Why receiver Bryson Rodgers withdrew from transfer portal, returned to Ohio State football
Bryson Rodgers was among the nearly two dozen Ohio State players to put their names in the transfer portal during the winter period.
But he took an uncommon route.
Instead of ending up at another school, Rodgers made a U-turn, withdrawing from the portal after a week in January and rejoining the Buckeyes.
“Moving forward has been nothing short of the best decision I made in my life,” he said.
Rodgers, a wide receiver who appeared in two games as a freshman last fall, lacked clarity about his role, prompting him to enter the portal and look for other opportunities.
“I just feel like I wanted to be valued somewhere,” he said, “and really seen for what I was doing and not taken for granted.”
Following his entry, he said he cleared the air with coach Ryan Day and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline, conversations that paved the way for his return.
“When I talked with coach Day and coach Hart, it was nothing taken for granted,” Rodgers said. “It’s just the path God had me on. I had to get clarity and see that. Once I did see that, I hit the ground running and it’s been nothing but great vibes and great energy.”
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In his two games with the Buckeyes a year ago, he saw only six snaps, rotating late with other reserves late in routs of Michigan State and Purdue.
Ohio State has been loaded at receiver, making it difficult for underclassmen to climb the depth chart. Most are behind a logjam of stars and future NFL first-round draft picks, a group that was led by Marvin Harrison Jr. last season.
The experience proved a little daunting for Rodgers at first as he arrived last offseason as a four-star recruit from Zephyrhills, Florida.
“They were telling me it was going to be hard,” Rodgers said, “but I felt like I was making great steps and great progress and just not seeing results. That also gets tough coming in here as a 17-year-old kid just starting to mature and becoming a young man.”
After nearly 15 months with the Buckeyes, his perspective evolved.
“There are days you doubt yourself,” he said. “There are days you second-guess yourself. But it’s all part of staying true to yourself and keep believing in everything you can do.”
Hartline expressed no hard feelings about Rodgers’ brief portal stint from January, viewing it as a product of an evolving sport that has left a generation of players trying to manage a new variable.
The advent of the portal and relaxed transfer rules that no longer require players to sit out a season between stops have made movement as easy as ever. Players can be contacted by other schools about transferring once they are in the portal, an online database set up by the NCAA.
“There's not a transcript on how to handle that variable,” Hartline said. “Guys are just trying to do what they think is right. That's all they're really trying to do. I'm not saying they're right or wrong.
“But he was trying to do the same, and at the end of the day he realized he made the wrong decision, and we connected on it, we talked about it, and it was a great opportunity to right a wrong. Obviously, we're very glad he's here. I've always believed in him. We believe in him, and he believes in himself.”
Hartline added that the 6-foot-2 Rodgers has continued to make strides through four spring practice.
“He's growing,” Hartline said, “but he's nowhere near where he knows he's capable of being.”
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch and can be reached at jkaufman@dispatch.com.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football: Bryson Rodgers talks brief transfer portal stint
