Oregon Performance Signals Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s Emergence at Ohio State, and Garrett Wilson Says “That Was Just the Beginning”

With Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson both working to the left of the hash marks at Huntington Bank Stadium two weeks ago, the Minnesota defense left Jaxon Smith-Njigba nearly uncovered running straight down the middle of field on a third quarter 2nd-and-12 at the Buckeye 23.

By the time he got to the 40-yard line, Smith-Njigba was past the entire Gopher secondary, but C.J. Stroud had already made up his mind. The redshirt freshman was locked onto Wilson from the moment the ball was snapped, but missed him long on a 30-yard throw down the left sideline.

That wasn’t all Stroud missed, as Smith-Njigba couldn’t help but fling his arms in the air in an obvious display of disappointment that the ball was not thrown his way. The Rockwall, Texas, native saw just two targets in the season opener, and Stroud failed to connect with the Buckeyes’ new starting slot receiver through the first 15 minutes of this past Saturday’s Oregon matchup.

“He was in my ear just saying, ‘Stay alive, it’s gonna come,’” Smith-Njigba said after the game. “And coaches too, they said it was gonna come. So I just stayed on my path and just tried to do the best I can.”

After raking in seven catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns in the final three quarters of last weekend’s game, it’s safe to say those opportunities came for Smith-Njigba after all. The Buckeyes may have lost on Saturday, but they found a new star at wide receiver – not that they were lacking in that department anyway – and one that is legitimately worthy of stealing targets from Olave and Wilson.

In fact, with all three topping the century mark against the Ducks, Olave, Smith-Njigba and Wilson became the first trio of Buckeyes to all have more than 100 receiving yards in the same game.

“That’s everything; having a weapon at every position,” Wilson said Wednesday. “You can’t choose which one you want to focus on and take them out of the game. You see teams like the Kansas City Chiefs play and you gotta pick your poison and they throw to the other one. Stuff like that is huge, just opens up the whole offense.”

Those impressive stats, in conjunction with Stroud’s 484 passing yards – second all-time for a single game at Ohio State – were not enough to earn the Buckeyes a win. Still, the connection between Stroud and Smith-Njigba kept Ohio State in the ballgame on multiple occasions in the second half.

Down 21-7 with 10:30 to play in the third quarter, this time it was Smith-Njigba who was the first read for Stroud, who found his slot receiver for a 26-yard touchdown after the former five-star recruit burned Oregon safety Steve Stephens over the top with a stutter-step hesitation move.

Trying to tighten another two-touchdown deficit with eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter, a mesh design that saw Smith-Njigba and Jeremy Ruckert cross routes underneath freed up the sophomore on a critical 4th-and-6 at the Oregon 14-yard line. Stroud hit him in stride with nothing but real estate in between Smith-Njigba and the end zone.

On 4th down @jaxon_smith1 and @CJ7Stroud come up with a HUGE touchdown for @OhioStateFB

We have a one score game in Columbus pic.twitter.com/apj6fkCA8x
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 11, 2021

“He’s had a good spring and preseason, and then that first game, really didn’t get into the rhythm of it all. With 48 snaps, you really don’t get into it,” head coach Ryan Day said Tuesday. “But you can see what his potential is. I think he’s very, very good in the slot, he can change directions, he can wiggle free against underneath coverage players really well, and has big play potential. Made some really big catches for us, had some really good routes. He has a chance to be really good for us.”

As the No. 29 overall prospect in the class of 2020, potential was present long before Saturday for Smith-Njigba, which might be why the first true breakout performance of his career coming just two games into his second year almost feels overdue. Wilson said the first day of practice with Smith-Njigba on campus was all it took for him and Olave to recognize a special talent, and all of that ability was apparent at Ohio Stadium in Week 2.

“We saw Jaxon come in, and literally the first day, me and Chris looked at each other watching Jaxon run a route, and we were just like, ‘Ok, we got us one,’” Wilson said. “So it’s been a long time coming for Jax. He had his flashes last year, one of the craziest catches I’ve seen, body control wise. How many yards did he have (on Saturday), 140 or something? He balled out. We love to see that.”

If Smith-Njigba had his way, however, the coming-out party would’ve taken place during a winning effort rather than a losing one.

“It’s hard to celebrate my individual accolades for a tough loss like this,” Smith-Njigba said. “It feels good, but I want to win, and I’m ready for next week and for the rest of the season.”

Given Day’s admission that the Buckeye offense was a bit too pass-heavy against Oregon – Stroud did throw 54 passes in his second start, after all – it’s still quite possible that Smith-Njigba could remain third on the totem pole when it comes to wide receiver targets on a game-to-game basis.

If you ask Wilson, though, Buckeye fans won’t have to wait long for an encore performance from the rising star wideout.

“We all know what Jaxon’s capable of. To see him do that, that’s who Jaxon is, you’re gonna see him do that 100 more times,” Wilson said. “That was just the beginning for Jaxon.”