The Ohio State Buckeyes have been riding high since their surprising upset loss at Texas, securing three straight double-digit wins over Kent State, Illinois and Iowa. Over that span, Jeremiah Smith has looked like the clear best wide receiver in college football and is quickly building his case for the Heisman Trophy. Smith is the focal point of the Buckeyes' offense, and recently, head coach Ryan Day made it clear that he wants Julian Sayin to keep feeding him the ball.
"If he's single-covered, he's open. If he's double-covered, he's sort of open. If he's triple-covered, he's covered ...
Somebody's gotta be open somewhere else," Day said of his message to Sayin about forcing the ball to their All-American receiver. More news: Eli Drinkwitz Earns National Spotlight After Missouri Humbles Florida Five games into the season, Smith leads the nation with 823 receiving yards and nine touchdowns on 44 catches, averaging 18.7 yards per catch. That puts him on pace to finish the regular season with nearly 2,000 receiving yards and more than 20 touchdowns.
Trevor Insley remains the only player in FBS history to record more than 2,000 receiving yards in a single season, posting 2,060 yards across 11 games at Nevada in 1999. Smith has already made history this season, becoming Ohio State's all-time leader in career receiving yards, touchdowns and receptions, and we're not even halfway through the year. More news: Oregon Gets Good News on QB Dante Moore After Scary Concussion More news: Pat Narduzzi Takes Shot at Penn State as Nittany Lions Fall From the AP Top 25 He's already a national champion, a unanimous All-American and a two-time Big Ten Receiver of the Year, regardless of how this season ends.
The only thing missing from his trophy case is a Heisman, and if he continues at this pace, it could be his to lose. A 2,000-yard season would have been unimaginable at the start of the year, but it's suddenly within reach. If Sayin continues feeding Smith the ball the way Day wants him to, the star receiver could make even more history before the season is over.
His next chance to add to his historic campaign comes Saturday against Maryland in Columbus, followed by road matchups against Indiana and USC.
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