The Ohio State Buckeyes are always loaded with wide receiver talent. Due to their success in bringing in talented wideouts and helping them get to the NFL, they are being dubbed as “Wide Receiver U” lately.

Heading into the 2024 college football season, the Buckeyes have a lot of talented wideouts once again.

Led by Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State is expected to have one of the best wide receiver units in the nation once again. Carnell Tate could be another name to keep a close eye on.

During the 2023 campaign, Tate ended up catching 18 passes for 264 yards and a touchdown. His role should increase within the offense this season.

Standing in at 6-foot-2 and a shade over 190 pounds, Tate is a great route-runner and a very consistent target. He doesn’t have amazing speed, but he’s capable of creating separation.

On3 has listed a very intriguing NFL comparison for Tate. They believe he’s similar to current Tennessee Titans wideout Tyler Boyd.

“Carnell Tate’s dimensions, athleticism and ball skills are similar to Tyler Boyd at the same stage. Both are savvy, skilled receivers with the ability to win at the catch point.”

Looking ahead to the 2024 campaign, the Buckeyes should be a National Championship contender. They are loaded with talent on both sides of the football.

Whether Will Howard or Julian Sayin is starting at quarterback, the aerial attack should be one of the best in the nation as well.

Tate could be a major X-Factor for Ohio State. If he takes a big step forward in development, he could break out as an elite No. 3 wide receiver.

With the season right around the corner, fans are getting excited to have live football back on their TV. The Buckeyes should win big this season and it will be fun to see their offense in action.

State gas prices rose last week and reached an average of $3.54 per gallon of regular fuel on Monday, up from last week’s price of $3.35 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The average fuel price in state has risen about 22 cents since last month. According to the EIA, gas prices across the state in the last year have been as low as $2.61 on Jan. 8, 2024, and as high as $3.69 on April 10, 2023.

A year ago, the average gas price in Ohio was 8% lower at $3.29 per gallon.

>> INTERACTIVE: See how your area’s gas prices have changed over the years at data.lancastereaglegazette.com.

The average gas price in the United States last week was $3.48, making prices in the state about 1.8% higher than the nation’s average. The average national gas price is up from last week’s average of $3.44 per gallon.

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Please leave any feedback or corrections for this story here. This story was written by Ozge Terzioglu.

Cincinnati was home to Stan Aronoff, and he left it a much better place

Cincinnati lost so much in January. Many in our city do not realize how much we now enjoy was engendered by Ohio Senator Stan Aronoff. I’ve been waiting to write this column until after his celebration of life on June 22.

As a longtime friend, I was privileged to be among Neil Bortz, Steve Loftin, Jon Husted, Diane Martin, Jeff Ruby, Steve Hunt, Jeff DeLeone and Toria (granddaughter) and Brian Schottenstein as speakers on June 22. This is what I said then.

Sen. Stan Aronoff did more for Cincinnati than most civic leaders ever have. There are many reasons for this, but I will mention a few.

He was brilliant. He studied problems and solutions before he acted. Many legislators simply talked about what they thought they wanted without studying the possibilities or the obstacles. Stan was one of the exceptions. When he advocated for something, he had the facts in hand, and he had figured out how to clear the obstacles.

He worked hard and he understood Ohio. Being a state senator from Cincinnati and president of the Ohio Senate meant he had to travel from one end of the state to the other frequently.

Some of that driving was before interstate highways. Much was before car phones. Can you imagine?

I once calculated that Stan had traveled more miles back and forth from Cincinnati to Columbus than Neil Armstrong had to the Moon. Anyone who ever rode with Stan knew he probably traveled faster.

Stan loved Cincinnati and its people. He was born here and spent his life here.  His family were immigrants − refugees. But Cincinnati was home to Stan, and he left it a much better place.

After working his way up to the Ohio Statehouse, Stan secured the rightful share of state support that Cincinnati had long been denied.

The icons of our built environment − the University of Cincinnati campus with its signature-architect structures, the renovation of Cincinnati Union Terminal as the nationally acclaimed Museum Center (my wife, Sue Ann, was instrumental) and the Aronoff Center for the Arts, which truly revived Downtown − would not exist except for Stan Aronoff. The Ohio Arts Council, which supports countless large and small arts institutions, would not exist without Stanley J. Aronoff.

He was the rare visionary who also had the ability and determination to accomplish great things.

He was a Republican who worked with Democrats to get things done. The best government we had in Ohio while I’ve been alive was when Stan Aronoff was Senate President and Vern Riffe was House Speaker: one Republican and one Democrat; one urban and one rural.

Nothing could pass unless Stan and Vern agreed. This meant compromise was necessary to round off the edges and keep extremists of either party in check, and it worked well. Back then, the legislature focused on school funding, criminal justice, and public health. While they surely couldn’t solve everything, they made an effort to try, rather than an effort to “own” the other side.

In Stan’s day, the extremely goofy legislation we see now with Ohio’s one-party government would never have even been considered.

The recent proposals to ban drag shows and prosecute school librarians would have been laughed out of a legislature populated by adults. 

Sue Ann and I were privileged to know Stan and to have played a small part in this journey.

One day, we hope to see his equal again.

Cincinnati native Mark Painter served for 30 years as an Ohio judge. After serving 13 years on the Hamilton County Municipal Court, Painter was elected to the Ohio Court of Appeals in 1994. He served on Ohio’s Court of Appeals until 2009, when he was elected by the UN General Assembly to serve as the first American on the UN Appeals Tribunal. He is the author of six books and hundreds of nationally published opinions.