Only Randy Moss Stands Between Jeremiah Smith and Receiver Immortality

Two springs ago, Will Howard sailed a pass over the head of a true freshman named Jeremiah Smith during an Ohio State practice, and Ryan Day did not let it slide. Howard told ESPN’s Jake Trotter that Day stopped him with a question that sounded like a joke at the time and sounds a lot more like a prophecy now.

“Are you not going to give the best receiver to potentially ever play the game a chance?” Day said, according to Howard.

Smith is a junior now, and nobody in Columbus is laughing at the question anymore. ESPN ranked him No. 2 on its list of the 60 greatest college receivers of the last 50 years, behind only Randy Moss, and he still has half a season left to make the voters squirm.

The Numbers Behind the Jeremiah Smith Case

The quickest way to understand the hype is to check the receipts. Smith finished his sweep of Ohio State’s three major career receiving records against Iowa, passing Emeka Egbuka in catches and Chris Olave in touchdown receptions. The yardage record had fallen against Kent State, when he passed Michael Jenkins, according to Ohio State.

Michael Jenkins held the school yardage record at 2,898 for more than two decades, and Smith has blown past it by nearly 600 yards. Olave’s old touchdown mark of 35 lasted only until Smith found the end zone twice against the Hawkeyes.

The first two lines come from his first two seasons, and the 2026 line is the scary part. He piled up 12 catches for 217 yards and four touchdowns against Illinois, followed it with 11 catches for 206 yards against Iowa, and then scored on his first two touches against Maryland, The Associated Press reported.

None of this came out of nowhere. Smith arrived from Chaminade-Madonna in Hollywood, Fla., as one of the most hyped recruits in the country, and he won a national title as a freshman. A year later, he was a unanimous All-American.

Moss, Fitzgerald and Megatron Comparisons Keep Coming

The people who have shared a field with Smith talk about him like he belongs in a museum. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has faced him three times, and he told ESPN that a comparison to Moss would be fair.

“He can strike the fear of God in you on any snap,” Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian added that Smith demands attention on every play, which is the polite coaching way of saying a defensive coordinator cannot sleep the week before facing him. ESPN’s top five behind Moss and Smith includes Fitzgerald, Heisman winner DeVonta Smith and Justin Blackmon, so the Ohio State junior is ahead of some serious company.

Larry Fitzgerald, who finished second in the Heisman voting at Pitt and sits third on ESPN’s list, went even further when he spoke to Trotter.

“He’s doing things athletically that I never had the ability to do. The athleticism reminds me a lot of Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson,” Fitzgerald told ESPN’s Jake Trotter.

A Hall of Fame receiver admitting a college junior can do things he never could is about as strong an endorsement as the sport offers. ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. has called Smith the best player in the 2027 NFL draft class by a wide margin.

Indiana Gets the Next Shot at Ohio State’s Star

The case gets its toughest test yet on Saturday in Bloomington. Indiana beat Ohio State 13-10 in last season’s Big Ten title game, and Jeremiah Smith now gets a crack at a secondary that ranks 76th nationally in opponent EPA per pass, according to Sports Illustrated.

Smith played one of his quieter games last week with four catches for 93 yards, and quiet for him still meant two touchdowns. Jeremiah Smith needs one more touchdown catch to tie the Big Ten career record, and he has six regular-season games left to break it, starting against the Indiana defense that held Ohio State to 10 points last December.