Jeremiah Smith is already the biggest star in college football, but he isn’t complacent with what he’s accomplished.
One year into his Ohio State career, Smith is already a legend in Columbus. He had the greatest season a freshman receiver has ever had at Ohio State – by a wide margin – as he caught 75 passes for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. The last of those catches, a 56-yard deep ball late in the fourth quarter against Notre Dame, effectively clinched a national championship for the Buckeyes.
But Smith still feels like he has plenty of room to improve.
“Just because I made that one play, I have next year, the year after that. Just can't get big-headed. I always feel like there’s room for improvement,” Smith said Tuesday in his first interview session since the national championship game. “That's one thing a lot of people mess up on, feel like ‘Oh, they had one good year, OK, I’m relaxed.’ That's not in me. I'm gonna continue to do it for years and years to come.”
While Smith drew plenty of attention before he even played a game at Ohio State as the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, he’s become a true celebrity since the national championship game. His status as the new face of Ohio State football was apparent at last weekend’s Student Appreciation Day, where he was mobbed by a crowd of fans seeking autographs and photos following the Buckeyes’ scrimmage at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Students each running a 40 yard dash to get to Jeremiah Smith.
— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) April 5, 2025
The circle around Smith is unlike anything Ive ever seen.
He must be the best player in college football. pic.twitter.com/dWXObHwYPj
Smith said he hasn’t gotten used to receiving that much attention, but he appreciates all the support he’s received from Ohio State fans.
“I don't think I’ll ever get used to it,” Smith said. “It's a blessing for sure to see everybody come out, all the Buckeye fans, and everybody come up to me and ask for pictures and everything. I wish I could get everybody, but I can't do it, it's too much sometimes.”
Ryan Day said Ohio State has worked with Smith to help him handle the attention he receives from fans, but said Smith has done a great job representing Ohio State in those settings, especially considering his youth at just 19 years old.
“Jeremiah is a fairly private person, so that is in his favor, but we've talked about it. And every time a situation like this comes up, we need to have a plan,” Day said Monday. “(Director of player development) C.J. Barnett has a big part in this, and we talked about that, and we spoke with Jeremiah even for that event there, what the plan was. He's become, obviously, just kind of a complete lightning rod. I mean, you see him, and it's just, everybody lights up because not only what type of player he is, but who he is as a person.
“He's got that smile that just lights up a room, and he's just a magnetic personality. All the recruits when they come in, you ask them, so ‘Who'd you like at practice?’ Every single one of them says Jeremiah Smith. But I think with him, it's not just the ability of what he does on the field, it's how he works. It's his personality, his humility, all those things.”
Given what he already accomplished as a freshman, Smith faces massive expectations for his second year at Ohio State. He has the top odds among non-quarterbacks to win the 2025 Heisman Trophy, and he’s one of the biggest reasons why Ohio State is viewed as a favorite to win the national championship again even though it’s replacing 17 players who played major roles last season.
Smith says he’s keeping his focus on what he needs to do to continue improving rather than on everyone else’s expectations for him.
“Just focused on spring and just going into fall camp and just getting ready for the season,” Smith said. “The expectations are gonna be there. Not really something high in my mind right now. I'm just being a leader and just focusing on the team.”
“I always feel like there’s room for improvement.”– Jeremiah Smith on building upon his record-setting freshman year
Leadership is one of the biggest areas in which Smith’s coaches and teammates are challenging him to grow. Because he’s a naturally reserved person who doesn’t typically talk a lot on the field, he says that’s been a bigger challenge than anything he’s been doing on the field.
“I’m working on it. It takes time. I’m not really the guy that's talkative, (he prefers) leading by example,” Smith said. “But one thing that I'm definitely working on is trying to talk more, get more out of my comfort zone, and just be a leader.”
That said, Smith is also working to become a more complete receiver on the field. While his reps have been somewhat limited this spring as Ohio State prioritizes keeping him healthy after he played 774 snaps last season, he’s been practicing more in the slot in addition to outside as Ohio State looks to further develop his route tree.
Now that he has a year of playing in Ohio State’s offense under his belt, another focus for Smith is increasing his understanding of the game and how opposing defenses will look to cover him.
“Just getting a better understanding of the game, that's the biggest thing,” Smith said. “I mean, there's a lot of other things me and (offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Brian) Hartline talk about, he wants me to improve on and stuff that I actually wanted to improve on as well. But that's one thing, just getting a better understanding of the game, for sure.”
Smith’s fellow receivers are noticing his continued improvement this spring.
“We definitely see the improvement,” said Carnell Tate. “We see him when he first came here until now, he's already improved a lot, and he's only getting better.”
Hartline said his goal is to make sure Smith, who is still two years away from being NFL draft-eligible, is “fully equipped with every tool necessary to do anything that's required of a receiver at the college level and the NFL level.” He constantly looks for ways to challenge Smith to keep improving, and he says Smith has done a great job responding to those challenges.
“You get to a certain point where you're doing a really good job, you're chasing that one percent, you're chasing that finite growth,” Hartline said Monday. “It's not always seen on film. The individual may feel it, whether it be your base or your technique and the consistency at which you do those things. That's what he's chasing.
“I think he's chasing football IQ, learning more about the game. Defensive structure, anticipation more than reactionary. But there's always ways to grow. I mean, if you try to mark the goals of these young men and where they currently are, they're obviously not where they want to be. So whatever that gap that needs to get filled, that's what he's chasing. So I'm sure he has some of the highest goals, and he's not that right now. So he is chasing that gap, minimizing that gap. And he's doing a good job being hard on himself.”
Smith is proud of what he accomplished last season, especially the fact that he helped lead Ohio State to a national championship as a true freshman. As he prepares for his second season as a Buckeye, however, he’s putting those accomplishments behind him and focusing on trying to win another title.
“It's a blessing to say I played a role in the natty run that we had as a true freshman, but it's time to move on,” Smith said. “That's behind us now, and I can't wait for this season to come up.”
