The moment the 6-foot-3, 225-pound All-American and national champion stepped out of a black Lamborghini \u2014 rented for the weekend \u2014 he was immersed by fans eager to take selfies and simply be in his presence. As one fan noted before he snapped a photo with Smith, \u201cIt\u2019s not often you get a chance to see a football player in person with a 99 rating in a video game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is all a blessing,\u201d said Smith, who grew up in South Florida and became the No. 1 high school recruit in the country at Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna Preparatory School. \u201cThe season I had last year was a blessing. I just won a national championship, contributed to a top team. I mean, all of this has been surreal. I\u2019m just soaking it all in, but I\u2019m not finished.\u201d<\/p>\n
The truth is, there probably isn\u2019t a brighter young star in the college game right now than Smith, a rising sophomore who is third in betting odds behind Texas quarterback Arch Manning and LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier to win the 2026 Heisman Trophy.<\/p>\n
Over 16 games in his debut season, he caught 76 passes for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns and won MVP honors at the Rose Bowl. At times, he made it look too easy \u2014 far easier than his father expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did exceed expectations I had,\u201d Chris Smith said. \u201cMy expectations were just going to school, getting in when he can, earning his steps as a freshman. I didn\u2019t know he was going to take over.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/USATSI_25045762-scaled.jpg\")
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Jeremiah Smith averaged 17.3 yards per catch as a freshman. (Adam Cairns \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
How does it feel to hear people say his son is the best player in college football?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s surreal, but we take it with a grain of salt,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s more football to play. I always tell him never to get big-headed. Just keep working. You can be up top one day and down the next. Stay even keel.\u201d<\/p>\n
That can be a challenge with all the attention and business opportunities Smith receives.<\/p>\n
Companies have not stopped lining up to sign the Buckeye to be a brand ambassador. He attended the OT7 Playoffs \u2014 broadcast by NFL Network \u2014 in part to meet with brand reps and take photos.<\/p>\n
Nike, which has a $252 million partnership with Ohio State, pushed hard to sign Smith, but he inked a deal with Adidas last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been wearing Adidas since I was a young kid, 11, 10 years old,\u201d Smith said. \u201cTo be a part of the brand is something special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith humbly admitted he\u2019s lost count of how many companies have hired him to promote their products. But his dad, who has owned a cleaning and moving company in South Florida since 2015, was able to help out. The list includes American Eagle Outfitters, Battle Sports, DSW, Red Bull, Lululemon and Chipotle.<\/p>\n
Smith said he does all of his photo shoots for those companies when he\u2019s not in school.<\/p>\n
So, what was the hardest part of Smith\u2019s first year in college?<\/p>\n
\u201cLearning that playbook,\u201d he said. \u201cComing in, they threw everything at me so fast. We had installs every week. Toward the end of the year is when everything started to slow down for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ohio State\u2019s 2024 season was a roller coaster. The regular season ended with a deflating fourth consecutive loss to rival Michigan. But the Buckeyes and Smith followed up with a magical run through the expanded College Football Playoff, crushing Tennessee and Oregon before crossing the finishing line with victories over Texas and Notre Dame.<\/p>\n
Smith tweaked his hip flexor in the win over Tennessee but responded the following week with his best game (seven catches, 187 yards, two touchdowns) in the Rose Bowl win over top-seeded Oregon.<\/p>\n
Despite winning the title, Smith has not gotten over the loss to Michigan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a sore loser, but I hate losing, and losing to that team up north was pretty crazy,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIn the end, I think it really helped us play the way we did in the playoffs. But I didn\u2019t want to go to Ohio State and lose to that team up north. I just hate them. Just something about them. For the next two years, I promise you, I will not lose to them. I can\u2019t lose to them in the next two years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ohio State and Texas \u2014 the favorites to win the 2026 national championship \u2014 open the season against each other in Columbus on Aug. 30.<\/p>\n
The Buckeyes had 14 players drafted off the national championship team, including quarterback Will Howard, receiver Emeka Egbuka and running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson.<\/p>\n
With so many veterans gone from the offense, Smith said he\u2019ll be more comfortable taking on a more vocal role in the locker room in his second season. As for Ohio State\u2019s new starting quarterback, Julian Sayin, Smith said he\u2019s fully confident the redshirt freshman is ready to ascend into the spotlight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat arm is different,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHe can make any and every throw. Just a smart quarterback. Like me, he\u2019s a little quiet. But he\u2019s starting to come out of (his) shell. He\u2019s definitely going to be a guy. It\u2019s going to be scary for opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Returning home to South Florida to be around friends and family is something Smith always looks forward to. But he doesn\u2019t regret his decision to leave home for college.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople always joke around and say you should\u2019ve stayed home, played for Miami and put on for my city,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut deep inside, I know they\u2019re happy for me at the end of the day. No regrets.\u201d<\/p>\n
His parents and younger brother, Angelo, a three-star safety in the 2027 cycle, made it to all 16 Ohio State games last year, often taking early Saturday morning flights to get to those Big Noon Kickoff games.<\/p>\n
Smith has his own apartment in Columbus\u00a0and a private chef who makes all of his meals.<\/p>\n
He likes to keep to himself, but when he does go out, Smith drives his Mercedes-AMG GLE around town. For the most part, though, Smith said, he plays video games on his PS5 when he isn\u2019t studying, training or practicing. His focus is always on the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI changed my eating habits \u2014 just eating healthy food, salmon, rice with vegetables,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI\u2019m at 225 pounds now. I was at 205 or 208 when I got there. Body fat, I think I\u2019m second lowest on the team. I just did 20 reps of 225 pounds on the bench and ran 22 (miles per hour) in a game.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s little doubt NFL teams can\u2019t wait to get their hands on him. Smith, though, said he\u2019s having a great time in college and is in no rush to get to the NFL \u2014 even if some believe he would have been a top-10 pick this year if eligible.<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019s invested most of the NIL money he\u2019s made to this point.\u00a0When he does spend, it\u2019s mostly on clothes and shoes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been very responsible,\u201d Chris Smith said. \u201cHe still wanted things. He\u2019s still a kid. But in all honesty, he\u2019s done more good with his money than bad. Hopefully, if God keeps blessing him, pouring in his cup, he can pour in other cups.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s major at Ohio State is Sports Industry. He wants to get into coaching when his playing career is over. But he\u2019s planning on that being a long time from now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still have a lot of work to do,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI\u2019ve got two, three more years left of college. I\u2019ve still got to go to the pros \u2014 hopefully by the grace of God. I\u2019ve just got to keep it going. Just because I had one great year, I can\u2019t get comfortable and depend on that. I want to do this year in and year out.\u201d<\/p>\n
What about winning the Heisman?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just trying to win another natty \u2014 that\u2019s what I\u2019m focused on,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAll the other individual accolades will come after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Top photo: Manny Navarro \/ The Athletic)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 Shedeur Sanders, Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III and Geno Smith \u2014 a recent NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[331,7,49,48,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-173230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ohio-state-buckeyes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114778606553069553","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}