Jeremiah Smith facing unique challenges entering sophomore season

Jeremiah Smith didn’t even wait until his 19th birthday to become must-see TV. He took the college football world by storm last fall like few freshmen ever have.

Smith was a 6-foot-3, 215-pound nightmare who delivered Miami flash to the Big Ten. He came out of the blocks with a 6-catch, 92-yard effort in the opener against Akron and just kept sprinting, delivering a national title to Ohio State 5 months later.

The College Football Playoff stage didn’t make him flinch. Smith torched Tennessee and Oregon for a combined 13 catches, 290 yards and 4 touchdowns in the first 2 Playoff games. When he was double-teamed and sometimes even triple-teamed by Texas in the semifinals, it was the ultimate compliment for a freshman, and Smith was held to 1 catch for 3 yards.

Guess what? That insane focus the Longhorns paid Smith only opened things up for fellow wideouts Carnell Tate and Emeka Egbuka, and the Buckeyes still prevailed. Even the 1 time Smith was shut down during his magical 2024 season, he had a dramatic effect on the game itself and the end result.

Then, given a shot on the ultimate stage, Smith showed 1 last time he was among the best freshmen ever to play college football. Smith caught 5 balls for 88 yards and a touchdown in the national title game against Notre Dame.

With the Fighting Irish clawing their way back into the game in the 4th quarter, the phenom who had only turned 19 less than 2 months earlier made the iconic 56-yard catch on 3rd-and-11 that sealed the win and the championship.

Freshmen players aren’t supposed to seal national title game wins, but Smith never acted or performed like a freshman. The Ohio State and Big Ten record books will say otherwise, of course, as Smith rewrote both with his final staggering stat line: 76 catches for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Smith was instantly part of Ohio State and college football lore. The 2024 season will forever belong to the Buckeyes and, in many respects, to him. But what about 2025? Smith is back for more this fall in Columbus, and the expectations for him will be off the charts. 

That’s evidenced by the preseason Heisman Trophy odds with FanDuel listing the electric wideout at +1300, tied for the 4th-lowest odds to win the award. Interested fans can check out the Ohio sports betting promos for the top offers related to those odds.

The proverbial question that looms about any instant sensation — what can Smith do for an encore? — will loom for Smith all summer, right up to Ohio State’s much-hyped season opener against Texas. 

All eyes will be on that showdown, and many will be on Smith. So, what should college football rightfully expect from the sophomore Smith compared to the absolute treat he was as a freshman? There are a lot of variables to consider, and that alone makes Smith’s follow-up season in Columbus a tricky proposition. 

We’ll dive into the 5 biggest challenges that Smith will have to overcome this fall that he didn’t have to face as a freshman. (Note: These are in no particular order of difficulty. Even for a supernova talent like Smith, these 5 challenges will all be equally difficult to overcome.)

Who’s going to throw Smith the football?

It takes incredible ability, staying healthy, good fortune, and some really good timing to have a freshman season like Smith did. That latter factor was so vital because Smith launched his career in Columbus at the perfect time.

Not only was Smith surrounded by a stacked roster that was in position to make a deep Playoff run, but specifically, he was gifted with an experienced quarterback to get him the ball in abundance.

Will Howard arrived at Ohio State in 2024 just like Smith did, but he was no college newbie like Smith. Howard spent the previous 4 seasons at Kansas State, and although he never got the Wildcats even close to a national title, he came to Columbus with a boatload of experience. Howard had already seen everything a college QB could see, and he led K-State to 8 wins in 2023 with some pretty good numbers, so he had a taste of winning to go with the massive motivation to win big at Ohio State.

Plainly put, Howard was the perfect quarterback for Smith to have at his disposal as a freshman. The veteran and the freshman made magic together, and it culminated with the dream national title run that Howard envisioned when he transferred. The only downside was that Howard was finally out of eligibility and is now property of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

What does this mean for Smith this fall? First, it means he’s going to have to develop chemistry with a new starting QB. That would be a big-time challenge even if we knew the starting QB right now, but we don’t. What we do know from head coach Ryan Day, at least, is that the quarterback battle is a 2-horse race heading into the summer between former 5-star Alabama transfer Julian Sayin and redshirt sophomore Lincoln Kienholz. 

Whoever winds up under center in late August against Texas will have Howard’s big shoes to fill, along with the pressure of following a national championship season for an ultra-demanding fan base. If all that wasn’t enough, Sayin or Kienholz will be tasked with making sure college football’s biggest star freshman in years doesn’t suffer too much (or any) drop-off as a sophomore. 

