Carnell Tate Q&A: Top Wideout Prospect Talks NFL Draft, Elite DBs, Ohio State WR Tradition
Carnell Tate is considered the top wide receiver in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The Ohio State Buckeyes alum is looking to continue the program's deep history of producing elite wide receiver talent at the NFL level. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is coming off an Offensive Player of the Year season after winning the Super Bowl and leading the league with 1,793 receiving yards.
Emeka Egbuka also made headlines with his rookie campaign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, posting nearly 1,000 yards. Other star receivers who hail from Ohio State include Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Marvin Harrison Jr.
Tate is projected to be the top receiver and a top-five or top-six pick in many mock drafts. As the 21-year-old prepares for the NFL Draft, he took the time to talk to Athlon Sports about his preparation for his NFL career, what he learned at Ohio State, his advice from Egbuka and his partnership with Snickers.
Snickers are releasing special limited edition ice cream chill bars, and fans can win a Snickers ice cream chill chain by registering at SNICKERS.com/Chill between April 15 and April 30 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Also see:
● Athlon Sports' NFL Draft hub
● Luke Easterling's Top 300
● Four-round mock draft
● Carnell Tate scouting report
Q: You've been preparing for the NFL Draft. You went through the NFL combine experience. What was like that? Did you meet with any notable teams? Did you have any standout meetings?
Tate: The NFL combine is an experience of its own. It's a long, long process, those four or five days. Long days, long nights, a bunch of medicals, meetings with teams, and ultimately just a bunch of sitting and waiting around. I met with like 12 teams at the NFL combine.
Q: You're projected to go around No. 5, No. 6, that would be Giants or Browns most likely. What are your thoughts on potentially landing with those teams at that spot?
Tate: I'm just fortunate to be given the opportunity to go play football. Ultimately, my goal was to go first round. So ultimately, [if] my goal comes true, just playing, getting drafted in the first round that means a lot. If I go that high, I'm very fortunate enough to do that and ultimately just go be another football player and go play at the highest level.
Q: You're coming from Ohio State, and it's well known for producing a lot of high quality wide receivers. Have you gotten any advice from any notable alumni, like maybe Emeka and so forth when it comes to starting your NFL career?
Tate: Throughout this process right now, the journey I am on right now, they just told me find time to work out and just find time to just hang out with yourself. Stay true to yourself. Ultimately, all these visits, it's just a basic college recruiting visit. You go on the trip. You see the facility. You meet the coaches. And then just ultimately about showing how smart of a football player you are and what you are. Just go ahead, take notes to the field. Take the field notes to the meeting.
Q: You're waiting on where you're going to land, which team you're going to land on, but are there any concrete rookie season objectives for you in your mind?
Tate: Ultimately, just go out there and try to be better than the one that came before me. Just go ahead, add to that success, and then make it harder for the next one to come after me. We've gotten a few Rookies of the Year over the years and from Ohio State. Jaxon-Smith Njigba just won the Offensive Player of the Year. Just try to go out there and amplify my game, and then go out there and do it all.
Q: You want to win when you start out your career. But are there certain statistical objectives? Are there certain individual accolades you just brought up? For example, Jaxon-Smith Njigba and Emeka Egbuka. That's a high standard, right there.
Tate: Ultimately to go out there and do my thing when the opportunity presents itself to make those plays and just the normal receiver ability - just go out there, get 1,000 yards and add to your team's success.
Q: I'm going to play the role of draft evaluator and team executive. If I asked you, what is your best trait, what would you say, and what is one thing where you really want to improve upon?
Tate: I'd say my best trait is just catching the ball. Ultimately, I think as a receiver, you got to know how to catch the ball. You gotta do it on a consistent basis, whether that's the easy ones or the hard ones. I think I've done a great job of catching the ball. As far as work on, I don't really know. That's for you to decide.
Q: OK, so you wouldn't be able to think of one thing where you'd want to be a little bit better in that regard?
