Jeremiah Smith has already won a national title and been a first-team All-American twice -- and he's still too young to enter the NFL Draft. The best player in college football isn't chasing a breakout. He's chasing history.
6′4″ · 222 lb · Miami Gardens, FL
CFB Index
A single number blending on-field production (an EPA-based value lane) with box-score output for this player's position.
0-100, scaled within each position's own cohort — not directly comparable across positions.
The numbers
receiving yards · 2026
16 catches · 3 TD · 19.7 per catch
2 games into 2026 so far -- Backed by 9 rec · 153 yds · 1 TD -- top 1% receiving yards game. -- Best game: 8 rec, 164 yds, 1 TD, at Texas
Swing playSwung Ohio State from 38% to 62% to win.Ohio State at Michigan · 27-9
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
Jeremiah Smith has already won a national title and been a first-team All-American twice -- and he's still too young to enter the NFL Draft. The best player in college football isn't chasing a breakout. He's chasing history.
Buzz vs Tape
His own fans are far more bullish than the rival fanbase.
Ohio State Buckeyes energize fans with the reveal of five bold new football jerseys, setting the stage for a high-intensity offseason. Could this sartorial shakeup spark breakout performances from stars like Jeremiah Smith, Julian Sayin…
Also worth knowing:
“Ohio state need it's WR to play well without Jeremiah Smith”
Fan claims · every quote verified verbatim
Nah, not only does he love going to Ohio State, but he takes his future in the NFL seriously and nowhere gives him a better shot at being prepared for and being drafted extremely high like Ohio State. DGG chose the short-term NIL, Jeremiah is always thinking long-term.
Based on 1 comment from 1 poster across 1 thread · Jul 23, 2026 · via CFB
Most stars spend their college years arriving. Smith got there as a freshman -- a national championship in 2024, then back-to-back first-team All-American seasons, 1,243 yards and 12 scores in 2025 at six-foot-four with the speed to take any catch the distance. Scouts call him the cleanest receiver evaluation in years and float a number no wideout has reached in three decades: No. 1 overall. The last receiver taken first was Keyshawn Johnson in 1996.
Here's the twist that frames his whole 2026: he can't go yet. He won't be draft-eligible until 2027, so the best player in the sport is locked in for one more college season whether the NFL likes it or not. That turns the usual countdown on its head -- there's no will-he-leave drama, only the question of what a player who's already conquered the college game does for an encore.
The answer the Buckeyes need is a second ring. With Heisman-finalist Julian Sayin throwing to him, Ohio State enters 2026 a national-title favorite, and Smith is the reason defenses lose sleep. For most players the forward stake is a draft slot. For Smith it's legacy: another title, a shot at the most absurd individual season a receiver has ever had, and a year to make the No. 1 conversation unanimous.
His career
He was winning awards before he was old enough to be a story.
Smith is what every coordinator sketches on a napkin and never finds: a 6-foot-4, 223-pound receiver who moves like a man eighty pounds lighter. The production backs it where the box can measure -- 89th-percentile catch rate, 83rd in touchdown rate, an efficient and reliable target -- and the scouting fills the rest: the cleanest receiver evaluation in years, a route runner with the long speed to house any of them. He wins three ways, at the line, at the catch point, and after it, so defenses don't have a leverage to take away; they pick which way they'd rather lose. In Ohio State's vertical attack he's the gravity the whole offense bends around. There's no flaw here to coach up. The only question the tape leaves is how a defense even schemes for him -- and two years running, it can't.
Written by our staff.
Career arc
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-AMERICA
Named All-American (2026)
1 selectors honored him
ALL-BIG TEN · 1ST TEAM
All-Big Ten 1st team (2025)
FRESHMAN HONORS
Freshman recognition (2024)
2 mention(s)
Badges
Coaching lineage · 2024–2026
1 coachPlayed his entire career under Ryan Day.
Season context · Team result + system
3 seasons under Ryan Day — 27-5 over that span.
Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort
Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles
Elite: epa / target (94th percentile). Strength: yards / catch (94th percentile).
Real play-by-play efficiency
Season trend
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).
Splits
Per-game splits
Through 2 games: 8.0 REC/g, 158 YDS/g, 19.7 YPR, 1.5 TD/g — splits start at 3 games.
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Ryan Day
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.
Player standing · 2026
In the All-America conversation, short of a selector's first team.
Recognition
2026 outlook
Heisman market6.8%full market ›
In the mix to repeat All-Big Ten
Based on 2025: #1 of 61 Big Ten WRs
49% estimated, 95% confidence interval 43–54%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.
Selector Grid · 2026
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Ohio State | 16 | 315 | 19.7 | 3 | -- |
| 2025 | Ohio State | 87 | 1,243 | 14.3 | 12 | -- |
| 2024 | Ohio State | 76 | 1,315 | 17.3 | 15 | -- |
| Career | 179 | 2,873 | 16.1 | 30 | -- |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Ohio State | 1 | 5 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2025 | Ohio State | 3 | 21 | -- | -6 | -- |
| 2024 | Ohio State | 6 | 47 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 10 | 73 | -- | -6 | -- |
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2026
W 56–3
vs Ball State
Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|
The plays that mattered most
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 2 games
| Wk | Opp | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 56-3vs Ball State | 8 | 151 | 18.9 | 2 | 48 | 2 TD catches |
| Wk 2 | L 23-24@ Texas | 8 | 164 | 20.5 | 1 | 43 | Season-high 164 yds |
| Total | 16 | 315 | 19.7 | 3 | 48 |
Play style
Smith is what every coordinator sketches on a napkin and never finds: a 6-foot-4, 223-pound receiver who moves like a man eighty pounds lighter. The production backs it where the box can measure -- 89th-percentile catch rate, 83rd in touchdown rate, an efficient and reliable target -- and the scouting fills the rest: the cleanest receiver evaluation in years, a route runner with the long speed to house any of them. He wins three ways, at the line, at the catch point, and after it, so defenses don't have a leverage to take away; they pick which way they'd rather lose. In Ohio State's vertical attack he's the gravity the whole offense bends around. There's no flaw here to coach up. The only question the tape leaves is how a defense even schemes for him -- and two years running, it can't.
Our classifier reads him the same way: beats you over the top.
2026 Outlook
Ohio State
2026 Depth chart
Returning starter
Wide receiver · Ohio State · editorial
Returning around him
2026 Award watch
Ohio State · Last season: 12-2 (AP #3) · Talent rank #5 · 2026 recruiting class #4
Player DNA
Stretches the field vertically. Every snap is a potential big play.
His 2026 production profile sits closest to Jayden Higgins’s 2023 season.
Matches Jayden on
Differs from Jayden on
Through 3 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Noah Kjar’s path through Weber State.
Noah Kjar
Beau Kelly
Matt Fogler
Jalen Coker
Will Vereen
Matches Noah on
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Nyck Harbor's junior season at South Carolina (2025).
Matches Nyck on
Differs from Nyck on
Player DNA
Heisman futures · sportsbook market
#2 in market ▲ from #6 · 4 books
Heisman Trajectory · 2026
Peaked at #46 this season.
Career Highs 10 Receptions at Purdue (Nov. 8, 2025) 187 Receiving Yards vs. Oregon (Jan. 1, 2025) 2 Receiving Touchdowns (Six times – last vs. Penn State on Nov. 1, 2025) 87 Long Reception vs. Grambling (Sept. 6, 2025) 19 Rushing Yards at Michigan State (Sept. 28, 2024) Career Stats 2,558 receivi...
10 more on the roster · Ohio State team page