Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith sheds black stripe

Ultra talented Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith set a record on Thursday for the fastest a Buckeye has ever shed his black stripe.

Ohio State freshman wide receiver, Jeremiah Smith, had his black stripe removed on Thursday. He breaks a record for the earliest a Buckeye has ever shed his black stripe after just four spring practices.

There are high hopes amongst Buckeye nation that Smith will have a great career at Ohio State as the young wide receiver has already lots of praise from teammates.

Check out what star cornerback Denzel Burke had to say about after a spring practice earlier this month.

“This might be a big statement, but just the way he handles himself and the way he moves and the potential he has, I feel like he might be the next best receiver to come through here.  And I’m really excited to see what he can do.  The sky’s the limit for him.”

Smith is one of highest rated recruits that the Buckeyes have ever landed at any position. The 6-foot-3, 215 pound wide receiver out of Chaminade-Madonna Prep High School in Florida, was the top ranked player in the 2024 class on trusted recruiting resources like On3, 247Sports, and Rivals.

The Buckeyes have recruited and developed wide receivers extremely well in recent memory under Brian Hartline. In the last two draft classes, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba have been first round picks and Marvin Harrison Jr. is likely to be a top five in this class. Smith has all the makings to add his name to that list.

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Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith wins a national award

Congrats Jeremiah!

The list of achievement for Ohio State wide receiver [autotag]Jeremiah Smith[/autotag] is long, even before he takes one snap in his collegiate career.

Already being named the No. 1 prospect in his class was high praise, but on Tuesday Smith was honored once again, this time by the Annual Maxwell High School Player of the Year award. The 6-foot, 3-inch and 215-pound receiver dominated the competition in Florida this fast fall, along with earning a spot in the All-American Bowl.

Now Smith can add this award to his mantle, which is going to need more room if everyone is correct about his immense skill set.

Congrats Jeremiah, we all look forward to seeing what you accomplish during your Buckeye career.

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Ohio State recruiting scouting report: Jeremiah Smith

Ohio State recruiting scouting report: Jeremiah Smith #GoBucks

Ohio State football had another dominant recruiting class and was a consensus top-five class in the country. Once again the class features more than a few heavy hitters on the offensive side of the football, including the nation’s top receiver and overall top recruit in Jeremiah Smith.

Name: Jeremiah Smith

High School: Chaminade-Madonnna Prep (Opa Locka, FL)

Height: 6-feet, 3-inches

Weight: 214 pounds

Position: Wide Receiver

Strengths

The first thing you notice about Jeremiah Smith is his elite size for his age. Very few freshmen come in with such an advanced body and know how to utilize it. Judging by his frame, he has even more room to pack on weight. It is so obvious that Smith is a special talent and has the size and speed combination to destroy defenses over the top.

Weaknesses

One of the more common concerns I have seen online is people concerned with his weight, but as I stated above, I don’t have that same issue. Smith to me already has an NFL-ready body. My biggest concern is that his game is great vertically, but can he be as great as a threat horizontally at the next level?

Comparison: Noah Brown

This comparison may seem like an insult, but Noah Brown is an extremely underrated Buckeye. The problem with Brown’s legacy is he struggled with injuries early in his career and declared for the draft with two years of eligibility remaining, but he had All-American potential. Jeremiah Smith is a more refined version of Brown, but they play with similar traits. Both players are deep-threat specialists who can take advantage of jump-ball situations.

Expectations

Expectations are high for Jeremiah Smith and understandably so, but it is important to be patient as this Ohio State receiver room is going to be stacked yet again. Emeka Egbuka is going to be the clear-cut No. 1, while Jayden Ballard is the speed merchant and Carnell Tate showed alpha potential last season. I don’t think it’s unreasonable that Smith is the fourth option, but even Brandon Inniss looked like a potential star in his brief showing last year. Smith is a stud, but he may have to wait behind some other studs before showcasing his ability.

Or, he may be as good as advertised and push his way into the starting lineup as a freshman. We shall see.

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Oklahoma among teams with the most players in 247Sports Top247

Oklahoma put together a great recruiting class in 2024, finishing among the teams with the most Top247 signees in the country.

