Joel Klatt was impressed by a handful of freshmen as the 2024 season gets rolling. Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State’s highly touted freshman receiver, was included in that group.

During his latest episode of “The Joel Klatt Show,” Klatt broke down everything he saw from Smith’s 6-catch and 2-touchdown debut in Columbus. Outside of the touchdowns, Klatt admitted the raw stats might not blow fans away.

However, the way the Buckeyes used Smith says a lot about what he can do for Ohio State’s offense:

“Those (stats) aren’t going to blow your mind, but some of the catches did, in particular because of the style of catches that they were going to him for which was: If you’re one-on-one, you’re getting the ball,” explained Klatt. “That tells you everything you need to know about the belief Ryan Day, Chip Kelly and Will Howard have in Jeremiah Smith.”

If Smith is indeed the kind of player who can win one-on-one balls, Klatt sees him as the key to unlocking the offense at a deeper level. Without Smith winning those situations, defenses would be able to zero in on the ground game or taking away veteran receiver Emeka Egbuka.

“If (Smith) is ‘him,’ he will be the tide that raises all boats for Ohio State and that offense. If he wasn’t going to be ‘him,’ then all of a sudden you can start to cheat as a defense and commit resources to stopping the run,” Klatt said. “You can make Will Howard’s life much more difficult… Now you’ve got a problem as a defense.”

After a successful debut, defenses know they will have to distribute resources to slowing down the 5-star freshman, particularly in red zone situations. Even as a freshman, Smith looks like a game-changing threat the Buckeyes will lean on this season.