Matt Tamanini
Guest
If Marv was an alien, what type of otherworldly being is Jeremiah Smith?
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
We all assumed that Marvin Harrison Jr. was a once-in-a-generation player, but Jeremiah Smith might be about to prove us wrong.
It’s not like Ohio State is unaccustomed to having highly touted freshmen join the program. It’s not like Ohio State has never had a freshman saddled with high expectations even before playing a game. It’s not like Ohio State is unfamiliar with having generational talents arrive on campus with the eyes of the college football nation on them.
Yet, here we are with true freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith already a superstar with otherworldly expectations thrust upon him before he even takes his first collegiate snap. With the alien Marvin Harrison Jr. now off the NFL to wreak havoc on opposing defenses, it seems as if Smith has somehow not only slid into Marv’s spot on the roster but in the spotlight as well.
The No. 1 player in the 2024 cycle, the Chaminade-Madonna Prep alum was at the center of a dramatic recruiting process even if he never really wavered in his commitment to Ohio State. For months, Buckeye fans (not to mention coaches) had to deal with incessant rumors that the South Florida prospect was close to flipping any number of Florida schools — Miami and Florida State especially. However, publically Smith routinely reiterated that as long as head coach Ryan Day and WR coach Brian Hartline were in Columbus, he would be a Buckeye.
Despite the swirling conjecture around him, Smith was good to his word and signed with the Buckeyes in a memorable moment that saw Day almost pass out during his December Signing Day press conference.
While drama seemed to be omnipresent during Smith’s recruitment, once the five-star receiver arrived on campus in January, things have been relatively quiet for the budding superstar as he has seemingly been laser-focused on preparing for the season. His efforts have apparently impressed the Buckeye strength and conditioning staff so much that they hyped him up enough to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman for the true freshman wide receiver to land at No. 7 on the 2024 Freaks List.
As Feldman explained to me on the podcast earlier this month, Smith has been impressive since arriving in Columbus, not only because of what he can do in the weight room but also because of how hard he works; reminiscent of Harrison’s signature combination of skill and dedication.
“[Smith] has wowed a lot of his veteran coaches in Columbus,” Feldman wrote in the Freaks article. “Everything about him is elite, we’re told, especially his work ethic. In addition, OSU coaches say he ‘has great hands, a great catch radius and does freaky things on a daily basis.’”
Smith’s raw numbers are undoubtedly freakish. He stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 215 pounds and Mickey Marotti’s staff has him bench pressing 355 pounds and squatting 530. During the offseason, he reportedly broad-jumped 10 feet 10 inches and vertical-jumped 36 inches. So not only is the freshman an absolute beast when it comes to slinging around weights and leaping large distances, but he can apparently also fly having topped out at 23.39 miles per hour.
But Smith — who those on the team call J.J. — is more than just a physical freak. Earlier this month, Hartline explained how well-rounded the receiver’s approach to his craft has been, and just how unique this type of output has been in recent Buckeye memory.
“He has a lot of tools. He works extremely hard and I will say this, we’ve never had an Iron Buckeye from Coach Mick as a freshman,” Hartline said earlier this month. “I don’t know ever or definitely since I’ve been here. So a lot of credit to him, as far as Jeremiah goes, he embodied everything that is a part of that conversation. It’s not just lifting numbers, speed numbers; it is the way you carry yourself, the way you train, the edge to you, it’s all that. He’s the first one that’s ever earned that and we leave it at that.”
For years, it was a given that after every single practice, Marvin Harrison Jr. could be found on the practice field at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center catching balls from the Monarc machine. It became such a standard part of the day that last season, the coaching staff made a rule that Marv couldn’t do it alone. So, if he wanted to get extra reps after practice (and he always did), he had to bring a teammate along with him.
While no legends of that nature have yet been borne from J.J.’s practice habits, it doesn’t seem like he is a long way off from establishing his own iconic routine.
Smith seems to understand that there are abnormally high expectations around him and that the hype and excitement for his debut season is reaching a fevered pitch. However, he is doing what he can to ensure that he doesn’t let that impact his performance and preparation.
“It’s a blessing, but you don’t want that hype to affect you,” he recently told the media. “I just keep my head down; just find ways to get better each and every day.”
While he has obviously had a fair share of media training at this point — given the pat, expected answer to questions about expectations — there is something about his calm, unbothered approach that is reminiscent of Harrison. Buckeye fans got used to seeing Harrison — the best wide receiver in college football and the son of an NFL Hall of Famer — seem genuinely overwhelmed by the attention often deferring to his teammates at every possible turn.
Now that Day has officially named Smith a starting wide receiver, it is only a matter of time until we get to see how he responds to putting up 200 yards and three touchdowns in a single game, but from a skill, work ethic, and personality perspective, everything about him feels incredibly Marv-esq, so I don’t expect his postgame interviews to be any different.
“I’m still learning. I’m just a freshman so coming in as a young guy, [I’m] listening to the older guys that have been here,” Smith said. “Off the field, I am a quiet person. Everyone says that, but I am all about business.”
For three years, Ohio State fans became accustomed to the otherworldly talent, approach, and demeanor of Marvin Harrison Jr. But despite his pedigree and obvious potential, even Marv didn’t come to college with the types of attention and expectations that have followed Jeremiah “J.J.” Smith to Ohio from Florida.
However, despite the weight of outside eyes, thus far it appears that Smith has handled his business as well as anyone possibly could. Of course that could all change once games begin, but with the road map that Marv left in Columbus, it seems like the freshman is well on his way to establishing his own once-in-a-generation legacy at OSU.
But that only invites the question, if Marv was an alien, what does that make Smith? A metahuman? A Nexus being? A wizard? A god?
