Although there was plenty of action on the field during Ohio State’s Student Appreciation Day practice last Saturday, by far the most notable moment came after the session, when hundreds of students sprinted down the Woody Hayes Athletic Center turf to seek an autograph and take pictures with Smith.
The crowd — which began to huddle around Smith while he was stretching alongside his teammates — grew so large over time that an Ohio State police officer had to escort him out of the practice field and into the locker room after a few minutes of signing autographs.
When asked about that sequence of events on Tuesday, the soft-spoken Smith admitted that he will never get used to the type of attention he receives from fans and others but is appreciative of the support he has received as a Buckeye.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it,” Smith said. “It’s a blessing for sure to see everybody come out, all the Buckeye fans, and come up to me and ask for pictures and everything. I wish I could get everybody, but I can’t do it, it’s too much sometimes.”
Smith came into the program as the consensus No. 1 overall recruit in the 2024 class and one of the more highly anticipated prospects in the sport’s history, but his notoriety has only skyrocketed after he smashed Cris Carter’s OSU freshman single-season records by hauling in 76 catches for 1,315 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns. That fame reached an even higher level after his impressive College Football Playoff run and game-sealing 56-yard catch late in the national championship game against Notre Dame.
Day said on Monday that he is well aware of the intense spotlight Smith is under, and even revealed that he and his staff have put a plan in place with the sophomore to help him navigate fame at just 19 years old.
“Jeremiah is a fairly private person, so that is in his favor, but we’ve talked about it. And every time a situation like (what happened on Student Appreciation Day) comes up we need to have a plan,” Day said. “(Director of player development) C.J. Barnett has a big part in this, and we spoke with Jeremiah, even for that event, about what the plan was.
“He’s one of the more high profile players in the country, and certainly one of the most high profile people in the state of Ohio now. That’s just the reality. I know fans respect that he’s still just a young man trying to find his way, and he is. When you look at him, you don’t think of it like that. But he is. So we put a good plan together to make sure he has what he needs.”
Smith — whom Day called a “magnetic personality” — may be overwhelmed at times by all that comes with being a star receiver at Ohio State, but he is trying to keep his focus solely on how he can take that next step in his development for 2025.
“(I’m) just focused on spring and going into fall camp and getting ready for the season,” Smith said. “The expectations are going to be there. That’s not really something that’s high in my mind right now. I’m just trying to be a leader and focusing on the team.”
