Joey Galloway recalls first moment he saw Jeremiah Smith in action

Over the years, Ohio State Buckeyes legend Joey Galloway has seen some great receivers come through that program. However, Buckeyes freshman Jeremiah Smith is unique among them.

Galloway recalled the first moment he saw Smith on ESPN’s College GameDay podcast. There, he noted that from the moment Smith stepped on campus, he didn’t seem like a freshman.

“I haven’t seen a guy show up who looks like him,” Joey Galloway said. “All of the great ones before him showed up looking like freshmen and then developed into grown men. He showed up looking like a grown man.”

Coming out of high school, Smith was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2024, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He was the first-ranked wide receiver and the top-ranked prospect overall in that recruiting cycle.

“I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t actually know who he was when I went to my first practice. I’m not locked in all the time on rosters and things like that,” Galloway said. “So, I literally just go out there. I’m high-fiving, ‘Hey, Chip Kelly.’ I haven’t seen Chip since he left ESPN. We’re hugging. Everybody’s high-fiving, me and Coach [Ryan] Day, and we’re just having a good old time. Then, I see this grown man run a route. Like, ‘Oh, interesting.'”

Joey Galloway shared a story from that practice where he saw a defensive back try and irritate Jeremiah Smith. So, he looked to give him some advice and when speaking to him, he realized how special Smith is as a player and it made him want to know more about it.

“He went and he ran this route and they didn’t have pads on and one of the defensive backs knocked him down…So, I go over to speak to this kid because I’m hear at practice and I was in this room at one time. I just know he’s a young kid. So, I say to him, ‘Hey, man. We don’t have pads on. It’s up to you to let that guy know, do not push me down without pads on because defensive backs are annoying and they do these kinds of things without pads on. They’re trying to get under your skin and send you a message. So, as a receiver, you gotta send that message back. If you push me down again without my pads on. I’m gonna punch you in the face mask. It ain’t gonna hurt, but I’m gonna send a message.’ So, when I told him this, he nodded, like okay. From that moment, there was no more pushing him down,” Galloway said.

“And, again, when I talked to him, I didn’t know who he was in the moment. After I spoke to him and the way he answered me made me go find out because who is this guy and I like him. He already has that dog in him that’s like, ‘Okay, I got this.’ I saw him and I was like, ‘Ah, that’s why.’ He’s different and he’s going to be different and I agree [with Rece Davis] as many times as you can, throw him the ball.

Through seven games in his freshman season, Jeremiah Smith has 35 receptions for 623 yards and eight touchdowns. That’s 17.8 yards per reception. Smith has also carried the ball twice for 33 yards and a touchdown.

“The problem, if there is one in these kinds of situations, in these kinds of games, if you can make a team one dimensional and that’s always thrown around, and I don’t know if people know the importance of I can get the ball to my best guy 10 times if I can prove to a defense I can do something else if I need to, but if I show you I can only get it to him, the good teams are gonna beat you,” Galloway said.

“Not the bad teams, not the average teams, not the teams that are marginal — the good teams…can say, ‘You two guys take care of number four and he may beat us once or twice a game but the time they spent trying to get him the ball is going to mean they only got two good drives in this entire game and we’re good enough on the other side to go score 21, 28 points.”

Next up for Ohio State is one of those good teams. The Buckeyes travel to Happy Valley for a tough road game against Penn State that’s vital for the Big Ten Championship race.