Fox’s Joel Klatt didn’t hesitate when Pardon My Take pressed him for a guaranteed Heisman Trophy pick during Big Ten Media Days. After talking through the state of college football and swapping stories from his past, the conversation turned to the kind of question that forces a real answer.
Klatt landed on Ohio State star Jeremiah Smith.
The logic is pretty simple: if Smith has the kind of season that puts him in the Heisman mix, then Julian Sayin probably does too. But there’s also a bigger case here, one that goes beyond a single season and into the full weight of what Smith has already done.
For the last year and a half, Smith has looked like the best player in college football, period. He has production, he has polish, and he has the kind of game-breaking ability that shows up no matter the setting. Big games, blowouts, leadership role with the Buckeyes - he checks every box.
That’s why the argument for Smith in 2026 isn’t really about sympathy or some sort of lifetime achievement nod. He would still have to go out and dominate. But if he does that, then the case becomes hard to ignore.
Smith himself weighed in on the Heisman conversation at the same Big Ten Media Days and made his stance clear. In his view, the trophy should go to the best player in America, not simply the best quarterback on the best team.
And Smith has the résumé to back up that belief. Through two full seasons at Ohio State, he has 163 catches for 2,558 yards and 27 touchdowns in 29 games.
That’s the kind of production that puts him on a short list of the most prolific receivers college football has ever seen. There’s a real argument that only a couple of players belong in the same conversation.
Klatt clearly thinks Smith is one of them.
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