Big Ten Network analyst Jake Butt reached for a big comparison on Tuesday, and he didn’t go small.
During the network’s Big Ten Media Day coverage in Chicago, Butt put Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith in the same conversation as LeBron James, calling the Buckeyes star “literally like LeBron James in college still.”
“Jeremiah Smith, the best at his position,” Butt said. “I mean, he's literally like LeBron James in college still. I mean, he's a generational athlete, a generational prospect."
The comparison fits the way Smith is viewed entering the season. He is already being talked about as the country’s top wide receiver and a Heisman candidate, even if he’s not chasing the award in the usual way.
“If I got to be a Heisman finalist, I would be satisfied with that,” Smith said. “I know that’s really a quarterback award.”
Smith is also taking on more of a leadership role in Columbus, especially with freshmen and transfers settling into the program.
In an interview with Joey Kaufman of the Columbus Dispatch, Smith explained what he’s trying to do with that group.
“I'm trying to bring them along,” Smith said. “Just being more of a leader, that's really the biggest emphasis on me.”
That kind of presence is part of why the LeBron comparison landed. James has long been tied to Ohio State football, and he’s made that connection public more than once.
“Ohio State means a lot to me,” James said. "If you've followed my journey, I'm a big-time football fan.
I played football all the way through high school. It's always been fulfilling to me and an honor for me to be able to give back."
James has also shown that support in a more tangible way, including by providing Ohio State players with cleats in the past.
He has said for years that if he had gone to college, Ohio State would have been the destination. In an interview with Slam Magazine in September of 2013, James said, “‘I promise, I say this all the time - if I had one year of college, I would have ended up here,’ James said.”
He also told Diana Taurasi that if Ohio State had not been an option, he likely would have chosen North Carolina or Duke.
And if basketball hadn’t taken over, James might have ended up on the other side of the sport entirely. Former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel once said James would have been a force at wide receiver.
“He was a good wide receiver,” Tressel said. "He was a beast.
All you had to do was throw it up there, and he could fly. And he was tough.
He had everything.”
James recently signed a two-year contract for $8 million with the Philadelphia 76ers after eight years with the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Now the tone around Stroud has shifted. His production has trended the wrong way, injuries played a part in his third season, and he is heading into year four without a contract extension, which only adds to the pressure. After a rough finish to last season and with his name already showing up near the top of early hot-seat conversations, the next step for Stroud is no longer about promise. It is about proving the decline stops here. [Read more 🡒]