The Oklahoma Sooners put together arguably their best class of the [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] era in 2024. It wasn’t ranked higher than the 2023 class, but because of the defensive talent it is bringing in, it makes a strong argument for the top spot.

A great way to show the strength of a class is to look at how many blue-chip prospects a team signed. Blue-chip prospects are defined as four- and five-star prospects. To show how important that is, according to the blue-chip ratio, programs need to sign more four- and five-star recruits than two- and three-star players over the previous four recruiting classes (better than a 1:1 ratio) to have a shot at a title.

To go further, three of the four College Football Playoff teams this past season met the blue-chip ratio criteria heading into the season, including the eventual national champion. Every national champion has met the blue-chip ratio criteria dating to the tool’s inception in 2013. So, how did Oklahoma fare compared to other teams in the 2024 class? Turns out, quite well.

The Sooners were among the top 10 teams that signed the most prospects from the 247Sports Top247 player rankings.

Ohio State transfer quarterback Will Howard is impressed with receiver Jeremiah Smith

Some pretty high praise from an incoming transfer about a freshman here. #GoBucks

Head coach Ryan Day and his coaching staff were dodging barbs in the media after a third-straight loss to Michigan, and a ho-hum initial peek into all the big names in the transfer portal, but since then, he’s moved the needle on the excitement meter by making some major moves.

Ohio State grabbed the top prospect in the transfer portal, Alabama safety Caleb Downs, took the top SEC running back out of the portal, Ole Miss’ Quinshon Judkins, and grabbed several other high-profile kids the same way including a potential new starting quarterback, Kansas State’s Will Howard.

Day and staff also somehow convinced the large majority of talented juniors to put off the NFL and come back for some unfinished business. Add that to a recruiting class that is ranked inside the top five no matter what recruiting service you look at, and it’s clear that there is some serious offseason momentum

We got our first look at the transfer class on Tuesday with a player availability session, and we were exceptionally stricken by some comments Howard had to say about his first impressions of freshman wide receiver, Jeremiah Smith.

“He’s a dude, man. I haven’t talked to him that much yet just because we’ve been in different groups lifting and stuff. But man, he’s a specimen,” Howard said. “I mean that dude is a freak show when it comes to physical. I’m excited to see him out on the field in live action.”

Aren’t we all? Smith has a lot of buzz surrounding what he can do, and you have to think that we’ll see a lot of him this fall no matter what. Maybe when we do, it’ll be Howard dropping dimes to him for some explosive plays.

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Recruiting legend Larry Blustein praises this 5-star Ohio State signee as the best player he has ever seen

Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith receives some impressive praise.

In 53 years of covering high school football, Larry Blustein has seen just about everything. No one covers Florida like Blustein, so when he sings the praises of Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, it means something.

Blustein made recruiting coverage an art form when it was still a nascent business. And in over five decades of covering Florida high school football, Blustein has been right far, far more times than wrong about a recruit.

His praise for Smith, a class of 2024 wide receiver who signed with Ohio State football during the early signing period, is certainly warranted. The Buckeyes had to fight off Florida State and Miami in the final weeks of the year to clinch Smith’s early signing period signature.

A wide receiver at Chaminade-Madonna (Hollywood, Florida), Smith is a consensus five-star.

And according to Blustein, the now Ohio State wide receiver is the best he has ever seen at the position (Smith enrolled early and is currently in Columbus).

 

This past season, Smith had 90 catches for 1,389 yards with 19 touchdowns. Earlier this month, he played in the All-American Bowl at the Alamodome.

Smith’s play this fall helped Chaminade-Madonna finish the season with a 14-0 record and as the second-best program in the nation in the USA TODAY HSS Super 25.

Watch: Ohio State signee Jeremiah Smith scores first touchdown of All-American Bowl

Smith again shows off his elite skill set, this time in the All-American Bowl

We all knew Ohio State football signee [autotag]Jeremiah Smith[/autotag] was elite, and he showed that very quickly during the All-American Bowl.

On the first play from scrimmage, Smith got the ball on a jet sweep, and then launched a bomb that was incomplete, but showed that he just isn’t a big time receiver. The play wasn’t wasted, as there was a pass interference call.

