Ohio State does not have a Jeremiah Smith problem. It has the opposite problem. Smith is the best receiver in the country, the program’s all-time leader in catches, yards, and touchdown receptions, and the reason Iowa’s plan fell apart at Kinnick. Every coordinator left on the schedule will still load the box to his side. Ryan Day’s latest answer is that the help is already in the building, and it is about to get the ball.
“They’re playing with confidence,” Day said of freshmen Brock Boyd and Chris Henry Jr. “I could see them getting more and more opportunities in the passing game. It’s going to happen.”
That is not a spring compliment. It came after a 31-14 win at Iowa in which Smith caught 11 passes for 206 yards and two scores, and the staff still spent the week talking about the other receivers. Day has been pointing at these two since September. Before Big Ten play he called them future major contributors and said Ohio State needs them not to play like freshmen, because the opportunities are coming. This week he said the opportunities are no longer a plan. They are next.
Two different freshmen, one job
Henry is the recruit Ohio State signs to replace a star, not to sit behind one. He was the consensus No. 1 receiver in the 2026 class, 6-foot-5, about 211 pounds, the son of the late Bengals receiver Chris Henry. Day has said the frame looks like Jeremiah’s, and that the catch radius is significant. The early tape matches the size. Through the first month he had three catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns: 15 yards against Ball State, then a 75-yard score against Kent State in which he caught the ball and ran away from the defense. Two of his first three college catches went for touchdowns. He is not being asked to be Smith. He is being asked to be the other big body so a safety cannot live on Smith’s hip.
Boyd is the one the ranking services missed. A three-star who flipped from TCU, he was around the 25th-rated name in a 29-man Ohio State signing class. He lost his black stripe after six spring practices, one of the fastest freshmen to do it since 2012, in a group that includes Smith and Carnell Tate. Day said in camp that Julian Sayin was already comfortable throwing to him, that he is smart, that he can run routes, and that he can play more than one spot. Receivers coach Cortez Hankton has said Boyd sees the game like an upperclassman. The production is quiet and efficient: six catches, 110 yards, an 18.3 average, a 39-yard grab against Kent State. No touchdowns yet. The staff does not sound like it is waiting on a highlight.
Together they are the reason Day can say the receiver room is deeper than it was a year ago, even after Tate left for the NFL. The veteran help is still there. Devin McCuin, the UTSA transfer, scored on the opening drive at Iowa. Brandon Inniss is a captain. Kyle Parker, the LSU transfer, is expected back this week. Nate Roberts keeps showing up on third down. Day grouped the freshmen with that list on purpose. “These are really good opportunities for all these guys to step up and help take some pressure off of Jeremiah.”
Why the timing is the point
Smith cannot be asked to post 200 yards every Saturday, and Ohio State should not need him to. He already did it twice in a row: 12 catches, 217 yards, and four touchdowns against Illinois, then 11, 206, and two at Iowa. Sayin was asked which of Smith’s covered catches he meant and smiled: “Which one?” That is a luxury until a defense takes the smile away.
Indiana, USC, Oregon, and Michigan are all still on the calendar. Those games are not Kent State. A bracket on Smith only works if the other side of the formation is a decoy. Henry at 6-foot-5 opposite Smith makes the bracket a guess. Boyd in the slot on third down gives Sayin a receiver who can win short of the sticks without the ball having to travel into a double team. Day has already said both played significant minutes at Iowa. The next step is targets, not snaps.
Maryland comes to Ohio Stadium on Saturday. It is the cleanest week left to hand them the ball before the schedule hardens. Day does not sound like he is saving them for November. “It’s going to happen” is a coach telling his quarterback the checkdown to a freshman is no longer a reward. It is part of the plan.
Smith will still be the first read. He should be. The season Day is coaching is the one where the second and third reads are freshmen who have already scored, already moved the chains, and already been told, in public, that the opportunities are coming. Defenses have spent a month building a plan for one receiver. Day just said that plan is about to have company.
