Of Ohio State’s Great Receivers, Jeremiah Smith Is the Greatest

The Horseshoe doesn’t whisper legends; it roars them into existence. From Archie Griffin’s two-tone symmetry to Orlando Pace’s trench warfare, No. 1 Ohio State (8-0, 5-0) football has crowned immortals everywhere but wideout—until Brian Hartline returned home. The Canton-bred Buckeye alum, who was a journeyman in the NFL before remaking Ohio State’s passing attack as receivers coach in 2018, has forged an NFL pipeline: Jaxon Smith-Njigba leading the league in yards, Emeka Egbuka 12th as a rookie, Chris Olave top 14, Marvin Harrison Jr. at 25th.

Now Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, Hartline’s magnum opus is the 6-foot-3, 223-pound sophomore from Miami Gardens: Jeremiah Smith, the five-star who ditched his hometown Hurricanes for Buckeye destiny. He’s not just a Biletnikoff lock; he’s a record-wrecker, on pace to claim all three major receiving crowns—receptions, yards, touchdowns—before his second season fades.

Picture the scene: Eight games from now, confetti raining under Hard Rock Stadium lights in Smith’s Miami Gardens backyard, he hauls a back-shoulder fade for No. 36, eclipsing Olave’s hallowed 35 scores. The eruption isn’t just for the touchdown—it’s for the trifecta. As No. 1 Ohio State (8-0) eyes a Big Ten title and championship parade, my midweek X projections map the audacity: 75 more catches to top Egbuka’s 205, 859 yards to dethrone Michael Jenkins’ 2,898, and 12 scores to bury Olave’s mark.

If Jeremiah continues on his current pace and Ohio State makes it to the Big Ten championship and national championship games he is on pace to finish this season with:

110 REC | 1,450 YDS | 18 TD

Combined with his freshman season this would place Jeremiah:

All-Time Rankings… https://t.co/1Nt0OWJnDe

— Brian Buckeyes Stats (@briancwalton78) November 3, 2025

No fever dream—just math, merciless as Smith’s routes. Forged in his No. 2 PFF grade among all Power Four WRs (behind only teammate Carnell Tate at No. 1), and Hartline’s visionary schemes, synced to freshman phenom Julian Sayin’s cannon arm—the Heisman frontrunner rewriting Joe Burrow’s script. Smith’s “slump”? Those 15 grabs for 220 yards and two TDs over Wisconsin and Penn State were a mere prelude to pandemonium.

Smith arrived as a Miami Gardens miracle, spurning SEC sirens for scarlet-and-gray exile. His 2024 freshman blaze: 76 catches, 1,315 yards, 15 scores—Freshman All-American nods and Heisman murmurs. Still only 19, he’s not chasing shadows; he’s casting them. As Buckeyes thunder toward Purdue (pass defense ranked 111th in passer rating allowed), UCLA (88th), Rutgers (131st), Michigan’s rivalry inferno (40th)—where Smith turns 20 on game day, November 29—and potentially looking ahead towards a Big Ten title, and playoff odyssey (bye to quarterfinals, semis, natty), the stage is set. Eight games. Three summits. One supernova—Hartline’s first canvas as play-caller, with Sayin slinging daggers.

Smith’s Career Ledger to Date

Smith doesn’t accumulate stats; he architects them. Through 16 games (12 regular-season plus postseason in 2024, eight so far in 2025), he’s carved a career that mocks mortality. His 2025 “slump”? A 13.2 yards-per-catch heater drawing double-teams, springing Carnell Tate into stardom. Here’s the vault:

These aren’t outliers; they’re part of the composition. Seventh nationally in receptions per game (6.9), tenth in yards per game (90.6), and tied for fifth in touchdowns (9 in only eight games). Against Penn State last Saturday—a 6-for-123, two-TD masterclass capped by a 57-yard scorch where he split two defenders for the grab, dragged a third in pursuit before being dragged down—he incinerated the “slump” myth.

It’s evolution, Hartline-style: If the coordinator unleashes the playbook as he has the past two games—motions flipping doubles, Sayin slinging daggers downfield—Ohio State’s receiving records aren’t just in reach; they’re Smith’s to plunder.

