‘NFL-ready’ Jeremiah Smith cements his place as college football’s fastest-rising star

PASADENA, California – As the final 10 minutes of a bafflingly lopsided College Football Playoff quarterfinal game ticked down on the clock at Rose Bowl Stadium, Chris Smith made his way through Row 18 of Section 3 to reach a hallway. The father of Ohio State’s most famous player, freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith, the most talented receiver in the country, was wearing a scarlet tracksuit provided by Battle Sports, the football apparel company with which his son had signed a contract. of sponsorship. He pulled his hood over his head as the afternoon temperature dipped into the 50s and wrapped a pair of headphones around his ears. Other than the fact that he was sitting in the Buckeyes’ family section, which occupied the first few rows behind the Ohio State bench, there was nothing to indicate that Chris Smith had any relationship with the sport’s fastest-rising star, the MVP offensive that ended with a 41-21 annihilation of top-seeded Oregon.

By the time Smith moved away from the seat next to his brother Geno Smith Jr., the father of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith III, the new prodigy in the family had completed his work for the night. He had already slipped through the formation and turned a short pass from quarterback Will Howard into a galloping 45-yard touchdown on Ohio State’s first possession, surprising nearby sections of the Ducks faithful by entering the zone. goal without any defender in sight. He had already leaped to secure a surprisingly agile catch between two defenders along the sideline, landing softly between them for a 29-yard gain. He had already broken through the Oregon defense from his slot lineup for a 43-yard score in which no one from the opposing secondary decided to cover him. And he had already caught back-to-back passes near the middle of the third quarter, first with a slant and then with a pirouette kick with his foot, to facilitate a hurried touchdown that extinguished any glimmer of hope he might have hoped for. The pro-Ducks crowd was hanging on. In all, Smith’s damage amounted to seven receptions for 187 yards and a career-high two touchdowns, a stat line that made his father’s eyes widen as he scanned the scoreboard in the final moments of the game.

“I guess [the coaches] “I got tired of hearing all that outside noise,” Chris Smith told FOX Sports with a mischievous smile and just a hint of sarcasm. “I wanted him to hit 200 yards.”

And it probably would have had Oregon not faced a 34-0 deficit at the 2:59 mark of the second quarter, undermining what many expected to be a rematch between two teams that were separated by a single difference. time they fought in mid-October. That night, Smith caught nine passes for 100 yards and a touchdown in a 32-31 loss to Oregon, and his late offensive pass interference flag proved to be quite costly. He had 118 yards in the first quarter alone Wednesday night in a stunning performance that led Oregon head coach Dan Lanning to describe Smith as “NFL ready” two full years before he’s eligible to play. declare for the draft. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly went even further when he declared that Smith “may be a once-in-a-lifetime guy.”

Which is what made the second half of Ohio State’s season so disconcerting when Smith’s involvement seemed to wane. He was targeted a season-high 13 times during the loss to Oregon and then never surpassed seven targets in a game until facing the Ducks again Wednesday night. A good part of the confusion surrounding the Buckeyes’ loss to Michigan in late November was that Smith caught only five passes for 35 yards against a team lacking All-American cornerback Will Johnson.

“After that game, we had a bad taste in our mouths,” Smith said. “We had to come in the next day and see what the problem was, fix it and go out on the field and work. We knew we had to get the ball to the perimeter, make shots and just win one-on-one matchups. And that’s what we did. today “.

Although he would be unlikely to say it publicly, Smith realized he was the best player on Ohio State’s incredibly talented receiving corps when he returned home to Miami Gardens, Florida, after his initial batch of spring practices as enrolled early. It was during that visit that he crossed paths with local content creator Darrell Streeter, founder of a popular YouTube account known for documenting grassroots soccer in South Florida. Streeter was someone Smith had been friends with for the better part of a decade, ever since videos of his ultra-popular youth team, the Miami Gardens Ravens, became staples on the Footballville channel. Once Smith’s first semester ended, Streeter wanted to know which receiver occupied the alpha role.

