Jeremiah Smith is a freshman and ESPN already ranked him top-60 all-time

Jeremiah Smith played one season of college football. ESPN ranked him among the 60 best receivers of the last 50 years. That is not a projection list. That is not a "if he keeps this up" list. Bill Connelly looked at half a century of wideouts and said this Ohio State freshman belongs in the room with Larry Fitzgerald and Randy Moss right now.

You cannot script this any better.

The list exists because Smith keeps doing things that make grown coaches forget how to speak. He has three years of eligibility left and already cleared the bar for all-time status in Connelly's rankings. That is the story. A teenager who has not declared for the draft is statistically comparable to guys who won Biletnikoff Awards and went top-10 in the NFL Draft.

Smith's freshman campaign put him on a list that spans 1975 to present. Connelly built the rankings using a mix of receiving production, efficiency, and era-adjusted dominance. The methodology rewards players who separated from their peers, not just guys who ran up raw yardage in spread offenses against bad defenses. Smith qualified because his per-game impact this season measured against the best single seasons in the sport's modern history.

The image of the weekend is not a freeze-frame from a game. It is Bill Connelly typing Smith's name into a database next to Michael Crabtree and staring at the screen for 30 seconds before hitting publish.

HARD HAT AND LUNCH PAIL FOR JEREMIAH SMITH.

This is what it looks like when a freshman arrives with grown-ass-men tools and immediately becomes the best player on a playoff team. Smith did not need a redshirt year. He did not need to learn the system. He showed up in Columbus and became the most dangerous receiver in college football before Thanksgiving. Connelly's list confirms what everyone watching Ohio State already knew: this is not a prospect, this is a program-altering talent operating at a level that belongs in the conversation with the sport's all-time greats.

Loudly bad for the rest of the Big Ten.

Smith has three more years to climb the list. If he maintains anything close to this pace, he will not just crack the top 60. He will challenge for top 10. Connelly's rankings capture players at their absolute peak, and Smith hit his peak as a teenager. That is the terrifying part for everyone else. The ceiling is not known. The floor is already all-time.

What this means

ESPN putting a freshman on an all-time list is not normal. This is not a hype piece. This is a statistical argument that Smith's 2024 season belongs in the same dataset as the best individual campaigns in modern college football history. Connelly did not project what Smith might become. He evaluated what Smith already did and said it measured up.

The historical parallel is obvious: Randy Moss showed up at Marshall and immediately operated at a level that made the record books look small. Smith did the same thing at Ohio State, except he did it in the Big Ten against playoff-level competition. Moss needed two years to become a Heisman finalist. Smith might get there faster.

This also resets the conversation around Ohio State's offense. The Buckeyes have the best receiver in college football, and he is not draft-eligible until 2027. That is a three-year window where the rest of the Big Ten has to account for a guy who already belongs on all-time lists. Coach's son energy does not cover it. This is a different level of talent.

What's next

Ohio State plays in the College Football Playoff semifinal. Smith will be the best receiver on the field. If the Buckeyes win, he will be the best receiver in the national championship game. Then he will come back next year and do it again.

The rest of the Big Ten gets Michigan, Penn State, and Oregon on the schedule in 2025. All three of those programs will spend the offseason trying to figure out how to defend a guy who is already in the conversation with Larry Fitzgerald. There is no scheme for this. You cannot double-team a receiver who separates like Smith separates and expect to stop the run. You cannot play single-high and expect your corner to win. The math does not work.

Connelly's list updates as careers progress. Smith has three more years to move up the rankings. If he stays healthy and maintains this production, he will not just climb the list. He will own it. That is not a projection. That is what the numbers say happens when a player this good plays this long.