Ohio State’s All-Time Receiving Pillars

Ohio State’s WR lineage is a gallery of greatness—from Terry Glenn’s 1995 Biletnikoff to Olave’s 2021 deep-ball dynasty. Yet these records, etched over decades, have held against the pass-happy tide. Per Sports-Reference.com (through 2024) and the 2022 Buckeye Media Guide, here’s the holy trinity Smith must topple:

Egbuka’s volume crown? A four-year slot savant’s symphony under Ryan Day. Jenkins’ yardage fortress? A YAC odyssey bridging eras, edging Egbuka’s 2,868 by a razor-thin 30 yards—making Smith’s 2,040 already seismic. Olave’s scoring scepter? 35 strikes redefining “unguardable,” burying David Boston’s 34 and Devin Smith’s 30. Hartline’s factory funneled the blueprint: JSN torching secondaries, Egbuka’s rookie flash, Olave’s force, Harrison’s phenom edge—all pros who make Sundays sing.

What Smith Needs Over 8 Games

No spreadsheets, just scalpels. Assuming Ohio State’s coronation—four regular-season romps, Big Ten title, playoff gauntlet—Smith has eight canvases to paint eternity. His 2025 paces (6.9 rec/game, 90.6 yds/game, 1.1 TD/game) burn national fire; his surge over Wisconsin/Penn State (7.5 rec, 110 yds, 1 TD per) is the cheat code if Hartline stays unlocked. To shatter each outright? The per-game prescription:

Verdict: A destiny earned through diligence. Even at his so-called “slump” pace over the past two games, Smith would harvest 60 receptions, 880 yards, and 8 touchdowns across the remaining slate—pushing his career ledger to 191 catches, 2,920 yards, and 32 scores.

That alone topples Jenkins’ yardage mark and edges past Olave’s touchdown throne, leaving receptions just 14 shy of Egbuka’s summit. But elevate to his recent surge, and the path illuminates: 9.4 catches per game to eclipse not only Hill but Egbuka himself; 107 yards per outing, fueled by those explosive 13-plus-yard bursts, to dismantle Jenkins’ two-decade stronghold; and 1.5 scores per contest, leveraging his 85% red-zone conversion, to etch his name atop Olave’s legacy.

My projections on X bear this out—a conservative run secures two crowns, while the full ascent claims the trinity. It begins against Purdue’s vulnerable secondary, the ideal spark for Sayin—the young arm evoking Burrow’s precision—to fire Hartline’s precision strikes into legend.

Biletnikoff Bound, Buckeye Eternal

Numbers etch scores, but narratives ignite nations. Smith’s arc: A Miami Gardens maestro ghosting the ‘Canes for heroism, now NIL-humble with “Smith’s Snacks” feeding local pantries. He dissects film till 2 a.m., once whispering to Hartline: “Run that post, shade it left.” Off the field? Youth camps teaching contested catches to wide-eyed kids, echoing his South Florida sparks. Zero penalties in 2025.

This isn’t vanity volume; it’s virtuosity, amplified by Hartline’s wizardry—now as OC, dialing motions that morph double-teams into daggers, unlocking Smith’s supernova and Sayin’s Heisman fodder.

And the Biletnikoff? Fred Biletnikoff’s graceful ghost lingers not for fleeting sparks, but for the full orchestra of a receiver’s soul—the symphony where every note harmonizes dominance with grace. Recall Marvin Harrison Jr.’s electric elegance runner-up in ‘22, then a ’23 blaze that bent secondaries to his will; or Terry Glenn’s improbable ascent, the 1995 walk-on who rose from obscurity to claim the crown, his hands a testament to hunger forged in the margins.

Smith fuses their essences, laced with Hartline’s lethal precision: routes unfolding like whispered sonnets in the autumn chill, speed that scorches the ether into submission, hands that snatch the impossible from mid-air like fate reclaimed. He is revolution incarnate—merciless in pursuit, magnificent in mastery.

Eight games remain. Three records teeter. One sophomore rises. When the confetti descends like winter’s first snow over Miami’s lights—his lights, his home— the Horseshoe will not merely echo; it will resound through eternity, carving its rafters with a name that defies the dawn. Smith does not pursue thrones. In the quiet fury of his stride, he seizes them whole.