For how great Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith has been in his first two years of college, his trophy case is a bit bare. Of course, he helped the Buckeyes win a national championship in 2024. However, he has not won the Biletnikoff Award for the best receiver in college football yet.
Coming into last year, Smith was the favorite to win that award, as well as the Heisman Trophy. He finished 2025 without bringing home either. This year, he is one of the favorites to win both awards. Joel Klatt recently divulged what he thinks the odds are of Smith winning the Heisman.
Joel Klatt picks Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith to win the Heisman Trophy
While appearing on Pardon My Take, Klatt picked Smith to win the Heisman Trophy. He explained that if he had to bet his life on one player to win the award right now, he would take Smith.
"If I have to be right, I'm taking Jeremiah Smith. This could be a year where a player's body of work gets respected, and he should be up there...if you said, 'You have to be right, you have to bet your own money,' I would pick Jeremiah Smith because he is the best player in the sport."
Smith is definitely the best player in the country as things stand right now. He makes the biggest impact and is the most dangerous weapon. Of course, winning the Heisman would be incredibly tough for him because of the fact that it's usually a quarterback award.
However, in the last decade or so, more non-QBs have won the award. Travis Hunter and Devonta Smith both won it because of their pass-catching skills. Smith is a better pure receiver than both of them, but he also could lose votes to Julian Sayin since it is usually a quarterback award.
The Ohio State Buckeyes need Smith to be unstoppable in 2026
Smith would certainly love to win the Heisman, but that's not his ultimate goal. Smith has stated that he wants to win a national championship in his final season with the Buckeyes. In order to do that, they need him to play like the best player in the country.
Ohio State is going to have moments where Smith is going to be double-teamed, so they need to find a viable option on the opposite side of him who can take attention away from Smith. Of course, Smith is good enough to still be an effective player even when dealing with multiple defenders.
The Buckeyes will have new plays they run this year with Arthur Smith. He will have a more run-centric offense than they have had in the last couple of seasons. Even still, he knows that the best player on the roster is Smith, so he will find plenty of ways to get him the ball.
Ohio State will have plenty of new plays to get Smith in space, which is where he excels. That will help his chances of winning the Heisman, too.
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