For Smith, this unfamiliar uncertainty at QB means fall camp will be a daily crash course in chemistry with whoever wins the tight battle. The clock is already ticking. 

There will be a new OC, too

While Smith tries to recreate the aura of 2024 with a new quarterback, he’ll be trying to do the same with a new offensive coordinator. Chip Kelly was the brilliant mastermind at the controls of Ohio State’s offensive machine last fall, and Kelly deserves a chunk of credit for what Smith immediately achieved at the college level. 

It would’ve been so much easier if Kelly were at the controls again, albeit with a different quarterback. But shortly after the Buckeyes won the national title, Kelly left for the NFL again, this time to be the Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive coordinator. Fortunately for Smith, Kelly’s successor in Columbus is Brian Hartline, a former Buckeyes receiver himself who was the co-offensive coordinator under Kelly last season.

This means that Smith and Hartline worked together a ton last fall, and it also means they must have worked pretty well together because the results speak for themselves. There will be a big difference this year, though, because Hartline is now the guy in charge of the offense, and while Smith and Hartline have a whole offseason to fine-tune things, there is no way to simulate a game day together until that first game day arrives in late August.

This won’t be Hartline’s first season as Ohio State’s OC, but it will be his first season calling the plays. When Hartline was Ohio State’s offensive coordinator in 2023, Day still called the plays, so there’s just another layer of adjustment for the new Smith-Hartline partnership to deal with this fall. 

Smith has the good fortune of knowing Hartline really well from last season, and surely there will be some carryover from Kelly’s playbook to Hartline’s. It isn’t like Day brought someone from outside the Ohio State family to be the new OC and call the plays.

Hartline is very much a part of the Buckeyes family and winning fabric, but after spending the past 8 years on the OSU staff, he finally has the keys to the offense and will want to establish his own identity.

This means that Smith’s 2nd season at Ohio State will seem like his first season, in many ways. It doesn’t mean Smith can’t duplicate his excellence from 2024. It just means it’s going to take a ton of attention to detail for Smith, testing his mental stamina through an entire offseason and throughout the fall.

By the time the Michigan game arrives, we’ll have an excellent idea of how well Smith handled this game within the game.

Smith will be the focus of every DC’s game plan

While Smith tries to get acclimated to a new offensive coordinator, he will simultaneously be trying to untangle the web that every opposing defensive coordinator throws at him. That’s because, as amazing as Smith was in 2024, he had a supreme advantage because there was no book out yet on how to stop him — or even contain him.

It’s like a star pitching prospect coming up to the majors and excelling because, number 1, he’s really good, but also because hitters haven’t seen him yet.

Defensive coordinators had never coached live against Smith before last fall, and when you combine that with Smith’s ridiculous talent, it made for a bad combination in trying to slow him down. Smith was a 5-star stud and the prize of the 2024 recruiting class, so it’s not like he wasn’t on every defensive coordinator’s radar as a freshman. He was on their radars, with bright flashing red lights.

It’s just that Smith’s impact as a freshman even exceeded the lofty expectations attached to him coming out of South Florida. In this day and age of over-the-top social media scrutiny, at a high-profile program like Ohio State, Smith blew those expectations out of the water, and it definitely helped his cause that he was being coached against live for the first time while playing on a loaded offense with established college players. It was the perfect storm for Smith to thrive, and man, did he exploit it.

This fall, things will be quite different. Like that hot pitching prospect who baffled hitters as a rookie, the book on Smith’s tendencies, speed and even his (rare) weakness is out. Every Big Ten defensive coordinator is likely spending a good chunk of time this offseason, whether they enjoy it or not, trying to devise a scheme to slow Smith down.

That includes Ohio State’s own defensive coordinator from last season in Jim Knowles, who didn’t have to worry about stopping Smith last year because they were on the same team. Now, Knowles runs the defense at rival Penn State, and you better believe he’s got some inside intel on Smith that might help at least a little when the Nittany Lions come to Columbus on Nov. 1. 

It doesn’t mean Smith can’t have, say, 7 catches for 108 yards and 2 touchdowns that day. It just means he’s going to have to be even better than he was last fall to adjust to the savvy defensive coordinators like Knowles.

Smith made a lot of DCs — and a lot of defenses — look foolish last fall. That could very well happen again in Year 2, but Smith better be ready for some elaborate defensive schemes he probably didn’t see as a freshman.

Will the high bar Smith set be impossible to replicate?

This is a legitimate question, even though Smith is saying and doing all the right things this offseason. When he met with reporters during spring practices, Smith displayed 2 admirable characteristics that weren’t consistent with such a young star. He appeared to be the same humble young man that he was as a freshman, and he’s incredibly driven to get even better this fall. 

