Scarlet Sunrise: Jeremiah Smith signs NIL deal with Red Bull

COLUMBUS — Jeremiah Smith is already making the most of his time as a superstar college athlete.

The former Five-Star Plus+ recruit and the No. 1 prospect in the 2024 class inked an endorsement agreement with Red Bull, he announced Thursday on social media. He’s the first college football player to sign with the energy drink company, joining South Carolina women’s basketball star MiLaysia Fulwiley and Nebraska volleyball’s Bergen Reilly as NIL ambassadors, according to On3’s Pete Nakos.

“Off week, got my wiiings,” he said on social media. His Instagram biography now includes Red Bull athlete.

Through just two games, Smith already has 11 catches for 211 yards in two games with three touchdowns, an incredible start to his college football career.

According to Nakos, Smith has already inked agreements with the NIL collectives The Foundation and The 1870 Society, the primary collective for the Buckeyes. He also signed with Ricart Automotive in March. He’s in EA Sports College Football 25 as the top-rated freshman in the game. Most recently he inked an endorsement deal with Battle Sports.

With over 343,000 social media followers, Smith holds an On3 NIL Valuation of $1.1 million. The valuation is 23rd 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.

ICYMI: Buckeyes could make change at kick returner

Ohio State is fresh off the idle week, which it dubbed as an ‘Improvement Week.’ Well, the Buckeyes are looking to improve in all aspects after just two games, including at kick return.

After fourth-year receiver Jayden Ballard had a miscue on a kick return led to an offensive drive starting at their own 4-yard line, the Buckeyes are in evaluation mode to see if there are better options for that job.

Could Ballard lose that responsibility to second-year receiver Brandon Inniss, who has already taken over punt-return duties and done quite well? It’s a possibility, but head coach Ryan Day said Wednesday night during his short media session that no final decisions have been made.

“We got Brandon back there a little bit this week, so we’ll look at the film today,” Day said. “We just did some kickoff return. He and JB were both back there, so we’ll kind of evaluate it after today and see who we decide to put back there. I think they’ll probably both still return kicks. But who takes the first one we’ll probably decide here tomorrow.”

Asked if he thinks Inniss could handle both kick returns and punt returns, Day had a quick answer:

“Yes, I think he can.”

No final decisions have been made. But the Buckeyes want to see improvement from their kick-return game — and the special teams in general. Inniss might be the answer if a decision is made to move on from having Ballard as the primary kick returner.

Buckeyes hoops schedule finalized with release of Big Ten slate

COLUMBUS — The full Ohio State 2024-25 men’s basketball schedule is now complete. The Buckeyes Big Ten slate came out Thursday, and now they have their complete schedule for the upcoming season, Jake Diebler’s first as the program’s head coach.

Ohio State will open Big Ten play in the middle of the nonconference slate, traveling to Maryland on Dec. 4 for the first Big Ten game of the year. Ohio State will host Rutgers three days later on Dec. 7, the same day the Buckeyes’ football team could play in the Big Ten title game over in Indianapolis.

Ohio State will face Maryland, Nebraska and Indiana twice as part of the pairing scheduling agreement in the league. The Buckeyes will not play a game in the state of Michigan, avoiding road trips to Ann Arbor and East Lansing.

Here’s the lineup of conference games Ohio State will play this winter:

Dec. 4 at Maryland
Dec. 7 vs. Rutgers
Jan. 3 vs. Michigan State
Jan. 6 at Minnesota
Jan. 9 vs. Oregon
Jan. 14 at Wisconsin
Jan. 17 vs. Indiana
Jan. 21 at Purdue
Jan. 27 vs. Iowa
Jan. 30 at Penn State
Feb. 2 at Illinois
Feb. 6 vs. Maryland
Feb. 9 at Nebraska
Feb. 12 vs. Washington
Feb. 16 vs. Michigan
Feb. 20 vs. Northwestern
Feb. 23 at UCLA
Feb. 26 at USC
March 4 vs. Nebraska
March 8 at Indiana
March 12-16 Big Ten Tournament (Indianapolis)

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Marshall: 1 day
Ohio State at Oregon: 22 days
Ohio State at Penn State: 43 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 71 days

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