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USATSI

Some think of LSU as "Wide Receiver University." while others say it's Ohio State. The Tigers can claim Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. over the past five years. Ohio State has had 12 wideouts drafted in the past decade, including Michael Thomas, Terry McLaurin, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Marvin Harrison Jr. 

And Buckeyes super freshman Jeremiah Smith is next in line. 

His 2024-25 season has allowed him to enter the pantheon of best true freshman years in college football history with the likes of Adrian Peterson, Herschel Walker, and Trevor Lawrence.

The No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2024 has played like a polished redshirt senior for the Buckeyes this season. 

So right now, where does Smith stack up among recent Buckeyes wideout prospects? Let's rank them. 

Important to remember here: This is how these players were universally viewed as prospects, factoring in off-field and maturity issues. Their NFL careers had no bearing on these rankings. Let's go!

9. Terry McLaurin (2019)

McLaurin's journey to where he is today -- a stud on a cusp of being a superstar at the receiver position -- is fascinating and unique. He was an "old," minimally productive player on a loaded Ohio State roster. His best season came as a 23-year-old senior, and it was a good one with 35 grabs for 701 yards and 11 touchdowns. In the three years before that, McLaurin caught a grand total of 40 passes for 550 yards with eight scores. But McLaurin represents why traits, not productivity, are prioritized in the draft process. And there's an argument no one has crushed that process quite like McLaurin. He was uncoverable at the Senior Bowl that January in Mobile, Alabama, then ran a 4.35-second 40-yard dash at over 6-foot and nearly 210 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine. There were still plenty of reservations about his one-year wonder status, and if he was simply a practice/workout warrior. Typing those reservations feels foolish now, but they represented legitimate concerns, which is why McLaurin wasn't picked earlier than the third round. However, him going that early was the culmination of a meteoric rise. 

8. Parris Campbell (2019)

Campbell was part of the track team the Buckeyes sent out there at receiver each week during the J.T. Barrett/Dwayne Haskins era. His career in Columbus swelled gradually, ending with a 90-grab, 1,063-yard, 11-score season in 2018. The true junior ran 4.31 with a 40-inch vertical at the combine and that was that. He was destined for the second round, and there thoughts he could sneak into the first. Decently raw in his routes and when it came to the finer details of playing the position, Campbell was viewed as simply too productive and too explosive to land in the third round and was generally liked by the masses.

7. Curtis Samuel (2017)

The 40th pick in the 2017 draft was a gadget, do-whatever-is-needed offensive weapon at Ohio State, with over 1,200 career receiving and 1,200 rushing yards in his three-year stint playing his home games inside The Horseshoe. While Samuel was a few years ahead of the "wide back" era we're seemingly in the thick of in today's NFL, there was plenty to be excited about regarding his potential as a multidimensional weapon. Far from incredibly polished as a receiver, Samuel's sheer speed -- another 4.31 guy! -- at 5-foot-11 and nearly 200 pounds made him a minimal-criticism selection by the Panthers early in Round 2 that year. 

6. Michael Thomas (2016)

Thomas' time as a prospect predates my time at CBS Sports, but I vividly remember him being widely viewed as underrated during the 2016 cycle, which looking back is interesting because he was initially dubbed as a second-round talent, so if many people thought he was being undervalued, it's strange he wasn't selected sooner. Ezekiel Elliott was the dude in Ohio State's offense for both of Thomas' seasons as a full-time player, but the 6-foot-3 wideout still managed more than 50 catches for at least 700 yards in each season, and he caught 18 total touchdowns. And the 2016 draft class of receivers was weird, man. The vast majority of us were wrong at the top. I mean, Corey Coleman then Will Fuller then Josh Doctson, Laquon Treadwell, Sterling Shepard and then Michael Thomas? Whoops. Even though he was the sixth receiver off the board in 2016, Thomas was seen as a safe selection. Good prospect. 

5. Chris Olave (2022)

Olave's pedestrian yards-after-the-catch ability was the lone, consensus knock on him as a prospect. He flashed as early as his freshman season for the Buckeyes and rose to being a clear-cut, top-tier prospect by his junior campaign when he decided to return for one more go in Columbus. Blessed with impeccable ball-tracking skills and savvy route maneuverability, Olave was adored by the masses during his draft. 

4. Jaxon Smith-Njigba (2023)

When he was done at Ohio State, Olave's routes were viewed as more crisp than Smith-Njigba's are right now, but the latter was more explosive after the catch when the two were on the field together, there's no doubting that. And Smith-Njigba is nearly two years younger than Olave. It was Smith-Njigba who led the Buckeyes in receiving yards last year by more than 500 total yards. Now, he wasn't an elite athletic specimen with low 4.3 speed, but he played with serious suddenness, almost always reaching top speed faster than everyone else.

3. Garrett Wilson (2022)

Wilson was a conglomeration of Olave and Smith-Njigba -- he ran routes close to as sharp as Olave and played with comparable explosiveness to his younger counterpart with and without the football in his hands. And like Olave, everyone knew Wilson was destined for the first round after watching him in his freshman season for the Buckeyes. From dynamic run-after-the-catch splash plays to contested catches that appeared as though Wilson was afforded the luxury of bouncing off a trampoline, to scintillatingly fast go-route touchdowns, Wilson had it all from a skill and talent perspective, which is why he went ahead of Olave and secured a top-three spot in these rankings. 

2. Marvin Harrison Jr. (2024)

Harrison looked like a future first-rounder as a freshman at Ohio State. He looked like an NFL veteran at 18 years old. Even with only 11 grabs for 139 yards with three touchdowns playing behind Wilson and Olave, it was reasonably obvious. Then he erupted as a true sophomore, with 77 catches for 1,263 yards and 14 touchdowns. And Harrison's status as an elite-level prospect wasn't simply a byproduct of stat accumulation. At his size -- 6-foot-3 and around 220 pounds -- with his long-striding speed and tremendous ball-tracking capabilities, he was tantalizing from a traits and skill perspective, which is why he was the No. 3 overall pick in last April's draft. 

1. Jeremiah Smith (2027)

The biggest difference between Smith -- as a true freshman -- and Harrison trait-wise is flexibility and smoothness running routes. Harrison moved outstandingly for a receiver his size but didn't have high-level fluidity when gliding at all levels of the field to routinely generate separation. On the vertical route tree, Harrison could run by most collegiate defensive backs then reel the ball in like an all-star center fielder. On intricate routes that asked him to throttle down and quickly change directions, there were labored movements. 

And after the catch, Harrison wasn't a superstar. Smith is. I'll just use the numbers to explain the disparity. In 2023, Harrison forced five missed tackles on 67 receptions (7.4%). Entering the College Football Playoff semifinal against Texas, Smith has forced 13 missed tackles on 70 receptions (18.5%). Smith is Harrison-sized, with clearly more fluidity as a full route-tree route runner, and is more of a weapon after the catch. He also tracks the football like a dominant upperclassmen, as he's won on 12 of 21 contested-catch opportunities to date this season. Smith, right now, is the best receiver prospect Ohio State has had in its recently ridiculously stacked history at the position.