Jeremiah Smith has quickly emerged as one of college football’s biggest stars as an Ohio State freshman, and the secondary he’s about to face has certainly taken notice.
Texas safety Michael Taaffe said Sunday that Smith already looks like an NFL receiver to him and expressed disbelief that Smith, who turned 19 in November, is only a freshman.
“Everything that he offers just is incredible. He’s a guy that looks like he’s NFL-ready already on tape,” Taaffe said Sunday. “He’s going up and getting the ball over two, three defenders. So I think they’ve got a lot of trust in him. It doesn’t matter how good of coverage the defense has, Will (Howard) is still giving him a chance. And clearly, he’s making money. He’s very talented. There’s no way that he’s actually 18. He’s a dog and I’m ready to go compete against him.”
Asked if Texas had faced any receiver this season that was comparable to Smith, Taaffe replied, “I don’t think you can compare anybody to Jeremiah.”
“The whole country knows what type of talent he has, what type of football player he is. And I think he’s only getting better, because he’s 18 years old,” Taaffe said. “So I really don’t know how much you can compare anybody else to him.”
Fellow Texas safety Andrew Mukuba also offered high praise of Smith, describing the Ohio State receiver who has broken all of OSU’s single-season receiving records for a freshman as “very special.”
“He can make a lot of crazy catches,” Mukuba said. “I’ve seen him on film do some crazy things, run past people, jump over people, those sort of things. I can tell he's put in the time and he's done what he's supposed to do, and you can tell he's playing with a lot of confidence, and that's going to carry on for him, I know that. And he's a good player for sure.”
“He’s a guy that looks like he’s NFL-ready already on tape.”– Texas safety Michael Taaffe on Jeremiah Smith
The Longhorn who will likely spend most of the game covering Smith is cornerback Jahdae Barron, who topped Ohio State safety Caleb Downs to win the Jim Thorpe Award this season. Barron knows covering Smith will be a big challenge but says he’s excited to have the opportunity.
“That’s going to be an amazing opportunity to go against him,” Barron said. “That kid can ball. He’s a big baller. Strong, strong ability. He’s a deep threat. And they love to get him the ball, and they love to create opportunities to get him the ball.”
Asked if he would do anything differently than he usually does in defending Smith, however, Barron said he has to trust that the same things that have led him to success all season will allow him to cover Smith, too.
“You can’t change your game based on somebody else, to get out of your position on how you play and things like that. So just being in there with my game and how I do things,” Barron said. “And also, the game is a physical game. He’s a physical player and I’ll have to also be physical.”
Texas’ pass defense has been one of the best in the country this season, leading the FBS with only 5.5 yards allowed per attempt, but stopping Smith could be its biggest challenge of the season. Smith enters the Cotton Bowl having caught 70 passes for 1,224 yards and 14 touchdowns this season, including 13 total catches for 290 yards and four touchdowns in the Buckeyes’ first two CFP games.
That said, the Longhorns know they can’t focus solely on stopping Smith with all of the other weapons Ohio State also has on offense. But they’re confident in their ability to rise to the occasion, entering the Cotton Bowl allowing just 14.5 points per game (4th in the FBS) and 277.7 yards per game (3rd in the FBS).
“They have a lot of different things they do. They have really elite receivers, two elite backs and a great quarterback, so it’s going to be a challenge for us to stop them, and I feel like we’re up to the challenge,” said Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr.