True frosh Smith blocks outside noise, praises family for humility

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COVER PHOTO: OSU true freshman Jeremiah "J.J." Smith goes up to make a catch in the end zone over cornerback Davison Igbinosun in this year's spring game. Smith would not come down with it. Picture by Sam Fahmi/Columbus Wired.

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Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah “J.J.” Smith knows what is being said about him. He’d have to be living under a rock inside of a cave with noise canceling headphones attached to the side of his head while wearing a blindfold to have no clue of the hype surrounding him.

Of course, he can thank social media for that.

The true freshman, who many aplenty in Buckeye Nation are already anointing as possibly the greatest receiver to ever catch the pigskin for THE Ohio State University - but has yet to play an official down, said the hype is a blessing but doesn’t want all of that hype to affect him.

“I just keep my head down and find ways to get better each and every day.”

Although Smith isn’t obtuse to the expectations being placed on his shoulders. However, he isn’t letting the social media and regular media chatter affect his approach to the game.

“I know there’s big expectations for me because (I am) the number one player in the country coming in and all the hype around me (but) I just try to block out all that stuff and just try to focus on the main things, the team, our receiver room and the locker room. And if the first game comes and I don’t see the expectation that y’all have for me then I don’t really care, I just want to go out there and win a game and that’s it.”

It can’t be easy, though, for any member of Gen Z to NOT pay attention to any sort of media, especially social media. It’s become a staple of their everyday life and a mainstay in their behavior.

So how does a young man who grew up in the day and age of constantly having a phone in their hand with their nose buried in it, getting barraged by notifications (assumedly a majority of them with his name attached to them) keep his head level and not succumb to the hype?

Easy, just stay off of social media.

“It’s very easy, I just don’t deal with social media that much,” he said after Friday’s practice. “(I) just don’t look at Twitter and all that other stuff.”

But that’s not the only way he’s been able to keep himself straight. He said there have been a few major influences that instilled the work ethic in him that guys like head coach Ryan Day have praised.

“I’d say I get it from my dad,” Smith said. “My dad’s really the reason why I work so hard. Since I was like eight years old, he just wanted me to work and be the best at what I do.”

He said his dad told him from early on to hold himself in a certain way.

“Don’t act my age, act older than my age,” Smith said. “A lot of people tell me I don’t act my age, I act way beyond my years. You just got to be mature and don’t act like a kid.”

However, it wasn’t only his old man. Football runs deep in J.J.’s family and there was another family member that helped mold Smith into the young man that he is today.

“It wasn’t just my dad,” he said. “I have a cousin named Geno Smith who plays for the Seattle Seahawks so I looked up to him as well. Seeing what he would do at West Virginia with (running back) Tavon Austin and (receiver) Stedman Bailey, (Geno) was a motivation for me.”

Geno Smith was a second round pick by the New York Jets in 2013 and is entering his 12th season in the NFL, including his fifth straight with the Seahawks. He started the last two seasons and figures to be their starter once again this year.

Jeremiah didn’t stop with those two, though. There’s someone else close to him who opened his eyes to what could be done on the field and it was something he wanted to emulate.

“I’d say Brandon Inniss, for sure,” Smith said. “He was a class ahead of me and seeing the things he was doing in eighth grade and I was just like, ‘whoa, that’s something I want to do’.”

Inniss (a true sophomore receiver this year for the Buckeyes) hails from Hollywood, Fla., which is located in Broward County and is about 10 miles from Miami Gardens.

Smith said it was after his sophomore year in high school when the buzz around his play became more than just a subtle hum. And by the time he entered into his final year at Chaminade-Madonna Prep in Miami Gardens, Fla., the buzz had turned into a full-fledged swarm.

“It was just how I was playing and the attention that I was getting, and it just got crazy my senior year. I had Ohio State fans coming to my games and I was like, ‘whoa’. I had never had that happen. I was like, ‘wow, that’s crazy’,” he said.

Even though he liked the attention to a certain extent, Smith said he’s actually a pretty quiet guy and prefers to let his play do the talking.

“I do (like the attention) but at the same time I don’t, I just like to be a normal person. I don’t really like attention like that,” he said. “On the field, I’m a little bit more chippy but sometimes, I’ll still be quiet on the field.”

However, don’t let that fool you that his competitive spirit may not be at a high level. He’s been a ferocious competitor for nearly as long as he can remember.

“I’ve had that in me since I was eight or nine years old,” he said. “It’s just how I am, how I was raised, to be a competitor. That’s why I chose to come to Ohio State, just to compete each and every day and go against the best DB (defensive back) group in the country.”

It’s been cornerbacks like senior Denzel Burke and junior Davison Igbinosun that have sharpened Smith’s iron since he enrolled early in January. There was a particular instance during their second week of practices where he and Igbinosun went tit-for-tat with each other. And as most in Buckeye Nation know, Igbinosun isn’t exactly the most humble when it comes to keeping on-field comments to himself.

On one play, Igbinosun blanketed Smith and didn’t allow him the catch. A couple of plays later, Smith got his get-back.

“When he defended the ball, he said, ‘I”m here.’ And I said, ‘okay, I’m gonna be back.’ Then when I made a play … I said, ‘I told you I’m coming back, right?”

As you can see in the link below to the video from OSU’s official X account, the exchange of both making plays looks like both the offense and defense are in solid hands this season.

‍https://x.com/Jermiah_Smith1/status/1821279496114467003

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