Just a few plays later, Smith ran a perfect route, was wide open and caught the ball in the end zone for the first touchdown of the all-star game. The future Buckeye showed exactly why he was the No. 1 overall recruit in the 247Sports Composite Rankings. Check out below Smith’s touchdown grab.

It’s safe to say that all of Buckeye Nation is excited to see what Smith can do.

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Jeremiah Smith went through the process but was ‘always locked in on Ohio State’

Jeremiah Smith explains his process in sticking with Ohio State.

Throughout the fall, Jeremiah Smith made a very convincing argument that he was the top high school player in the nation. Physically dominant and a smooth route runner, the Florida wide receiver is a huge get for Ohio State and head coach Ryan Day.

A huge recruiting win, even if Smith made them sweat a bit during the process.

Smith was rumored throughout the fall to be a potential flip candidate to Florida State as well as several SEC programs. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound wide receiver from Chaminade-Madonna had 90 catches for 1,389 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns as he pieced together a truly outstanding senior season.

Smith will play on Saturday at the Alamodome (San Antonio, Texas) in the All-American Bowl (1:00 p.m. ET, NBC). He is a five-star recruit and the top-ranked player in the 2024 class according to 247Sports.

He took visits, including an early December official to Florida State, but he ended up signing with Ohio State on the first day of the early signing period.

“It was part of the process. Ohio State told me they had no problem with me taking a visit. There was the narrative that every time I went on a visit, I was ready to flip. But I was locked in on Ohio State, there was nothing too serious,” Smith told USA TODAY High School Sports this week in a phone interview following an All-American Bowl practice.

But interestingly and despite the public narrative, Florida State wasn’t the main threat for Ohio State to land Smith.

“The only school that I would have given Ohio State a chance was Miami,” Smith said.

Chaminade-Madonna finished the season 14-0 and was second in the nation in the final USA TODAY HSS Super 25.

It was a big bounce back from the way last year ended for Smith’s team, with a 49-14 loss to Bishop Gorman in the GEICO State Champions Bowl Series.

“I mean we got a great, great year. With the young offensive line and the strong receiving corps and a senior quarterback and a running back – we just came in this year and just wanted to win it all. That last game last year against Bishop Gorman, we said that will never happen again. So we all just wanted to work through the season,” Smith said.

“That loss right there, that humbled a lot. We thought we were all that. We went up there, Bishop Gorman punched us in the mouth. It humbled us to never feel that feeling again.”

 

Top five wide receivers signed to the Big Ten on early signing day

Who were the top five receivers to sign with Big Ten teams during the early signing period? #GoBucks

The initial hype of the early signing period has died down, but there was a ton of talent to explore and so much so we are breaking it down by position. We have already dived into the top five quarterbacks and running backs to sign with Big Ten teams and now we want to break down a position Ohio State always dominates in with wide receivers.

It is no secret that the Buckeyes once again locked in the best in the class at the position and the players we are going to talk about today all have an opportunity to play early and often. It should be no surprise that some of the East Coast newcomers snagged some of the top talent at this position as well.

The Big Ten snagged five of the top 20 wide receivers in this class and with the expansion taking place, this will likely be the case year in and year out. Now it is time to dive in and provide the top five wide receivers in the class to sign with Big Ten teams according to 247Sports.

Ohio State social media reacts to the Jeremiah Smith early signing period drama

What a fun day it was, and social media was there for it all. #GoBucks

Whew. If this is the new normal with name, image and likeness and the high stakes of big-time college football recruiting, I’m not sure some media members are going to last in the business.

By now, you know all of the drama surrounding Ohio State’s crown jewel of the 2024 recruiting class, wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, the No.1 overall prospect. You know the story by now, but the CliffsNotes version is he was reportedly torn between Ohio State and Miami (Florida), chose the Buckeyes on a national video stream, but then waited hours upon hours to fax (yes, fax) in his national letter of intent.

But, hey, at least it came and cemented his commitment that had been out there for a year, so that the coaches and Buckeye Nation can breathe one heck of a collective, deep sigh.

As with any story with viral momentum, social media was all over it and we were there for it. In fact, we’ve pulled out some of the best posts on X, formerly Twitter, to share with you.

Here are some of the most noteworthy and best social media posts surrounding the day in the life of recruiting — and ultimately signing — Smith.