Jeremiah Smith earns Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors
COLUMBUS — Ohio State freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is finally earning some recognition from the Big Ten office.
Smith has been incredible in all four games so far this season. It took two one-handed catches in primetime for the league to give the former five-star prospect the Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. He earned it from his performance against Michigan State on Saturday night.
Smith’s final stat line of five catches for 83 yards and a touchdown isn’t even his best of the year so far. But the highlight reel is certainly his best of his college career to date.
“The play by Jeremiah, we at least have a field goal there. So we had to play smart,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said of Smith’s dazzling one-handed grab for a touchdown in the 38-7 win over Michigan State. “And I thought Chip was aggressive, did a really good job of calling them. And [backup] Devin [Brown] stepped up in a big way, came in for [starting quarterback] Will [Howard] and delivered that throw.
“But I mean, what an unbelievable catch. I couldn’t believe he caught it. Just a tremendous play.”
Smith just keeps showing that he can be the top receiver in all of college football as early as this season. He has 19 grabs for 364 yards and five touchdowns through four games. Expect more of that from him as the season goes on.
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Ohio State does.
“I think he has all the intangibles that you would want in a prototypical receiver,” senior receiver Emeka Egbuka said of Smith. “Obviously, he’s tall, he’s fast, he’s strong, all these things, but just his ability to seek knowledge and want to be able to learn. You know, he doesn’t necessarily have to listen to everything that I say or that coach Hart says, but he takes in all this knowledge and he applies it on the field.
“So as his knowledge grows and his game expands, he’s really going to turn into something special. So Buckeye fans can be excited for these next few years.”
Saturday was the first official glimpse of how special he can be, not just how good he is. Jeremiah Smith is finally getting some recognition from the Big Ten office after not collecting Freshman of the Week honors in the first four weeks of the year.
