After two huge seasons at Ohio State and already chasing records as a freshman and sophomore, Jeremiah Smith is showing there’s more to him than just football. On May 17th, he dropped a short message on X that reminded everyone how he sees life beyond the game, even as he’s on the edge of major program history.
“Football come and go, but the impact you leave on people last forever,” Smith tweeted. That line hits differently when you remember he could already be a certified NFL millionaire if he wanted to leave. For a kid who’s on track to rewrite Ohio State’s record books, the fact that he’s talking about people, not passes, says more about his head than any stat ever could.
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To put it in comparison, it’s like Anthony Edwards of the NBA saying, “There’s more to life than basketball.” As true as it may sound, it still feels a tad ironic coming from the likes of them.
It’s quite fascinating to see a guy who could literally be the pound-for-pound best football player on the planet talking like a regular, humble person. At 20 years old, Jeremiah Smith is already a legend, a future top-three or even first overall NFL Draft pick, and has gotten millions in NIL deals. You can count on one hand the number of Buckeyes who have exceeded him in Ohio State’s history.
You would almost expect someone with that much hype to be bragging about, “I’m going to tear the Power Four up.” If anything, it shows the amount of maturity he has developed over the last two seasons.
The tweet couldn’t have come at a better time. Some fans are speculating that this “football comes and goes” mindset is impressive, given the fact that he turned down an absolute fortune to stay in Columbus. This past offseason, several rival schools tried to tempt him into the transfer portal with massive NIL offers that were widely reported as some of the biggest on the market. Smith shut down those rumors. He’s staying in Columbus.
That’s why his “football come and go” line feels so real. It’s not some empty quote from a kid who’s just passing through; it’s from a player who already had a one‑way ticket to a bigger paycheck and chose to walk away from it.
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While Smith is publicly talking about humility and life outside football, the surrounding expectations are somehow becoming even more ridiculous than ever before. Co-host Stephen Means went on the record, stating that Smith will not just pass the threshold, but shatter it entirely:
“I am saying that Jeremiah Smith is going to have 115 catches this year. So, he will be the sixth-ever 100-catch season in Big Ten history and the first-ever 100-catch season by an Ohio State Buckeye,” he said on his show.
To put that into perspective, hitting triple digits is an almost mythical milestone. Despite being WRU for almost a decade and sending six wideouts in the first round in the last five years, nobody, no Marvin Harrison Jr., no Chris Olave, and no Jaxon Smith-Njigba, has ever managed to cross that 100-catch mark during their time in Columbus.
Right now, the official school record for the most catches in a single season belongs to Parris Campbell, who grabbed 90 passes all the way back in 2018. If Smith actually hits the 115-catch mark, he would absolutely become arguably the greatest WR in Buckeyes’ history. The Buckeyes, in their power and in their playbook, are prepping for that type of run.
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How the Buckeyes are going to help Jeremiah Smith
To make this historic feat happen, Ohio State’s coaching staff is completely tweaking how they run their offense. Smith recently mentioned that the coaches challenged the wide receivers to get way better at picking up yards after catch (YAC). Instead of just throwing deep bombs all the time, the Buckeyes plan to feed him the ball quickly using short screens, quick slants, and drag routes.
Because Smith is built like a linebacker at 6’3″ and 223 pounds, catching the ball close to the line of scrimmage allows him to easily run over smaller defenders. This smart strategy means he is going to get tons of targets every single Saturday. Not to mention, in Arthur Smith’s offense, even though it is going to be a more run-favored offense, the WR1 has always thrived in it.
On top of that, he is already on the verge of breaking almost every major career receiving record at the school. He only needs 43 more catches and 311 more yards to pass Emeka Egbuka for the most career receptions and yards in Ohio State history. Since he put up 87 catches and over 1,200 yards last year as a sophomore, he will most probably own every single crown by week 6 at the latest.
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