Jeremiah Smith Reflects On Breaking Records: ‘Don’t Stop Here’

They say records are meant to be broken, but if Ohio State freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has anything to say about it, the OSU records are going to be a lot more difficult to break when he’s finished his career as a Buckeye.

In Saturday’s game 45-0 win over Purdue, Smith caught six passes for 87 yards and a touchdown, and in so doing, he now holds Ohio State’s freshman record for receptions (45), yards receiving (765), and touchdown catches (9).

Smith set the yardage record a week earlier at Penn State, but the other two fell in the second quarter against the Boilermakers on Saturday

All three records belonged previously to former Buckeye great Cris Carter, who congratulated Smith immediately after 17-yard touchdown catch on third-and-eight.

Carter’s records lasted for 40 years.

It took Jeremiah Smith nine games to break them all.

“It means a lot. It’s a blessing for sure to be able to break Cris Carter’s freshman record. But we’ve got to keep it going. Don’t stop here,” Smith said after the game.

How does he keep it going?

“Just keep going out there making plays and continue what I’ve been doing,” he said

Smith wasn’t even aware he broke the touchdown record until it was put up on the scoreboard in Ohio Stadium and announced to the crowd. All three records were goals for Smith, but that’s not where his focus was this week.

“No, I didn’t really think about that,” he said. “We have so much stuff going on, installing so many new plays, so I didn’t really have that on my mind. But yeah, I didn’t recognize I broke it until I looked up at the Jumbotron and all my teammates and all the receivers were happy for me.”

How did he celebrate it?

“I’m not really celebrating. It’s just a blessing to be able to break the record,” he said. “I don’t think there’s really anything to celebrate. I’m just having fun.”

Jeremiah Smith is cognizant of what it means to be able to set a freshman record in the manner in which he has done it, but he’s also not letting it go to his head. The work is ongoing. He sees it all as a blessing and motivation.

“I have a little brother,” Smith said. “I want to be an example for him as well because I don’t want to be a bad role model for him. Just work hard. Everything that I do in life.”

And while the onlookers from the outside can watch the games and see what looks like a finished product, Smith sees himself getting better week to week.

“Yeah, I feel like I progress week in and week out,” he said. “Coach Hartline told me the other day last week, Sunday we had practice, ‘You’re getting better.
You got better each and every week.’

“I’m just going into my routine and I know it’s not only about the physical side, but it’s about the mental side as well. Just knowing what I’m doing was the biggest thing as well. So I feel like everything has slowed down for me.”

The only way the casual onlooker would even know that Jeremiah Smith was a freshman is that he’s currently in possession of a large number of Ohio State freshman receiving records. He plays much more like a veteran than a freshman is supposed to, even though he was, in fact, in high school last year.

So is there anything that he’s going through right now on the football field that still makes him feel like a freshman?

“Not really,” he said. “I still think I’m a freshman. I mean, I don’t really want to grow up that fast. I’m enjoying being a freshman right now. Other people might think I’m not, but I think I’m still a freshman.”

And as to the freshman goals he wrote down in his notebook before the season, are there any other individual aspirations jotted down as well?

“No, not really,” he said. “The next one’s just win the Big Ten Championship and the Natty.”

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