Heading into the 2026 season, the Ohio State football team has a lot of expectations for greatness. The entire roster is full of great players who should be able to help this team compete for a national championship. Chief among those is Jeremiah Smith.
Smith entered last season as the best player in college football, and he did not disappoint. He didn't put up massive numbers against Texas, but he did in pretty much every other game he played. Quite frankly, he can only be categorized as an all-time great for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Heading into this season, he has the opportunity to become the all-time receiving leader for the Buckeyes, and that would be after only playing three years. Entering the 2026 season, he is once again perceived to be the best player in the country.
Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith named best player according to PFF
According to PFF, Smith is named the top player in the country yet again. It's hard to make an argument for anyone else to be rated higher with everything that Smith has accomplished in the past two years. He was the best player on a national championship team in 2024 and was the ultimate weapon last season.
"Over his first two college seasons, Smith leads all wide receivers in PFF receiving grade (92.9), receiving yards (2,554), and receiving touchdowns (27). He also leads all wide receivers in PFF Wins Above Average (PFF WAA) over that span. Smith is a generational talent at the position who will have NFL teams tripping over themselves to draft him in 2027," wrote Dalton Wasserman and Max Chadwick.
Smith becomes just the second player ever to be named the top player in the nation by PFF in consecutive seasons, joining Trevor Lawrence. He wasn't the only Buckeye to appear in the top five, though. Julian Sayin was also on the list. He is going to be the one throwing the ball to him all year long.
The Ohio State football program has a massive amount of expectations
Everyone knows how good Smith and Sayin are. They are the two faces of the Buckeyes heading into the season. With that, massive expectations follow this program heading into the season. There will be a lot of pressure for this team to win at the highest level, and anything less than that will be a failure.
Smith is just 42 catches behind former teammate Emeka Egbuka for the all-time receptions leader. He is also just 340 yards behind Michael Jenkins for the all-time receiving yards leader for the Buckeyes. Smith sits just seven touchdowns behind Chris Olave for the all-time receiving touchdowns record, too.
It would be truly shocking if Smith doesn't break all of those records this season, especially because he also holds the record for the most receptions per game in Ohio State football history, averaging 5.6 catches per game. Quite frankly, this should be another historic season for Smith, which could lead to a great year for the entire team.
Smith is a great teammate, and he is also a fantastic player whom the fans will always love.
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