Brian Hartline didn’t have to take the backseat to Chip Kelly as well as he did last season, but for the sake of Ohio State football, he put his pride aside and continued as the wide receiver coach when the famed former Oregon Ducks leader came to town.
Hartline went to Ohio State and was a fourth-round pick in the 2009 NFL draft, playing numerous seasons at the highest level in the sport. He rejoined the program in 2017 as an offensive quality control assistant and eventually made his way to offensive coordinator in the 2023 season. Hartline will now be back to command the offense with more experience and a better grasp of how to lead this unit.
For most of his career, Hartline’s main focus has been on receivers, and that’s something that been easy to tell as the Buckeyes have churned out some of the best in the position under Hartline’s leadership. However, he’s going to have to take a different approach now, and he sounds thankful for having been under Kelly over the course of the last 10 months.
“The main objective is to learn as much as I can. I want to be – this sounds weird – but I want to be the smartest guy in the room every time I walk in that room, football-wise. I love receiver play. I know receiver play. I’ll go toe-to-toe with anybody on that subject. But when it comes to football in totality, Coach (Ryan) Day is so impressive. To have Coach (Chip) Kelly come in the room and have his depth of knowledge-filled man that I know for football. I just wanted to learn. People were like, ‘You were the coordinator, now you’re not the coordinator, how did you feel about that?’ I was like, ‘Guys, hold on. My main goal is chasing Coach Day. I am not worried about what tag I have to be in this room. I have no interest in that.’ So, it was an easy transition whatever transition we thought that was. I just tried to add value,” Hartline said.
Here’s the full interview on the The Bobby Carpenter Show with Anthony Schlegel.
Hartline, who had 344 receptions and 4,766 receiving yards throughout his career, has been able to develop talent like Garrett Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr. while in Columbus, and his recruiting history to get prospects like Julian Fleming speaks for itself. He should undoubtedly succeed as the team’s coordinator, and hopefully, he can take his success as the wide receivers coach to the rest of the positions on offense as well.
This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Brian Hartline details his main objective last season under Chip Kelly