When asked if it was senior Emeka Egbuka, who is expected to become a first- or second-round pick in this year’s NFL Draft, Smith nodded cautiously but politely. When asked if it was rising sophomore Carnell Tate, a five-star prospect from the 2023 recruiting cycle, Smith demurred with what amounted to a verbal shrug. “I guess,” he told Streeter, who quickly recognized the real answer to his question: Even then, long before Smith made his first real appearance with the Buckeyes, the teenager who finished high school as the No. 1 overall player In the country he was the best receiver on the team. And at a school like Ohio State, that effectively made Smith the best receiver in college football. Streeter apologized to Smith the next time they met.

“He just started laughing,” Streeter told FOX Sports earlier this fall. “The look on his face was like, ‘No disrespect, but I don’t think anyone is better than me.’ And that’s how he sees it.”

The only question was how quickly it would happen. By the time Smith had his trade with Streeter over the summer, he had already navigated a spring game for which coaches warned him about a peripheral role. Smith called his father during preparations for the April exhibition and expressed some disappointment at not appearing more prominently, especially considering that the event was to be broadcast on national television for the first time. Circumstances led Hartline to contact Chris Smith directly in the hopes of defusing what could have been a thorny situation for a player with such sky-high expectations, unaware that Smith himself had already informed his parents of the news.

But there was no pushback from the family over Ohio State’s plan to ease Smith’s entry into the fray; There’s no questioning Hartline’s approach to Smith’s development given his notable tutelage of wide receivers in recent years, which includes four first-round picks in the last three drafts alone. Chris Smith simply reminded his son to trust the coaching staff and maximize production on every pass that came his way. It was the same advice he had given Smith during youth football, when the Ravens’ roster boasted more than a dozen future Division I players, and again when he played for powerhouse Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School in Hollywood. , Florida, where enthusiasm reached such fanatical levels that head coach Dameon Jones considered hiring a police officer to protect his star player during the playoffs.

“There may have been a time [when] JJ called for the ball,” Jones told FOX Sports earlier this fall, “and it was because he had a guy in front of him talking shit. But at any other time, no. It was the weirdest thing ever. You are the number one player in the country. You can be an arrogant son of a bitch—–. And it wasn’t.”

The same applies during his time at Ohio State, with Kelly confirming Wednesday night that Smith hasn’t made any demands amid a record-breaking freshman season. However, he approached Hartline with a request following the team’s surprising loss to Michigan. Smith told Hartline he “wanted to be challenged” during the weeks of practice leading up to the first-round matchup with Tennessee, a team he ultimately destroyed for six receptions, 103 yards and two touchdowns while victimizing the second-round All-American cornerback. equipment. Jermod McCoy. That’s the closest the extremely polite Smith will come to diva-style wide receiver demeanor.

But that doesn’t mean Smith isn’t afraid to speak his mind, to spill some of his confidence into the world, and that’s exactly what he did at the Rose Bowl media day event in Los Angeles earlier this week . Smith told reporters he was “laughing in my head” thinking about Oregon trying to defend him with one-size-fits-all coverage. “I’m just letting everyone know right now that if you play man [coverage on] “Wednesday,” Smith said, “we’re taking a chance.” And that’s what Ohio State did again and again and again.

When the demolition was finally completed, by which time there were almost no Ducks fans left in the stadium, hordes of reporters with television cameras, microphones and cell phones surrounded Smith near midfield during his postgame interviews with ESPN and Big Have Network. The crowd was so thick that an Ohio State spokesperson implored a security guard wearing headphones to “keep people away” amid the celebratory melee. Later, as Smith stepped off the stage where the Buckeyes received the Leishman Trophy, he held a rose stem between his teeth as he stood between offensive linemen Deontae Armstrong and Seth McLaughlin to sing “Carmen Ohio” with the marching band playing the melody.

And then the Ohio State faithful caught Smith during his attempted exit through the southeast tunnel. One fan hung a scarlet No. 4 jersey over the front row railing and yelled at Smith to sign, dangling a black marker as incentive. The first autograph gave way to a second: “Can you sign this cap for another kid?” pleaded the same man, and the second caused a frenzy. Suddenly, Smith was doodling his name on game shows and assorted memorabilia as quickly approaching kids begged for something from his gear. The security guard was nowhere to be found when a woman in cowboy boots and Daisy Duke jeans asked Smith if she could sign her skirt. He resolutely obeyed.

“That boy is 19 years old,” a nearby man said incredulously. “He’s 19 years old!”

And everyone wanted a token from the night Jeremiah Smith became an even bigger star.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]