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Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith inks NIL deal with Nintendo, Epic Games

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz01/15/25

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Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State
Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State - © Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Through his freshman year, Jeremiah Smith turned in highlight after highlight while helping Ohio State to the national championship. Ahead of Monday’s title game against Notre Dame, he landed a new NIL deal.

Smith partnered with Nintendo and Epic Games, announcing the partnership via social media. He enters the national championship with an On3 NIL Valuation of $3.7 million, which sits atop the Ohio State roster.

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Smith is Will Howard’s top weapon and is already generating NFL buzz through his first season of college football. The deal with Epic Games and Nintendo is his latest splash in the NIL space, adding to a portfolio that includes Red Bull and Lululemon.

Smith’s impressive freshman season has been one for the record books after arriving as a top recruit. He enters Monday’s title game with 71 receptions for 1,227 yards and 14 touchdowns, setting freshman records in all three categories.

Even though he still has one game left in his freshman season, Smith is still receiving high praise from around the sport. In fact, former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones went so far as to predict him as one of the best wideouts in college football history when his career is over.

“Jeremiah Smith is going to be one of the best receivers in college football history, not just Ohio State history when his three years are up before he’s draft eligible,” Jones said on The Athletic’s “Until Saturday” podcast. “If he has halfway decent of a season this next year that he’s had his freshman year, and halfway of that the following year, his third year, he’s still going to go down as a top two or three receiver in college football history.”

Jeremiah Smith’s surging On3 NIL Valuation

As he broke Cris Carter’s freshman records, Jeremiah Smith became one of the highest-profile Buckeyes on the roster. His On3 NIL Valuation ranks No. 7 in the college football NIL rankings and No. 10 in the On3 NIL 100, the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation. He’s one of six Ohio State players in the On3 NIL 100 entering the national championship, along with Caleb Downs, Emeka Egbuka, Julian Sayin, Josh Simmons and Jack Sawyer.

“Despite what some fans and media believe, there is not an unlimited amount of money being deployed to manage rosters,” said Shannon Terry, the founder and CEO of On3. “Any model – whether it’s today’s broken NCAA ‘student-athlete’ construct or media rights sharing through employment, which is almost a certainty in the near future – demands efficiency based on the athlete and school knowing the athlete’s respective market value.”

The On3 NIL Valuation is calculated by combining Roster Value and personal NIL. Roster value is the value an athlete has by being a member of his or her team at his or her school, which factors into the role of NIL collectives. NIL in an athlete’s name, image and likeness and the value it could bring to regional and national brands outside of the scope of NIL collectives.

About On3 NIL Valuation, Brand Value, Roster Value