{"id":861811,"date":"2026-04-08T23:32:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/861811\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T23:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:32:22","slug":"jeremiah-smith-turned-down-10-million-to-leave-ohio-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/861811\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeremiah Smith Turned Down $10 Million to Leave Ohio State"},"content":{"rendered":"

Had he entered the NCAA<\/a> transfer portal after last season, Ohio State<\/a> wide receiver Jeremiah Smith likely would\u2019ve broken the record for the biggest NIL deal in college football<\/a> history.<\/p>\n

Smith, the No. 1-ranked player nationally in the class of 2024, is widely considered the best wide receiver in the country.<\/p>\n

There was some speculation Smith, a Miami native, could leave Ohio State after the Buckeyes\u2019 24-14 loss to the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals \u2014 and many believed Miami was the favorite to land him if he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because they beat us and things went their way, I wasn\u2019t going back home,\u201d Smith told On3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo reason to go back home, not when I\u2019m at the best place in the country. I came to Ohio State for a reason, to win championships, develop as a player and a person and keep building on this legacy. I might have grown up in South Florida, but I\u2019m a Buckeye. That\u2019s not changing. I wasn\u2019t going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

More News: Dianna Russini\u2019s Questionable Past Resurfaces After Viral Mike Vrabel Photos<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Ohio<\/p>\n

More News: Angel Reese\u2019s 1.6 Million Lead Over Caitlin Clark Turns Heads<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami was just one of multiple teams to throw massive amount of money at Smith in hopes of enticing him to enter the portal. Had he taken that route, he\u2019d be the richest player in college football hands down.<\/p>\n

\u201c[I was offered] over $10 million, easy,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not how I operate. Teams were telling my agent they had a certain amount of money for me to come there.\u201d<\/p>\n

With back-to-back seasons of 1,240 yards and 12 touchdowns or more, Smith will be highly-sought after if he decares for the 2027 NFL draft, where he\u2019s already projected to be a top-five pick.<\/p>\n

Some analysts and draft experts even argue that Smith could be in the conversation to go No. 1 overall, something that\u2019s only ever happened three times in NFL history \u2014 John Roderick in 1966 (Miami Dolphins), Irving Fryer in 1984 (New England Patriots), and Keyshawn Johnson in 1996 (New York Jets).<\/p>\n

More News: Colin Kaepernick Announces Big Career News After Failed NFL Comeback<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Had he entered the NCAA transfer portal after last season, Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith likely would\u2019ve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[331,7,49,48,1446],"class_list":{"0":"post-861811","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"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116371703214996494","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861811","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=861811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}