Jack Sawyer reveals his initial reaction to 5-star WR Jeremiah Smith: 'Holy sh*t, this kid's good'

The Ohio State Buckeyes look like they have their next great wide receiver in Jeremiah Smith. Certainly, he’s started to catch people’s attention both nationally and on his own team.

Star edge rusher Jack Sawyer shared his thoughts on Jeremiah Smith while at Big Ten Media Days, including his initial reaction to the five-star recruit.

“There’s a lot of things I could list,” Sawyer said. “That kid is just special, man. That’s the only word I can use to describe him. Having been in his shoes, meaning being a five-star recruit and having a lot of hype around him coming in, I was like, man, I just want to see him practice a couple of times. I don’t want him to feel like if he doesn’t play this year or if he doesn’t live up to the hype his freshman year then, you know, but then I saw him for the first time at the first practice. I was like, holy sh*t, this kid’s good.”

Jeremiah Smith is coming to Ohio State as a five-star recruit in the Class of 2024, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He is also the top-ranked wide receiver and the top-ranked player overall in that cycle. Already in a short sample size at Ohio State, he’s been drawing incredible comparisons. That included earning LeBron James and Percy Harvin comparisons during the spring game.

“So, he’s a great young player. He’s got a great future ahead of him. He’s got a great head on his shoulders. So, whatever he gets he’s earned. He’s worked for. So, I’m super excited for him.”

The excitement around Smith is rapidly growing. He’s adding NIL deals, like a recent one with Battle Sports, before playing a regular season game. On top of that, Smith is even the highest-rated freshman in EA College Football 25, with a rating of 84 overall.

Jeremiah Smith has also caught the attention of his quarterback, Will Howard, who praised him when he was at the Manning Passing Academy.

“Pretty unbelievable,” Howard said. “That true freshman, Jeremiah Smith, he’s gonna be special, man. Between him, Emeka [Egbuka], Carnell [Tate], those three are probably the featured guys.”

The hope for Ohio State is that with Jeremiah Smith the Buckeyes can avoid losing a step at wide receiver, despite the loss of Marvin Harrison Jr. Filling those shoes as a true freshman would be incredibly difficult to do. However, it’s clear he’s very talented and capable of providing a spark for the Ohio State offense moving forward.