College Football: Replacements for every first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft

20. Ohio State football replacement for Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Seahawks): Julian Fleming

Ohio State’s receiver room since Brian Hartline got his claws into the recruiting pipeline has been an embarrassment of riches. The Buckeyes, frankly, didn’t have Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the field for almost all of the 2022 season, so the receiving corps that Kyle McCord will be working with is frankly quite similar to what we saw a year ago with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka as the star duo.

With that said, we’ll look at Julian Fleming as the third option who is more likely to emerge now that JSN is gone.

Fleming was an all-world recruit in the 2020 class but, much like Smith-Njigba last season, injuries have been an issue. Assuming that they haven’t robbed him of his quickness and juice, he could be in line for a monster season, especially with all of the attention Harrison and Egbuka will demand.

21. TCU football replacement for Quentin Johnston (Chargers): Savion Williams

I’m still a bit worried about what we’re going to see from the TCU offense overall given all that the unit has to replace. And frankly, it’s somewhat cheating to have Savion Williams as the replacement for Quentin Johnston with the Horned Frogs given that he was a starter last season. However, it’s likely that Williams will be asked to be the primary playmaker for the passing offense in 2023.

Williams is a different player than Johnston to some degree in that he lives up to his 6-foot-5, 215-pound frame as a vertical threat with jump-ball ability more so than Johnston did with his ample size. Still, he’ll be asked to be more consistent, but all of the tools and traits for him to be a real difference-maker in the offense are there with Williams coming into this larger role.