Tate: My biggest question is just press. You see the film where I haven't really gotten that many reps up against press coverage. When you go to Ohio State, not a lot of teams play you man-to-man press coverage. I think that's probably it. We all probably face those questions going from college to the league. Like I said, it's Ohio State. You'll go out there and play all same man coverage with the elite talent they had at the wideout position.
Q: Would you say that's probably going to be one of the most difficult adjustments, if not the biggest adjustment is the physicality and the press coverage, like you just said when you get to the NFL?
Tate: I think in the NFL, everyone's good, so the defenses are going to rely on you to win man-to-man coverage. So, yeah, I think that's the biggest thing.
Q: Is there a certain defensive back or cornerback where you're like, "Man, I'm really looking forward to playing him and maybe torching him on the field?"
Tate: I do want to play against the best, like Joey Porter from over there at the Steelers. I think Denzel Ward, he's a great guy. Pat Surtain Jr. is a great guy. So yeah, I just want to play against all the elite DBs [who are playing] at the highest level right now - (Devon) Witherspoon, (Tariq) Woolen, Quinyon Mitchell, there's a few great guys out there.
Q: Have you talked to any of those guys out of curiosity?
Tate: No, I haven't talked to any of those guys yet.
Q: What wide receiver did you mold your game after? Or are there a group of wide receivers that you kind of looked up to?
Tate: I watched a ton of receivers. My biggest thing is watch as much ball as possible. So I did watch Davante Adams, Julio Jones and Antonio Brown.
Q: You came from Ohio State. You won a national championship over there. You went to the College Football Playoff last year. What is the biggest thing that you learned at Ohio State that has molded you into the man that you are today, the player that you are today?
Tate: I think just your just day-to-day preparation. Ohio State's on the biggest stage we played on during that championship. We played tons of great teams, and also played along Emeka, whose preparation off the field, I don't think anybody does better than him. I'm just going to take that, add that to my game as far as watching film as much as he did, catching balls, and just putting yourself in those real world situations before you get into those situations
Q: What's the best thing that you learned from him? Anything notable that stands out?
Tate: Just probably his time commitment, the way he planned out his day, what's important, and what's not. He was always trying to build, always watching film, and also just always catching the ball.
Q: Why is Ohio State great at producing those wide receivers?
Tate: When you're surrounded with dogs, it's only right you become one, only the strongest survive in that room, we feel like. Once you go to Ohio State, you're in there with dogs. It helps mold you into a dog, and it helps create the line of success that we've been having.
Q: Who is the best wide receiver in the NFL?
Tate: Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Q: Biggest thing you learned from coach Ryan Day?
Tate: Consistency and preparation. A phenomenal coach. He's very smart, understands the game at the highest level. I was fortunate for him to pour that knowledge down into me, understand the defenses and how to beat those different coverages.
Q: I'm guessing he's very serious and competitive?
Tate: He definitely is. When you're the head coach of Ohio State, it's only right you're seriously competitive.
Q: What type of music do you listen to? What kind of artists do you lean on to get pumped up before a game?
Tate: Rod Wave, Lil Durk and Gunna.
Q: What are you doing with Snickers leading into the NFL draft?
Tate: I'm partnering with Snickers ice cream to put out the ice cream Snickers ice cream chill bars to help chill the hot takes entering the draft process.
Q: Something that caught my attention was the Snickers chill chain. I had not seen it until now. Talk about that a little bit, because it's really cool.
Tate: It's gold, got diamonds, ruby, sapphires, and that definitely stands out. It was only fitting for me to go out there, put something that stands out into the red carpet.
Q: Is this the first time you're wearing the chain?
Tate: No, this is the second time. This is the first time since it got the gold on it.
Q: What's your favorite Snickers flavor?
Tate: We got the crunchy peanut butter. This was by far my favorite one. This one's a limited edition Snickers ice cream chill bar. That's my favorite one by far.
Q: Is there any social media stuff or commercials planned?
Tate: We did a little bit of a brand shoot, as far as that, got videos and stuff coming out soon. I think that's up to them to ultimately decide what day that drops. We did a little bit of behind-the-scenes work and then a little content shoot.
Related: Carnell Tate NFL Draft Scouting Report
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This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 6:14 AM.