We all know that Jeremiah Smith was one of the biggest reasons why Ohio State and Ryan Day finally won the national title.  You put any OSU wide receiver in the past decade in front of him, and they would still look feeble. For instance, yes, Marvin Harrison Jr was incredible getting back-to-back 1,200+ yard seasons. But doing that in just your freshman year? That takes an unworldly talent. Even others like Chris Olave or even the great Julio Jones’s CFB season records were broken by the 6’3″ and 215 lbs generational talent. But what if he can’t do the same in the 2025 season?

Don’t get it wrong, Smith is a generational talent, and any team would become closer to a winning team with him. Even an NFL scout praised Smith’s talent to ESPN, just seeing his freshman season. “Everyone [in the league] is talking about him. You hear all the buzz: ‘Who is this dude? How can we get this guy on our team?” However, despite the talent, what’s stopping teams from increasing their defensive attention to Smith and decreasing the WR’s production?

ON3’s J.D. PicKell was asked a similar subject by a fan concerning Jeremiah Smith’s decrease in production. The analyst accepted that it was a possibility. “It is extremely possible, it’s extremely possible, it’s possible because last year, in the amount of games he played, 76 catches, 1300 yards 15 touchdowns, right 16 games, so he had a pretty good runway to get that done… So, is it possible that he has less production? Absolutely.” The decrease in production has several factors attached to it.

First and foremost is the change in QB with OSU’s hero Will Howard going to the NFL. This leaves the room, most probably led by the inexperienced Julian Sayin, who has just 84  yards to his name on 12 attempts and 5 completions. Then there is the inevitability that opponents will come full throttle on Jeremiah Smith, now that they know full well the threat he carries. So, this would mean bracket coverages and rolling safeties to Smith’s side, overloading the marking on him. So, the production may decrease, but will it mean less impact than in 2024?

J.D., PicKell touched upon the very thing and clarified that a decrease in production wouldn’t necessarily mean a decrease in impact. ” Less production for Jeremiah Smith does not mean less impact…So if Jeremiah Smith has less production, I mean, what’s Brandon Inniss doing? What’s Carell Tate doing? What’s the run game doing? You will feel the impact of Jeremiah Smith regardless of whether he goes for 200 yards receiving on any given day or not,” said J.D. PicKell. And the analyst is spot on.

Well, it’s highly unlikely that Smith’s production will go down given the type of player he is. For context, his PFF grade against press coverages was 90.44 in 2024, which shows that he can handle physicality and can function in even two-man coverages. Also, he might not have Emeka Egbuka, who last year diverted a significant amount of attention from Smith. But this year? He has players like Carnell Tate and Brandon Iniss, both are talented prospects. Moreover, with Brian Hartline as the OC now, the wide receiver unit is expected to take a step up.

Julian Sayin’s hype gets more intense with a major verdict by a prominent analyst to give Jeremiah Smith the boost

Julian Sayin is highly anticipated to be behind the center and be the QB1 for Ohio State in 2025. He has a notable high school background, being a five-star recruit and the tag of being recruited by Nick Saban in Alabama. However, he is still facing the QB1 battle with Lincoln Kienholz and Tavien St. Clair being present in the QB room. So, amidst that ongoing QB battle, Sayin has now got an optimistic verdict.

Josh Pate, in his recent podcast episode, was discussing the highly anticipated QBs in the Big 10 and put Julian Sayin in the second spot. “I got Julian saying number two in the Big 10. So this is a dude who I am very, very high on. I was high on him at a high school, just made from the right stuff, from the neck up. Now, by the way, the release is ultra quick too. So a lot of the intangibles, some of the tangibles, I think he has.”

Well, Sayin might not have performed yet in college football due to a lack of appearances, but in high school? The QB was a beast! He garnered 7.970 yards with 86 TDs with a 706% completion rate, recording just 10 interceptions. Moreover, his chemistry with Jeremiah Smith was also notable in the spring games, which is an added boost. It looks like Sayin is the guy, but we still might have to wait till the fall camp for a clear-cut answer from Ryan Day himself.