Jeremiah Smith’s Heisman push has entered a different phase. It’s no longer just about piling up numbers. Now it’s about carrying Ohio State through a quarterback change that has forced the Buckeyes to rethink everything around their star receiver.
Two weeks ago, Ohio State lost starting quarterback Julian Sayin for the season. What should have been a bye week became a scramble to get true freshman Luke Fahey ready to guide an offense built to be the backbone of a national title run. At the same time, Smith lost the quarterback he had spent nearly two years developing chemistry with, a connection that had reached a new level in 2026.
That bond helped fuel Smith’s Heisman-worthy start. He turned 73 targets into a Big Ten-high 52 catches for 984 yards and 12 touchdowns, and in the process became the Heisman Trophy favorite.
The Buckeyes had other offensive issues to manage, but they still had a clear foundation. That changed the moment one snap wiped out half of what made that setup so dangerous.
Now the question is simple: how does Smith rebuild that timing with a quarterback he likely hasn’t caught a pass from in months?
“A lot of practice (and) a lot of reps,” Smith said after a 19-15 win over Indiana. “We’ve got to get together.”
Ohio State has spent the last two weeks trying to prepare a young quarterback it never expected to lean on. That’s a tough ask for anyone making his first start, especially in the middle of the regular season’s most important stretch. But that’s the situation the Buckeyes are in.
The job now is to ease the burden on Fahey without losing what makes Smith so dangerous. The simplest answer is to keep feeding the best player on the field and let him create the difference. He may have to do even more than that while the Buckeyes wait for the offense to settle.
“Jeremiah is a tremendous talent, and he can adjust quickly,” head coach Ryan Day said. “The good thing about him and Luke is that Luke just has to get the ball somewhere in the neighborhood of No. 4 and he’s going to pull it down.”
Day said Smith’s role may require some give-and-take as Fahey settles in.
“If Luke puts it on you, let’s go make a play,” Day said. “If he’s a little bit off, you’ve gotta pick him up a little bit. That’s gonna be how it goes until these guys get their confidence and get their feet underneath them.”
Ohio State needed Smith at his best before all of this happened. Now it needs more than that. It needs him to get on the same page with a young quarterback, keep being the kind of leader who earned captain status, and find a way to be Superman every Saturday from here on out.
He spent the first seven games making sure Heisman voters noticed him. The next five, plus a possible Big Ten Championship game, are about making sure they have no doubts when they fill out their ballots.
Smith’s campaign is no longer only about proving he’s the nation’s best player. It’s also about proving he’s the most valuable.
And that’s where the timing issue matters most. As Smith put it, building that kind of chemistry won’t happen overnight.
“It’s going to take time to build that,” Smith said. “I ain’t going to say it’s going to take one day.
It’s not that easy. But like I said, it’s going to take time.”
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The choice matters because it will shape how Ohio State tries to attack a USC defense on the road, and it also says plenty about where the offense is headed in the short term. Fahey gives the Buckeyes a more improvisational feel, while St. Clair offers a more classic downfield profile, leaving Day to weigh immediate stability against the kind of ceiling that can swing a big conference matchup. [Read more 🡒]