Just when Ryan Day thought that his bad days were finally over, the ESPN ranking had to make the Ohio State Buckeyes HC feel that it’s too early to celebrate. A drought had plagued Ohio State ever since Marvin Harrison Jr. had departed. However, things were changing for the good, when a highly-touted freshman, Jeremiah Smith, was all set to take up Jr.’s position. However, ESPN is a tough nut to crack.

As soon as Day confirmed that Smith would be taking up the starter’s role, they landed their rankings. And BOOM! The fans got their feathers ruffled.

As Jeremiah Smith is all set to shine ESPN dropped a banger

Day’s hopes about Smith had been quite high. On Tuesday, August 27, when asked about whether the WR would be on the field for the first snap during the Buckeyes matchup against the Akron Zips on August 31, the Ohio State HC came with a confident one-word “Yes.” But what stood out for Smith who was the top overall recruit in the Class of 2024? As Andrew Irvins from 247Sports highlighted, “one of the top prospects to come out of South Florida in the modern recruiting era and the type of wide receiver that will give opposing defenses fits given the rare combination of his size, speed and hands.”

That’s some next-level awesomeness. After all, Smith is the youngest player in the Buckeyes’ veteran-laden starting lineup. Not just this, the WR was ranked 12th in RJ Young’s top 100 superstars for the 2024 season list by FOX Sports. But ESPN has marked itself safe from the Smith fever. Instead, they ranked the player the No.4 prospect in the ESPN 300 for the class of 2024. Was this ranking a hit with the fans? Definitely NOT!

Fans’ outrage on ESPN’s disappointing ranking of Jeremiah Smith

The ESPN rankings about Smith went off as a clear miss. So much so, that unbothered by the numbers a fan could not wait to see how the WR captures the field. Here came a fan basking in Smith’s glory, “I need him to get 100 yards his first game.” Since Day can no longer count on Jr. to flip the game, Smith is the secret to success according to another fan who dearly stated, “Kid is a cheat code.”

A die-hard Buckeyes enthusiast could not help but share a laugh on ESPN’s rankings who believe that Smith is the absolute best in the roster, “Lmao.. #4 is an insult. There isn’t three players in the 2024 class that were better than him. Not even close.”

One ranking and it was enough for ESPN to lose out its fan base as another fan commented, “Quit using ESPN for class rankings, their rankings are trash.” To a fan, the Buckeyes phenom’s ranking is just one example out of the many, since stripping off the players for absolutely no reason has become ESPN’s tradition now, “Why even go by what the ESPN rankings are? They’ve been irrelevant for years.” Time for Jeremiah Smith to rage the field and leave the rankings in the dust.