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
We all assumed that Marvin Harrison Jr. was a once-in-a-generation player, but Jeremiah Smith might be about to prove us wrong.
It’s not like Ohio State is unaccustomed to having highly touted freshmen join the program. It’s not like Ohio State has never had a freshman saddled with high expectations even before playing a game. It’s not like Ohio State is unfamiliar with having generational talents arrive on campus with the eyes of the college football nation on them.
Yet, here we are with true freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith already a superstar with otherworldly expectations thrust upon him before he even takes his first collegiate snap. With the alien Marvin Harrison Jr. now off the NFL to wreak havoc on opposing defenses, it seems as if Smith has somehow not only slid into Marv’s spot on the roster but in the spotlight as well.
The No. 1 player in the 2024 cycle, the Chaminade-Madonna Prep alum was at the center of a dramatic recruiting process even if he never really wavered in his commitment to Ohio State. For months, Buckeye fans (not to mention coaches) had to deal with incessant rumors that the South Florida prospect was close to flipping any number of Florida schools — Miami and Florida State especially. However, publically Smith routinely reiterated that as long as head coach Ryan Day and WR coach Brian Hartline were in Columbus, he would be a Buckeye.
Despite the swirling conjecture around him, Smith was good to his word and signed with the Buckeyes in a memorable moment that saw Day almost pass out during his December Signing Day press conference.
While drama seemed to be omnipresent during Smith’s recruitment, once the five-star receiver arrived on campus in January, things have been relatively quiet for the budding superstar as he has seemingly been laser-focused on preparing for the season. His efforts have apparently impressed the Buckeye strength and conditioning staff so much that they hyped him up enough to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman for the true freshman wide receiver to land at No. 7 on the 2024 Freaks List.
As Feldman explained to me on the podcast earlier this month, Smith has been impressive since arriving in Columbus, not only because of what he can do in the weight room but also because of how hard he works; reminiscent of Harrison’s signature combination of skill and dedication.
“[Smith] has wowed a lot of his veteran coaches in Columbus,” Feldman wrote in the Freaks article. “Everything about him is elite, we’re told, especially his work ethic. In addition, OSU coaches say he ‘has great hands, a great catch radius and does freaky things on a daily basis.’”
Smith’s raw numbers are undoubtedly freakish. He stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 215 pounds and Mickey Marotti’s staff has him bench pressing 355 pounds and squatting 530. During the offseason, he reportedly broad-jumped 10 feet 10 inches and vertical-jumped 36 inches. So not only is the freshman an absolute beast when it comes to slinging around weights and leaping large distances, but he can apparently also fly having topped out at 23.39 miles per hour.
But Smith — who those on the team call J.J. — is more than just a physical freak. Earlier this month, Hartline explained how well-rounded the receiver’s approach to his craft has been, and just how unique this type of output has been in recent Buckeye memory.
“He has a lot of tools. He works extremely hard and I will say this, we’ve never had an Iron Buckeye from Coach Mick as a freshman,” Hartline said earlier this month. “I don’t know ever or definitely since I’ve been here. So a lot of credit to him, as far as Jeremiah goes, he embodied everything that is a part of that conversation. It’s not just lifting numbers, speed numbers; it is the way you carry yourself, the way you train, the edge to you, it’s all that. He’s the first one that’s ever earned that and we leave it at that.”
For years, it was a given that after every single practice, Marvin Harrison Jr. could be found on the practice field at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center catching balls from the Monarc machine. It became such a standard part of the day that last season, the coaching staff made a rule that Marv couldn’t do it alone. So, if he wanted to get extra reps after practice (and he always did), he had to bring a teammate along with him.
While no legends of that nature have yet been borne from J.J.’s practice habits, it doesn’t seem like he is a long way off from establishing his own iconic routine.
Smith seems to understand that there are abnormally high expectations around him and that the hype and excitement for his debut season is reaching a fevered pitch. However, he is doing what he can to ensure that he doesn’t let that impact his performance and preparation.
“It’s a blessing, but you don’t want that hype to affect you,” he recently told the media. “I just keep my head down; just find ways to get better each and every day.”
While he has obviously had a fair share of media training at this point — given the pat, expected answer to questions about expectations — there is something about his calm, unbothered approach that is reminiscent of Harrison. Buckeye fans got used to seeing Harrison — the best wide receiver in college football and the son of an NFL Hall of Famer — seem genuinely overwhelmed by the attention often deferring to his teammates at every possible turn.
Now that Day has officially named Smith a starting wide receiver, it is only a matter of time until we get to see how he responds to putting up 200 yards and three touchdowns in a single game, but from a skill, work ethic, and personality perspective, everything about him feels incredibly Marv-esq, so I don’t expect his postgame interviews to be any different.
“I’m still learning. I’m just a freshman so coming in as a young guy, [I’m] listening to the older guys that have been here,” Smith said. “Off the field, I am a quiet person. Everyone says that, but I am all about business.”
For three years, Ohio State fans became accustomed to the otherworldly talent, approach, and demeanor of Marvin Harrison Jr. But despite his pedigree and obvious potential, even Marv didn’t come to college with the types of attention and expectations that have followed Jeremiah “J.J.” Smith to Ohio from Florida.
However, despite the weight of outside eyes, thus far it appears that Smith has handled his business as well as anyone possibly could. Of course that could all change once games begin, but with the road map that Marv left in Columbus, it seems like the freshman is well on his way to establishing his own once-in-a-generation legacy at OSU.
But that only invites the question, if Marv was an alien, what does that make Smith? A metahuman? A Nexus being? A wizard? A god?
Continue reading...