Being even better in 2025 might not mean catching more passes for more yards and more touchdowns than he did in 2024. Smith needs to realize that,t because for whatever reason or reasons, whether it’s a new QB, a new OC or those possessed defensive coordinators, Smith’s numbers this fall could take a little bit of a hit because he’s still a human.

Smith surpassed Ohio State legend Cris Carter’s freshman school records for catches, receiving yards and TD receptions. That makes Smith a burgeoning Buckeye legend himself, even after his 1 iconic season, and that alone is a tough act to follow.

Yes, Ryan Day lost some valuable offensive weapons from last season, because that’s usually what happens when a team or program wins a title. It’s never quite the same the following year, and just maybe Smith’s numbers won’t be quite the same even if he’s still making a major impact every week.

If this happens, how will Smith react? It’s extremely commendable and refreshing, especially in this day and age of college football, that Smith appears to be wise beyond his 19 years. In a twist of fate, Smith will turn 20 years old this fall on Nov. 29, which is also the day Ohio State clashes with Michigan in Ann Arbor. If the obstacles we’ve laid out are hampering Smith by the time the annual showdown arrives, will Smith still be able to keep it all together amid the Playoff chase and any Heisman hype?

It’s much easier to remain grounded during the relative calm of spring practices in April than it is in the heat of the autumn grind. Smith will likely find this out, and it’ll be up to him to handle the mental battle that arrives in Year 2 after you’ve seemingly done it all in Year 1, including a national title. 

During Ohio State’s Playoff run late last season, then-Buckeyes cornerback Denzel Burke said of Smith: “He’ll probably be the best receiver to come through here. He’s already on that verge, so really happy for him.”

See? By “best receiver,” Burke meant the best receiver ever. 

And that was a few weeks before Smith added to his freshman legend by leading Ohio State to a national championship. Smith will have to draw on that wonderfully intense inner drive and unique maturity level a ton this fall. It will be what keeps his legend growing, no matter what his numbers say. 

Will an unproven backfield hamper Smith’s production?

Ohio State featured 1 of the most talented running back duos in the country last fall, and having 2 future NFL players back there was yet another dynamic that fell perfectly for Smith. The threat that TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins presented on every play made defenses scramble that much more.

Both weren’t just drafted last month — they were high draft picks, with Judkins (36th overall, Cleveland Browns) and Henderson (38th overall, New England Patriots) going 2 picks apart in the 2nd round.

That’s a lot of running back star power leaving Columbus, with Judkins and Henderson combining for a whopping 2,076 yards rushing in 2024. The dynamic backfield duo was a huge element in giving Ohio State 1 of the most feared college football offenses in a long time, and it was also a nightmare for defenses who had to decide which poison they wanted to pick. 

A nightmare for defenses and another dream scenario for Smith, whose fearsome talent on the outside was only accentuated because there were running backs to be feared, too. Of course, Smith had skill-position star power everywhere he turned, with Howard behind center and receivers Carnell Tate (52 catches for 733 yards in 2024) and Emeka Egbuka (81 catches for 1,011 yards) lining up beside him.

Egbuka was a first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last month, but having Judkins and Henderson was a particular luxury. If the expected drop-off in backfield production happens in 2025, it’ll put that much more attention on Smith.

West Virginia transfer CJ Donaldson could turn into a huge get for the Buckeyes in softening the blow of losing Judkins and Henderson, but it’s May, so we have no idea what Donaldson will do in the Big Ten. Sophomore-to-be James Peoples could also have a breakout season, but he only played 94 snaps as a freshman in that loaded backfield and rushed for 197 yards.

Maybe Peoples gets a real shot this fall, shines and combines with Donaldson for a strong backfield duo, even if it’s not quite Judkins and Henderson. There will be some pressure on Donaldson, Peoples and whoever else sneaks into the running back picture to at least keep defenses honest.

If that doesn’t happen and the backfield production drops off a cliff in 2025, then defenses can load up more on Tate, TE newcomer Max Klare, and, yes, Smith. Look, Smith is talented and dynamic enough to still be elite without a great running game assisting him, but it would make life more difficult if the Buckeyes become one-dimensional.

Can Smith overcome all of the above, be the best wide receiver in the country and even win the Heisman in 2025?

Absolutely. He’s that great, but the life of a receiver depends just as much on the pieces around you to produce and get you the ball.

Whatever Smith’s sophomore season ends up looking like, 1 thing is for certain: He’ll once again be must-see TV.