Ohio State vs. Purdue Notebook: Jeremiah Smith Breaks Two More Records, Eddrick Houston Makes His First Start and Will Howard is Getting New Cleats

By Andy Anders and Dan Hope on November 9, 2024 at 9:55 pm
Jeremiah Smith
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Jeremiah Smith is now the sole owner of all three freshman receiving records at Ohio State.

After surpassing Cris Carter’s yardage record at Penn State last week, collecting 55 yards to reach 678 on the season, Smith broke Carter’s reception and touchdown records against Purdue. Smith hauled in a team-high six receptions for 87 yards and a score, all in the first half.

Smith is now up to 45 receptions for 761 yards and nine touchdowns in 2024, clearing Carter’s 41-648-8 season back in 1984. Smith caught a touchdown toss in each of his first seven games as a Buckeye, also a team record.

“It means a lot. It's a blessing for sure to be able to break Cris Carter's freshman records,” Smith said after the game. “But we've got to keep it going. Don't stop here.”

Smith’s touchdown, which gave him hold of the final record, came on a 17-yard strike late in the second quarter to put Ohio State up 21-0 at halftime. He caught a crossing route 2 yards downfield and outran Purdue’s coverage the remaining 15 yards to the end zone.

Neither Ryan Day nor Will Howard is surprised that Smith, the No. 1 overall prospect in the recruiting class of 2024, has already rewritten Ohio State’s record book. And Day expects Smith to keep getting better.

“You guys have seen it,” Day said. “And now he's going to have to play his best because he's got a lot of it on film. We're in November now, so all those matches are going to matter. But he's getting stronger. He's getting more experience. His understanding of coverages and different things (is improving).”

Howard said he’s “not surprised in the slightest” by what Smith has done based on what Smith showed him this offseason.

“I think he's the best receiver in the country,” Howard said. “I think we have the three best receivers in the country on our team. Obviously I'm biased, but I'm lucky to have guys like that doing what they're doing. I knew Jeremiah was going to be special from the first time I met him, and he's just continued to get better and better, and he's a great kid, and I'm really happy for him getting that record today.”

Houston has ups and downs in first start

As Ohio State held Tyleik Williams out against Purdue following an injury at Penn State – Day said Williams “could have played” if needed against the Boilermakers – freshman defensive tackle Eddrick Houston made his first career start for the Buckeyes. 

The five-star prospect in the class of 2024 was recruited to play defensive end but moved inside earlier this season. Houston held his own with three tackles, one of them solo, though he did have a freshman moment. After a third-down sack of Hudson Card in the second quarter that would have gotten Ohio State’s defense off the field, Houston shoved a Boilermaker offensive lineman down and was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

“I’ll have to watch the film and see,” Day said of Houston’s performance. “He’s really flashed for us making the move from defensive end to 3-technique (defensive tackle). And he has a lot of ability. He is active. And he's young, so he's going to have to continue to learn. He's going to make plays. He's going to make some mistakes. And he's got to grow up quickly because we need him. But I think his future is very, very bright here at Ohio State.”

Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer said he’s “really excited” for Houston’s future and that he expects Houston to use the penalty as a learning experience.

“We told him it's just a dumb penalty, but he's a young guy, he's a freshman, he doesn't know yet,” Sawyer said. “So he's got to grow from it. That's what we told him, no point in jumping in his rear end because of a bad play like that. But we know that he's going to be smarter about that moving forward. And we trust him to be out there and be smart in those times.”

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Howard plans to change cleats

While Will Howard didn’t have any glaring errors in the passing game against Purdue, there was one play that he would certainly like to have back.

As Howard scrambled in the pocket with his eyes downfield looking to convert a 3rd-and-3 from Purdue’s 13-yard line on Ohio State’s opening drive of the second half, the Buckeye quarterback slipped and fell on his own for a 10-yard sack that forced OSU to settle for a field goal.

There’s been plenty of examples of Ohio State players slipping on the turf at Ohio Stadium in recent years, so Howard’s slip drew more ire toward the field than it did to Howard himself. But the Ohio State quarterback nevertheless offered reassurance after the game that he’ll be doing what he can to ensure that doesn’t happen again.

“I'm going to get new cleats,” Howard said. “I'm slipping way too much, and I look way too unathletic at times. I'm going to get new cleats next week and yeah, we'll fix that. It won't be happening anymore.”

Howard presumably plans on wearing those new cleats when the Buckeyes return to Ohio Stadium to host Indiana in two weeks, as the Buckeyes could all be wearing different cleats next week when they play on a grass field that wasn’t specifically designed for football when they play Northwestern at Wrigley Field, the home of the MLB’s Chicago Cubs.

Hinzman survives injury scare

For a brief moment in Saturday’s game, it looked as though Ohio State was about to lose another offensive lineman to a significant injury.

In the second quarter of his second game as Ohio State’s new starting left guard, Carson Hinzman got rolled up on and immediately reached for his knee, which is usually a sign of a serious injury. After a couple minutes down on the field, however, Hinzman was able to walk to the sideline under his own power, and he ultimately returned to the game for the start of the second half.

Hinzman was grateful he was wearing a knee brace that likely prevented him from suffering a more significant injury.

Two Ohio State backups also left the game with injuries and did not return. Mitchell Melton saw playing time as a Jack linebacker and played a role in Ohio State’s punt block in the first quarter of the game, but he was later seen jogging on the sideline to test out an apparent injury and did not have his helmet with him when the team returned from the locker room for the second half. Freshman cornerback Aaron Scott Jr. walked back to the locker room early after he got shaken up while defending a deep ball in the end zone late in the fourth quarter.

TreVeyon terrific in less than 10 touches

TreVeyon Henderson averaged 14.2 yards per touch of the football against Purdue. The senior running back racked up 85 rushing yards and a touchdown in just six carries and added three receptions for 43 yards.

Henderson shook multiple defenders on his first carry of the day, a 12-yard scamper to move the chains for Ohio State on 2nd-and-10. He ran over Boilermaker defensive back Antonio Stevens for his longest run of the afternoon, a 29-yard run in the third quarter. Ohio State split him out at receiver for his touchdown jaunt, motioning him in behind Will Howard for a sweep play where he stiff-armed a defender to dodge a 4-yard loss before looping around the edge and racing to the pylon for a 19-yard score.

In the passing game, Henderson proved a reliable check-down option for Will Howard, his first two catches going for six and five yards on first downs to keep the Buckeyes ahead of the chains. Those gains paled in comparison to his longest catch, however, a well-timed wheel route where Howard hit him up the sideline for a 32-yard gain.

Henderson has piled up 588 rushing yards in just 78 carries this season – that’s 7.5 yards per carry – with five rushing touchdowns. He’s added 12 receptions for 86 yards.

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