AAC games, Day believed the bigger stage confirmed it could translate against Big Ten-level competition. He also brought something Ohio State wanted more of: yards after the catch, along with the ability to make talented corners miss.
Once he got to Columbus, Day said the scouting report expanded beyond the tape.
“What I didn't know about him was just his makeup,” Day said of McCuin. “And he's very intelligent, really good route runner and he has experience.
He has toughness. He sticks it in there in the run game.
He's been great, and I think he really turned it on this summer. I think the spring he was solid -- better than solid.
He was good in the spring but had a great summer with Nick in the weight room, and then it's just taken off from here.”
That progression showed up Saturday in McCuin’s Ohio State debut against Ball State. He finished with six catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, flashing the ability to find space in zone coverage and make a defender miss on the way to the end zone. He didn’t get many chances to run past the Cardinals’ defensive backs, but the production still matched the promise.
McCuin called playing at Ohio Stadium “amazing.” Now he heads back to Texas for a game with even more attention waiting on him.
Ohio State faces Texas this weekend, and McCuin said last week he had already received eight ticket requests. He expects that number to keep climbing.
It will be his second time playing the Longhorns at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium after facing them with UTSA in 2024, when he had five receptions for 27 yards.
He also came away from that game with a 56-7 loss to UTSA.
“It’s going to be a dogfight,” he said. “It's going to mean a lot toward our season in all.
We've been harping that we've got to win the fourth quarter. So we've got to get it to the fourth quarter and win it there.”
McCuin steps into a familiar role in a familiar kind of Ohio State spotlight: the No. 2 receiver opposite Jeremiah Smith. The Longhorns have met the Buckeyes in each of the last two years, including the College Football Playoff semifinal in 2024 and last season at the Horseshoe, and Carnell Tate was the beneficiary both times, totaling nine catches for 136 yards and a touchdown while Texas concentrated on Smith.
Now it’s McCuin’s turn.
“It’s obvious that teams are going to tilt coverages to him,” McCuin said of Smith. “And I've got to do a great job of making plays and doing my job.”
It’s a role that has belonged to some of the biggest names in recent Buckeye history - Olave, Garrett Wilson, Emeka Egbuka and Tate. Most of them arrived with elite recruiting credentials and left as first-round NFL Draft picks. Olave was the exception to the recruiting profile, and he turned that into one of the great Ohio State receiver careers, finishing fourth in program history with 2,711 yards and a school-record 35 touchdowns.
Day sees McCuin in that same lane.
“As good as we've had here,” Day said last week.
McCuin isn’t backing away from that kind of praise.
“I just try to stay consistent,” McCuin said when asked about Day's words. “I'm just naturally gifted. I just try to come in and work hard every single day and just get better and better and better every single day.
“I've always been confident in my ability. I feel like I can play with anybody in the country.”
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The more interesting part for Ohio State is what all of that means down the road, because Smith may have to weigh the possibility of entering the draft after his junior season. Miami is one of the teams being linked to that kind of scenario, and the fit would make some sense for a franchise that has been reshuffling its offensive identity and looking for more high-end weaponry. For the Buckeyes, it is another reminder that Smiths ceiling is already creating questions that normally do not arrive this early. [Read more 🡒]