Ohio State are close to losing five-star WR who decided to join Miami
All is well that ends well for Ohio State, even if it ended in a sigh of relief.
Jeremiah Smith, a five-star wide receiver and the consensus top overall recruit in the nation, will sign with Ohio State.
Smith has been committed to OSU since December 2022 so this has been a longstanding relationship between recruit and program. With that said, plenty have tried to seperate the two, including last-minute pushes from the likes of Florida State, Florida and Miami.
Smith is from Opa Locka, Florida, so it makes sense that the three Florida powerhouses were trying to keep him in state. That’s not surprising.
What was surprising, though, was the fact that Miami was apparently much closer to flipping Smith than many realized.
In fact, Smith had a bag with him during announcement that housed two hats. One, as expected, was Ohio State.
The other?
What a massive win and upset that would have been for Mario Cristobal.
The rich continue to get richer, though, as yet another generational talent at wide receiver is going to be a Buckeye.
There was no flipping on Wednesday for Jeremiah Smith. Although there were different hats in a plastic bag that Chaminade-Madonna’s five-star wide receiver recruit brought to his school’s signing day ceremony. And Smith admitted there were some last-minute nerves and back-and-forth thoughts in his head. After rampant speculation that Smith, a longtime Ohio State commit, would change his mind and pick either the University of Miami or Florida State, he announced to the crowd gathered at the Chaminade gym that he’d be sticking to his pledge and signing with the Buckeyes.
“It was definitely a close call even as I was sitting there the last two minutes,” Smith said. “I kept thinking ‘Am I staying home or am I going to Ohio State? I wish I could stay home, but Ohio State is the best fit for me right now.” The suspense built for weeks as to whether Smith would continue the trend of major football recruits flipping their commitments from Ohio State to Miami as fellow Broward County star Jordan Lyle of St. Thomas Aquinas did earlier this week. But Smith ended that – albeit with a little pause for dramatic effect – while surrounded by friends and family at a decorated table set up in the middle of the Lions’ gym.
