​​Brian Hartline has built Ohio State’s wide receiver room into the most feared position group in college football. And that too, without ever dipping into the transfer portal for a wideout. Not once. He has landed five first-round NFL draft picks at the position through high school recruiting and has developed them in Columbus. 

However, Auburn’s coaching change now puts star receiver in potential transfer portal limbo. And Brian Hartline faces a decision that could define his legacy. Does he break his own cardinal rule and pursue the most talented available receiver in the country?​

Cam Coleman isn’t your regular wide receiver. The five-star prospect from Phenix City, Alabama, has posted 74 receptions for 1,072 yards and 11 touchdowns across his first two seasons on The Plains. He has done it all with subpar quarterback play that would’ve tanked lesser talents. Coleman’s 2025 campaign through seven games showed 30 catches for 413 yards and two scores, averaging 13.77 yards per reception with eight catches of 15-plus yards.

He was ranked as the second-best incoming freshman receiver in the 2024 class, behind only Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith. Despite playing in an offense that has given him minimal opportunities, he has lived up to that reputation. Coleman’s junior season is his “money year.” It’s the tape that’ll determine whether he gets drafted alongside Smith and Alabama’s Ryan Williams. And sources close to the situation believe he needs elite quarterback play to showcase his first-round ability.​

Brian Hartline’s reluctance to use the transfer portal for receivers is a strategy since he started coaching in 2017. When you’re pulling in two or three top-15 receivers every single recruiting cycle, the portal becomes redundant. Since 2019, Ohio State has landed more top-100 wideouts than anyone in the country. Hartline’s philosophy has been about relationship building and honest conversations with his players about playing time, even when it means losing guys to the portal himself. But Coleman is a player who’s already proven himself at the SEC level. 

He is in the same talent tier as Jeremiah Smith, and he could step in immediately without the development curve of a freshman. Brian Hartline has churned out first-rounders by taking elite high school talent and molding them over three or four years. But what if he could accelerate that timeline?​ Because Carnell Tate is a highly touted NFL draft pick. If he were to leave next year, there has to be someone who can keep up with Jeremiah Smith and help tow the burden.

Imagine Smith and Coleman in the same offense. Smith is going off this season and is a favorite for the Heisman. Pair him with Coleman, and you’re looking at a duo that could legitimately challenge what Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson accomplished at LSU. Hartline needs to throw everything he’s got at Coleman. Forget the “high school only” philosophy. This is about winning a national championship and cementing Ohio State as the undisputed wide receiver factory in America. 

The Buckeyes have the quarterback in place, and they have Hartline’s track record to sell Coleman on getting drafted in the first round. Auburn’s new coach will try to keep Coleman, promising him a rebuilt offense and portal quarterback help, but that’s a lot of “ifs” for a kid entering his most important season. 

The head coaching buzz 

The thing about Hartline’s potential pursuit of Coleman is that it might be happening on borrowed time. Hartline’s name is getting tossed around for major head coaching vacancies at Penn State and LSU. 

TigerBait’s Preston Guy listed Brian Hartline alongside Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann as candidates who could succeed in the Brian Kelly role, citing the blueprint of “bright up-and-coming coordinators” who’ve made successful jumps to elite Power 5 jobs. Guy pointed to Kirby Smart, Ryan Day, Dan Lanning, Bob Stoops, and Marcus Freeman as proof that the coordinator-to-head-coach path works, and Hartline fits that mold perfectly. 

Urban Meyer, who hired Hartline as a quality control assistant back in 2017, gave him the ultimate co-sign: “I’m a big Brian Hartline fan, always have been… I’m glad he stayed here. He had a chance to leave and learned from us and learned from Coach Day. So I think he’s ready.” When your former boss is publicly vouching for you on national television, schools are going to listen.

The irony is that landing Coleman could be the exact move that accelerates Hartline’s departure from Columbus. If Hartline can flip the second-best receiver in the country out of the SEC while never having used the portal for a wideout before, that’s the recruiting coup that gets athletic directors’ attention. Landing Smith and Coleman in the same room would give Hartline the most explosive receiving duo in the country and potentially his last shot at a national title run as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator before taking the next step.