Jeremiah Smith admits he didn't expect this big of a role in freshman season

Jeremiah Smith arrived at Ohio State as the top overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle. Eight months later, he’s the top receiving target for a Buckeyes program that has produced four first-round wideouts in the last three years.

Smith wasn’t expecting to make that kind of impact immediately.

“Not at all,” Smith said Wednesday after practice. “This is Ohio State. [With] all the receivers that been here and that was here before I got here, I did not have the expectation of having the role that I have right now.

“I just give all the thanks to God just to be able to be in this position right now.”

Through three games, Smith leads the Buckeyes with 281 receiving yards. He’s collected four receiving touchdowns so far, while no other Ohio State player has more than one this season. Also, according to Pro Football Focus, he’s the lone Buckeyes receiver with multiple contested catches this season. Smith’s 14 total receptions are tied with senior wideout Emeka Egbuka for most on the team.

Smith’s numbers are impressive for any wide receiver this season, but they’re especially remarkable for a true freshman wide receiver and quite unusual for an Ohio State true freshman wide receiver.

Because of the Buckeyes’ reliable NFL pipeline at the position, early playing time is hard to come by for even the most decorated prospects joining Ohio State.

Smith already has more receiving yards as a true freshman than Chris Olave, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Carnell Tate did as first-year Buckeyes receivers. Plus, Smith is on pace to shatter Garrett Wilson’s true freshman marks from 2019.

YEAR	NAME	REC	REC YDS	REC TDS
2018	Chris Olave	12	197	3
2019	Garrett Wilson	30	432	5
2020	Jaxon Smith-Njigba	10	49	1
2021	Marvin Harrison Jr.	11	139	3
2023	Carnell Tate	18	264	1
*2024	Jeremiah Smith	14	281	4

Smith was asked Wednesday if it’s a surreal feeling to be producing at a clip like this in Year 1.

“Oh yes, for sure,” he said before pivoting. “I mean, but job not finished. I still got stuff to do.”

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said that the first step to significant playing time for any true freshman in the program is getting to campus as an early enrollee.

“It’s been really hard for guys to make an impact who aren’t here in January, it’s just the truth in their freshman year,” Day explained this week. “I think the second thing is, they’re physically mature and then they’re mentally and emotionally mature to be able to handle and quickly assimilate to the the speed of the game.

“Every play you’ve got to bring it. Sometimes in high school, you can get away and coast a little bit, take some plays off. You can’t do that in college, you certainly can’t do that here.”

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound and hardworking Smith checks those boxes and added a few more of his own.

This spring, he became the first Ohio State true freshman to ever shed his black stripe in only four practices.

This summer, Smith became the first true freshman in program history to earn the rank of “Iron Buckeye,” according to Buckeyes players and coaches who spoke to the media in preseason. To Ohio State, an “Iron Buckeye” is someone who showcases “unquestionable training, dedication, determination, discipline, toughness and leadership” during winter and summer workouts. Strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti picked 10 of them this year, including Smith, a product of Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory in Hollywood, Florida, and a native of Miami Gardens.

Even so, Smith wasn’t expecting to log 104 offensive snaps over his first three games.

“Not that much,” Smith said, when asked directly how much he anticipated playing this year. “You got Carnell Tate, you got Emeka Egbuka that came back. You got Brandon Inniss that had been here, B-Rod (Bryson Rodgers), Jayden Ballard, all them guys.

“So, really, my mentality is just coming in and just work and learn and play special teams and make plays on special teams. That’s all my mentality was.”

Smith’s still played 19 special teams this season, all on punt return team according to PFF, but that’s the footnote on his prolific start to the 2024 campaign.

Smith became the first Ohio State freshman to score two receiving touchdowns in his debut since Michael Wiley did it against Rice in 1996. The following week, he left five Western Michigan defenders in the dust on a 70-yard, catch-and-run touchdown. This past weekend against Marshall, he scored in similar fashion, this time taking a slant 53 yards to the house.

“I still feel like I’m just a regular freshman,” Smith said. “But a lot of people say I’m not.

“The role that I have coming in, it’s been a blessing. I can’t say it’s on me. It’s on God, and just the coaches for trusting me to put a freshman out there and just to go out there and make plays and just do what I do.”