Before Jeremiah Smith can dominate the regular season, he must first dominate the watch list season. That’s the unofficial preseason proving ground in today’s college football landscape, where accolades before a single snap can carry momentum, expectation, and national awareness. The watch list season, a period that stretches across the late summer months as college football programs prepare to launch into their fall campaigns, has increasingly become an arena where reputations are built and narratives are seeded. And Jeremiah Smith, a freshman wide receiver with generational hype behind his name, is now fully embedded in that spotlight.
Smith is no ordinary true freshman. Hailing from Chaminade-Madonna Prep in South Florida, he was the consensus No. 1 overall recruit in the 2024 class—a distinction that carries both enormous prestige and suffocating pressure. At 6-foot-3, 215 pounds with Olympic-level speed and ball skills that have drawn comparisons to Julio Jones and Larry Fitzgerald, Smith has already been dubbed the next great Ohio State wide receiver. That’s no small statement given the lineage that includes Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Emeka Egbuka.
But long before Jeremiah Smith is running routes against Michigan or torching cornerbacks in the College Football Playoff, he is being sized up by watch list committees. These preseason lists, while unofficial in terms of hardware, carry serious weight in media circles, Heisman campaigns, and even NFL Draft chatter. Smith’s name appearing on the Biletnikoff Award watch list—the award given to the nation’s top wide receiver—is both expected and unprecedented. Expected, because talent evaluators see him as an instant impact star. Unprecedented, because true freshmen are rarely given that kind of early spotlight. In fact, only a small handful of first-year players in the last two decades have made the Biletnikoff radar before playing a collegiate down.
Ohio State coaches have tried to keep expectations tempered. Ryan Day has stressed development over accolades. Brian Hartline, the Buckeyes’ wide receivers coach and arguably the most respected position coach in the nation, has worked to ensure Smith understands the mental side of the college game—reading coverages, mastering the playbook, building chemistry with the quarterback. But all of that is difficult to contain when Smith continues to dominate in every scrimmage and seven-on-seven drill. Veteran defensive backs have been left shaking their heads. Team insiders have said privately that Smith is the most “ready” receiver they’ve seen since Harrison Jr. was a sophomore. The physical tools are obvious. It’s the maturity, focus, and preparation that has truly stunned teammates and coaches alike.
While Smith’s name being on a watch list is a major accomplishment, it comes with unique pressure. He’s already being talked about as a potential Freshman All-American and even as a dark horse Heisman candidate—a rare feat for a wide receiver, let alone a true freshman. But in the new age of NIL deals, social media influence, and 24/7 sports coverage, Smith’s journey will be scrutinized like few others before him. He’s already landed endorsement deals with regional and national brands. His highlight reels rack up millions of views on TikTok and Instagram. Every movement in camp is covered in real-time.
Smith has embraced the noise, but he’s made it clear that he’s about business. In interviews, he constantly defers to team goals. He talks about winning a national title. He praises his fellow receivers, especially veterans like Egbuka, for teaching him how to handle the grind of a college football season. But that hasn’t stopped analysts from speculating that Smith could break freshman receiving records not only at Ohio State but across the Big Ten. Some scouts have gone as far as to say he could be a first-round NFL Draft pick in 2027—right now.
The most striking thing about Smith’s rise during watch list season is how natural it all seems. While many young players shy away from early hype, Smith seems built for it. This is a player who dominated high school football against the toughest competition in the country. He was rarely challenged in man-to-man coverage, forcing double and triple teams almost every game. He spent his summers working out with NFL stars and going viral for one-handed catches and blazing 40-yard dash times. For Smith, national attention isn’t new—it’s simply scaled up at the collegiate level.
The reality, though, is that the real test still lies ahead. The regular season will present a different kind of challenge: speed, complexity, and physicality that even a five-star recruit has never fully experienced. Defenses will key in on him. He’ll face defensive backs with four years of college experience. He’ll be asked to block in the run game, make tough catches in traffic, and stay healthy over a grueling schedule. But for now, the watch list season is his proving ground, and he’s passing every test.
There’s also the internal competition to consider. Ohio State’s wide receiver room is notoriously deep. While Egbuka is the most experienced and likely to be the WR1, the emergence of players like Carnell Tate, Brandon Inniss, and Jayden Ballard means Smith will have to consistently earn his targets. That dynamic, however, is exactly what Ohio State’s coaching staff believes will accelerate his development. Iron sharpens iron. The wideouts push each other. And Smith, despite all the headlines and buzz, remains eager to earn everything.
Watch list season, for all its pomp and speculation, rarely defines careers. It’s a fleeting moment in the college football calendar, soon overshadowed by kickoff returns, third-and-longs, and primetime upsets. But it does serve one critical purpose—it tells the world who to watch. And in 2025, no name is generating more buzz than Jeremiah Smith. He’s not just a promising freshman. He’s a symbol of the future. And before he dominates the scoreboard, he’s dominating the conversation.
If you listen closely to the whispers from inside Buckeyes camp, you’ll hear players describe Smith in glowing terms. They call him unguardable. They say his catch radius is ridiculous. They say he runs routes like a junior, with timing and nuance that most high school players don’t have. And perhaps most tellingly, they say he walks with the confidence of someone who knows exactly how good he is—but still grinds like he has something to prove.
That might be Jeremiah Smith’s most dangerous trait. Not the hands. Not the footwork. Not the vertical leap. But the hunger. The self-awareness to know he’s being watched by millions, and the discipline to block out the noise and keep working. Watch list season isn’t the destination. It’s the warm-up act. And if Smith’s trajectory holds, we might one day look back on this preseason buzz not as overhype, but as a warning shot. Because the real show, the one that starts on Saturdays this fall, is going to be something special.
