When you ask who’s the best QB in 2025, some will say Dante Moore (Oregon), Ty Simpson (Alabama), or John Mateer (Sooners). The point is, people have different opinions and choices about the best QBs. But when it comes to WR, the first name that comes to mind in big 2025 is undoubtedly Jeremiah Smith. The former 5-star took over the college football world last season with his diabolical performance. Since then, it’s been Jeremiah Smith this and Jeremiah that. The 19-year-old is the only wideout in the top 5 Heisman candidates. When you ball out, moss DBs mid-air, and drop 1,300 yards with double-digit touchdowns in your true freshman year, fame and cameras obviously come along. With fame comes a loss of privacy, and Ohio State and CFB WR1 has a hard time figuring his life out at the very age of 19.

On October 7th, college football/NFL analyst and regular X user Dov Klieman hopped onto X and published a clip of Jeremiah Smith talking about the day-to-day life struggles that come with fame: “It’d be kind of hard, because I know I’d be, I like to go places and go out, so like Target, like shopping stuff, but I know being here, I can’t really do that. But yeah, it’s been pretty, pretty hard for me. Because, like I said, I like to go out and shop like that.” He explained that he’s always been someone who likes to go out and move around a lot, but now that he’s arguably the best college athlete in the state of Ohio, those simple activities have become much harder.

Jeremiah Smith’s been balling for Ryan Day since Day 1. The fame train left the station in his freshman year. In just 16 games, he snagged 76 catches for a whopping 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns, also averaging a crazy 17.3 yards per catch. And guess what? Nobody’s stopping Jeremiah Smith in the 2025 season too. Through the first five outings, he’s put up another killer stat line, with 35 receptions for 463 yards and 6 touchdowns. His production literally makes sense and explains why people would go out of their way to greet and run after him in public.

Imagine being 19 and not being able to experience a local grocery run in peace? That’s real trouble right there. Smith shared that it’s been especially tough because shopping has been a part of his routine since childhood. He talked about how when he was younger, he would always tag along with his parents on grocery trips. Those experiences became something he genuinely enjoyed, and now it’s getting stripped away with fame.

Jeremiah Smith receives Heisman approval

Legendary former USC quarterback Matt Leinart, who won the Heisman in 2004, even predicted that Smith could one day win the Heisman Trophy himself, praising Smith’s talent and potential at Ohio State. Leinart noted that with a strong season and team success, Smith could stand out, especially with quarterbacks like Julian Sayin unlikely to steal votes away.

Jeremiah Smith’s sophomore numbers are excellent for the Biletnikoff Award, but they’re not quite Heisman-level yet, especially in an era where quarterbacks often dominate the award. Still, Smith is only halfway through his sophomore year, which means he has plenty of time to grow, improve, and make a lasting mark on Ohio State’s storied history at wide receiver.

Even Ohio State alum and current NFL star Jaxon Smith-Njigba believes Smith could surpass many former Buckeyes receivers. Smith-Njigba, who was the top receiver in the 2023 NFL Draft and is currently second in the league in receiving yards, praised Jeremiah’s talent, saying his ceiling might be higher than most of the receivers who have come through Ohio State, even put Jeremiah Smith above him: “I mean, I think his ceiling is farther than I would say a lot of us,” Smith-Njigba said during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, “I would say definitely myself. A person that can create and eat at all three levels, and just a competitor. The competitive spirit, you can just see it when he’s out there.”

With that type of potential and numbers each weekend, Jeremiah Smith could become one of the greatest wide receivers in Ohio State history, if not the greatest.