Jeremiah Smith Draws Praise From NFL Receiver Legends

He's doing things athletically I never had the ability to do. The athleticism reminds me a lot of Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson. That is said by Larry Fitzgerald. And funny thing about Fitz, he was a great, I don't know if it's funny, he was a great guy to be able to high point footballs and contested ball catcher and had good speed, maybe not elite speed, big body. But the thing with J.J. is he's so fast. And this goes on to have the rest of the court. I'm always careful trying to rank guys. Because I have a ton of respect for the Randy Mosses and the Michael Crabtrees and the Calvin Johnsons, the guys who have come before them and helped write the story of college football. But based on what he's done over the first three years, he's earned the right to be in that conversation. And then Jackson Smith and Jigba. Comes in. He's bigger, faster, stronger. His route running has gotten better. I can definitely tell that he's working on that. So you see all the physical ability, all the, everyone knows his physical prowess, but him working to develop as a receiver is something that is huge to Steele. That is crazy high acclaim from a Hall of Fame receiver, comparing him to maybe a couple other Hall of Fame receivers, and then get one guy who's the reigning offensive player of the year. One of the top five receivers in the NFL talking about how good he is right now, too. Yeah, I think what's crazy is it's not like we compare him to one specific receiver. We kind of just pick and choose everyone's best attribute and then put it on. Like we say that he's as big as Calvin Johnson, but also he has the catching ability of a Randy Moss. Then he also runs routes like Michael Crabtree. Like it's literally just a customizable player where you're taking all the best traits from all the best wide receivers that have ever played college football and put it into this one dude in Jeremiah Smith. I think that's probably the craziest part. Continuously getting praise from the best wide receiver in the NFL right now. One of the greatest to ever do it in Larry Fitzgerald. And honestly, I don't see it ending. I feel like in the next six months, he's going to continue making plays. He's going to continue having these high profile guys just commenting saying, hey, like this dude really needs to be in the conversation for the best wide receivers of all time because he's earned it at this point. All right, so looking at the other side of this, the guy that came in that was supposed to be the number two receiver and supposed to be tremendous for Ohio State, and not that he's underwhelmed. People don't realize, like, J.J. was a mutant. Like, he was an anomaly with his ability to come in and play at such a high level early on in his career. Very few guys can do that. Chris Henry. So does it feel like he's been building some momentum here over the last couple weeks? I would say so. I would say those two catches against Indiana were huge. I expected more, but the fact that he was able to get a couple of those catches and they were in big clutch situations, like that one on the side that I believe was on third down, that was huge to move the stick. So I feel like he is building a little bit of momentum. It feels like the bye week for a guy like him can be huge, especially when you're going to a new quarterback who, I mean, honestly. Probably Luke Fahey threw about as many balls to Chris Henry in training camp as Julian Sand did because, like, they're not just putting Julian up. They're not just putting Fahey. Chris Henry out there with the ones from day one. So like through spring ball and everything, like I feel like they may have a pretty solid report and this could be a great opportunity, a great movement week for him, if you will. Yeah. And he, they've got that freshman connection. I feel like that also like works huge. Plus they've been getting reps together. And I feel like with the guy where maybe you expect Julian to be a little more accurate. If Luke Fahey isn't as accurate, then I feel like throwing to that big 6'6 body frame, I feel like that would help you where maybe if you don't throw the perfect ball, he's still able to go up, climb the ladder, and catch something. So I feel like he needs to be utilized a lot in the next, I guess, few games and then really ramp him up for the playoffs, for the Big Ten Championship, whatever you think it is, because I really think he needs to be the wide receiver too right now. I feel like he's owed that. Well, and what's interesting is Devin McEwen's a little bigger, but Kyle Parker, not huge. Brandon Innes, not huge. And when you have a quarterback that's not big, sometimes those big bodies still are easier to see. And so you're looking forward and guys are beginning to progress. Now, there is like a freshman wall, I think, kind of like a rookie wall, where it can be hard. I remember my freshman year, like you're starting to get to. Around Halloween, which is usually when the regular season's wrapping up for high school football, maybe back in the day, we used to have eight teams a region make the playoffs. You'd play a playoff game, maybe two, but you were kind of done. I looked at this and was like, gosh, we're at the halfway point, man. This is the last week of Ohio high school football. And you're just like, you become mentally exhausted. And so you're hoping that he can push through that. But guys like Brock Boyd, Traquayton Guilford, like I think those guys, they're big bodies. They're all in the same class. And you talk about that freshman connection, like just being around, probably throwing to those guys a little more. Ryan talked about, you know, especially Brock Boyd and Chris Henry, trying to get those guys going a little bit and the ball finding them to a greater degree. It wouldn't shock me if those guys still become maybe a little more prominent with how they operate and what their roles are, and honestly, maybe Luke looking for them even a little bit more. I would like that because Chris Henry goes out and makes some really big plays against Indiana. Brock Boyd, he was hurt. But anytime I watch him in the game, he is going out there busting his tail, making blocks. And I know that lights a fire in Ryan Day. He loves seeing that stuff. So I feel like this is an opportunity, like we said, where some of these young guys in this bye period can get a lot more reps and maybe earn a couple spots and be able to play more in these games. And you talk about the freshman wall that they hit. I hit that wall in week two, week three. But I feel like now with the program that they've been able to build, these freshmen are probably a little more mature than I was at that point. I feel like they'll be able to push through that a little easier than guys like me were able to.