Is Jeremiah Smith the Best Player in College Football? The Case

Jeremiah Smith put the question to bed on Saturday. The Ohio State junior caught 11 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-14 win over No. 14 Iowa, and he did it while rewriting the Buckeyes’ receiving record book. He is the best player in college football right now.

Smith said as much himself after the game, telling reporters voters need to know he is the best player in the country. He has the numbers to back the talk.

A record book in one afternoon

Smith now holds the three biggest career receiving marks at Ohio State. He has 207 receptions, passing Emeka Egbuka’s 205. He has 3,381 receiving yards, well clear of Michael Jenkins at 2,898. And he has 36 receiving touchdowns, one more than Chris Olave.

The touchdown record came on a 57-yard catch in the third quarter. About four minutes later, his 10th reception of the day broke Egbuka’s mark. Two records inside one quarter, against a ranked opponent, in his third season on campus. Smith is a junior, and he already owns the program.

Think about the names he passed. Egbuka, Olave and Jenkins are all receivers Ohio State fans rank among the best the school has produced. Smith did not edge them out on a technicality. He lapped Jenkins by almost 500 yards.

That is the kind of production that makes the Heisman conversation easy. Fox Sports reported Smith became the betting favorite for the trophy at +105 after the game.

The numbers nobody else is close to

Through five games, Smith leads college football with 823 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns. He is the only FBS player this season with 200 yards in back-to-back games. The week before Iowa, he caught 12 passes for 217 yards and four touchdowns against Illinois.

Ohio State is 4-1 and he is the engine. Opponents know who is getting the ball and still cannot stop it, which is the cleanest definition of a best player there is.

The only argument against him

The knock on any receiver in the Heisman race is that the position does not control a game the way a quarterback does. That argument loses force when the receiver produces like this every week and his team keeps winning. Smith turns routine throws into 57-yard touchdowns.

Ohio State has lost one game, and Smith’s production did not dip against a ranked Iowa team. The numbers keep coming whoever lines up across from him.

Best player and Heisman winner are not always the same thing, and voters can be stubborn about positions. But on the question of who you would build around, who you would not want to face, and who changes the game by lining up, Smith is the answer. Nobody else in the country is doing what he did on Saturday, and he is doing it every week.