Signed: No. 1 Overall Recruit Jeremiah Smith Projects As Ohio State’s Next Superstar Wide Receiver

Cheers and sighs of relief filled the Woody Hayes Athletic Center when Jeremiah Smith reaffirmed his commitment to Ohio State on Wednesday.

5 WR Jeremiah Smith, the No. 1 player in the Class of 2024, officially signs with Ohio State pic.twitter.com/EMB6T8N7on

— 247Sports (@247Sports) December 20, 2023

Smith’s signing ultimately became official at 10 p.m. Wednesday, when Smith submitted his National Letter of Intent following an unexpected delay.

Jeremiah Smith Fresh off a Senior campaign that saw him rewrite record books in South Florida and culminated with a State Championship, JJ and his elite skillset land in Columbus looking to add to the legacy of elite Buckeye Wide receivers of the past. Welcome to THE pic.twitter.com/F9I6Dx3wy1

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 21, 2023

While Smith has been committed to the Buckeyes since last December, the five-star Florida wide receiver continued to entertain interest from other schools – namely Miami and Florida State – that continued pursuing him all the way up to National Signing Day.

Now, Ohio State can finally rest easy knowing that the most talented player in the 2024 class will be on campus to start his Buckeye career as an early enrollee in just a few weeks.

He’ll certainly be a player worth watching as soon as he arrives in Columbus.

It’s rare for a freshman to become an immediate starter in a receiver room as talented as Ohio State’s, but Smith is more than capable of breaking precedent. Considered to be one of the best high school wide receiver prospects ever, Smith – with a composite recruiting rating of 99.94 – is now the highest-rated wideout to ever sign with the Buckeyes.

Smith has just about every trait one could want in a receiver recruit. His combination of length, speed and ability to make spectacular catches at 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds is reminiscent of current Buckeye star Marvin Harrison Jr. While those are big shoes to fill, the expectation for Smith as he starts his Buckeye career is that he will continue Ohio State’s recent trend of All-Americans and first-round picks at the wide receiver position.

He’s already proven his ability to take over games while playing against some of the top competition in the country during his career at Chaminade-Madonna High School. Over the past three years, Smith has caught 177 passes for 3,116 yards and 46 touchdowns while leading his team to three consecutive state championships. He had 16 catches for 316 yards and three touchdowns in just three quarters of play in a game this season against Bergen Catholic, which went on to win the state championship in New Jersey’s highest division of high school football this year.

Because of his immense talent, it would be a surprise if Smith isn’t a regular in Ohio State’s wide receiver rotation right away. It remains uncertain whether Ohio State will have to replace just two starting wide receivers in 2024 or all three, as Emeka Egbuka has not yet decided whether he enter the 2024 NFL draft, but Smith will be in the mix for immediate playing time either way.

Smith previously played with current freshman wide receivers Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss on the South Florida Express 7-on-7 team; if Egbuka leaves, those three could potentially form Ohio State’s starting trio of wide receivers next season, as Tate and Inniss are also expected to play major roles in Ohio State’s 2024 offense.

Smith is one of two five-star wide receivers in Ohio State’s 2024 recruiting class along with Mylan Graham. Together, they are the sixth and seventh composite five-star wide receivers to sign with the Buckeyes in the past six years, joining Garrett Wilson in 2019, Julian Fleming and Jaxon Smith-Njigba in 2020, Egbuka in 2021 and Inniss last year.