Despite all the success Ohio State had in the last 15 years, there’s one mark that always eluded the Buckeyes.

For whatever reason, they just can’t produce that 1,000-yard receiver.

We went in depth earlier in the offseason about all the oddities associated with the Buckeyes’ inability to get a wideout to 1,000 yards.

It has nothing to do with recruiting, next-level talent or even having quality throwing quarterbacks. The drought has been coach-proof, and it’s been scheme-proof. Considering every B1G team not named Nebraska produced at least one 1,000-yard receiver since 2008, it’s definitely not a conference thing.

On paper, there might not be much to suggest that drought will end in 2017. Ohio State’s top three receivers are gone, and their leading returning wideout (K.J. Hill) racked up 18 catches for 262 yards in 2016.

But the Buckeyes have something different working in their favor in 2017. New offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson is the X-factor who can shake those 1,000-yard blues. He’s done it before both as a coordinator and as a head coach, and if history is any indication, he’ll do it again in 2017.

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Guys like Parris Campbell, Binjimen Victor and Johnnie Dixon are all different than the receivers that he worked with at Indiana. That is, they were 4-star recruits.

Take a look at the 3-star recruits that Wilson turned into 1,000-yard receivers:

There was also three-star receiver Nick Westbrook (995 receiving yards in 2016) and two-star receiver Ricky Jones (906 receiving yards in 2015).

That was just what Wilson did at Indiana. What many college football fans might forget is that Wilson was arguably once the top offensive coordinator in college football during his days at Oklahoma. He had success with receivers of all skill sets in Norman.

Three-star Oklahoma recruit Juaquín Iglesias racked up receiving 1,150 yards in 2008. Three-star recruit Ryan Broyles joined the 1,000-yard club the following three seasons (two were with Wilson). Sure, those guys caught passes from Sam Bradford and Landry Jones, but Wilson produced 1,000-yard receivers without NFL quarterbacks.

That’s not to say J.T. Barrett will never make it as an NFL quarterback. The point is that he doesn’t need to be in order for Ohio State’s passing game to see a noticeable spike in production. Wilson produced high-powered passing offenses with quarterbacks who didn’t complete 60 percent of their passes (Barrett has all three years) or average 8.0 yards per attempt (Barrett averaged 9.0 yards per attempt his freshman year).

Wilson has plenty to work with in the passing game to end Ohio State’s odd trend. The aforementioned Campbell is taking over for Curtis Samuel, who had 865 receiving yards in the H-back role without Wilson running the show.  There’s reason to believe the efficiency of that position could be maximized under the new offensive staff.

That’s perhaps what Wilson has a knack for that Ohio State has been lacking. He maximizes the potential of his skill players. For young, talented wideouts like Victor and Austin Mack, that’ll be evident sooner rather than later (don’t sleep on Victor being the 1,000-yard guy this year).

Even upperclassmen like Dixon and Terry McLaurin could look like different players in Wilson’s offense. Reports out of camp have been extremely positive about them stepping into much more prominent roles. They might not be the most likely 1,000-yard candidates given their histories (injuries and lack of playing time), but as we’ve seen with Wilson in the past, that doesn’t mean much.

Cobbs had seven catches for 114 yards before he erupted in 2015. Jones had three catches for 58 yards before he surpassed 900 receiving yards the following season. Westbrook had six catches for 69 yards before breaking out for 995 yards in 2016.

By October, we’ll be talking about at least one Buckeye receiver that’s on track to pull off a similar feat. By January, we’ll be talking about how much Ohio State’s passing game improved in its first season with Wilson at the helm.

And by this time next year, we’ll be done talking about a strange trend at one of college football’s powerhouse programs.