Where Jeremiah Smith ranks among the greatest college receivers of the 21st century after record-setting day — SkimNews
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- Jeremiah Smith posted his second consecutive 200-plus-yard receiving game in Ohio State's 31-14 road win over Iowa on Saturday
- Smith has piled up 44 catches, 823 receiving yards, and 9 touchdowns through five games, dwarfing the next-best Ohio State receiver Devin McCuin's 17 catches for 245 yards
- The outlet ranked Smith No. 3 on its top-10 college receivers of the 21st century list, trailing only Larry Fitzgerald and Calvin Johnson, with the article noting he could climb to No. 1 if he sustains his current pace
- DeVonta Smith, the only receiver to win the Heisman Trophy this century, sits at No. 4 on the list after his 117-catch, 1,856-yard, 23-TD 2020 season at Alabama
- Ja'Marr Chase (No. 9) made the list for one dominant LSU season — 84 catches, 1,780 yards, 20 TDs in the 2019 title run — before opting out and still going No. 5 overall in the NFL draft
- Julio Jones, A.J. Green, and Andre Johnson were relegated to honorable mention despite dominant NFL careers because their college productivity didn't reach top-10 level — the article notes Jones was never even an All-American at Alabama
- ESPN's cross-coverage headline — 'Alabama looks like, well, Alabama; Jeremiah Smith is undeniable' — mirrors the consensus that Smith's ceiling is the only remaining question
Why it matters: Smith already has a 1,000-yard freshman season on his resume and is producing at a clip no other Ohio State receiver is close to matching, which the outlet says puts him in rare air among college receivers. Whether he climbs past Fitzgerald and Johnson on this list hinges entirely on whether defenses can force QB Julian Sayin to look elsewhere — and through five games, no one has.
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