NFL fans eager to see Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith on Sundays will have to wait two more years. The standout wide receiver isn’t draft-eligible until 2026, but his college football career is already proving to be as lucrative as it is spectacular.
Smith capped off a record-breaking freshman season in style, delivering 88 receiving yards and a touchdown in the Buckeyes’ 34-23 victory over Notre Dame in Monday’s National Championship Game.
The win in Atlanta secured Ohio State’s first title since 2014 and solidified Smith’s status as the nation’s premier playmaker.
Most talent evaluators feel that Smith would be a virtual lock to be the No. 1 player chosen in this year’s draft if he were eligible.
Fortunately for the sport of college football, Smith won’t be leaving anytime soon.
However, Ryan Day and Ohio State are finding out that keeping Smith in Columbus won’t come cheap.
According to 247Sports’ Brad Crawford, retaining Smith could cost Ohio State more than $3 million in NIL compensation – a figure believed to be the highest for any non-quarterback in college football.
“For Ohio State, it’s absolutely worth it,” a source told Crawford, underscoring Smith’s vital importance to the team.
Smith’s rising value puts him in elite company.
On3, a leading NIL valuation platform, estimates his worth at $4 million, trailing only Miami quarterback Carson Beck and Texas hot-shot QB Arch Manning.
Beck reportedly secured a $4 million deal to transfer from Georgia to Miami a few weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Manning is expected to stay put in Austin for the duration of his college career, however you can only imagine what he’d make on the open market if he decided to transfer.
To put Smith’s potential earnings into perspective, his projected $3 million payday would eclipse the rookie salary for this year’s No. 18 NFL Draft pick.
As Ohio State fans know full well, Smith’s talent on the field more than justifies his valuation.
In his debut season, the freshman phenom racked up 76 catches for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns across 16 games.
He was instrumental in Ohio State’s playoff run, scoring five touchdowns during the College Football Playoff and delivering a career-high 187 yards in a second-round win over Oregon.
His latest heroics came in the national championship with everything on the line.
With Notre Dame threatening a late comeback, Ohio State clung to a 27-23 lead in the fourth quarter. On a pivotal third-and-long, quarterback Will Howard launched a 56-yard pass to Smith, who burned his defender in man-to-man coverage to secure the game-sealing catch.
“We felt like we had an advantage with Jeremiah on that shot, and we talked about it all week,” Ryan Day said after the game. “We really hadn’t thrown one all game, and it was like, you know what, game on the line, let’s just go.”
Smith’s performance was a reminder of what Oregon learned the hard way a few weeks earlier: defending Smith one-on-one is a recipe for disaster.
While Smith’s NFL debut remains two seasons away, his potential already has scouts salivating.
Perhaps he’s getting just a tad ahead of himself, but FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt recently called Smith the most NFL-ready wide receiver he’s ever seen and predicted he will end up being a 10-time All-Pro player.
Then again, Klatt is far from the only analyst making such predictions. While there are no true “sure things” in football, Smith is pretty damn close.
Ohio State spent $20 million on this year’s roster and it ended up paying off with a national championship.
Whether you like the current system or not, this is what we’re currently dealing with and the Buckeyes are taking full advantage of it.
Having said that, should Day and Ohio State worry that Smith could end up chasing even more money and wind up leaving Columbus for greener pastures elsewhere???
