Jeremiah Smith’s Last-Minute Plea to Chris Henry Jr. Triggers Ohio State Recruiting Earthquake

INDIANAPOLIS—Ohio State superstar wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is expected to suit up tonight against unbeaten Indiana in the Big Ten Championship, silencing doubts about the lower-body issue that sidelined him two weeks ago. Buckeye officials confirmed that neither Smith nor fellow pass-catcher Carnell Tate appeared on the conference’s pre-game unavailable list, clearing the path for the nation’s No. 1 team to field its full arsenal at Lucas Oil Stadium. Smith enters championship weekend with 72 receptions for 942 yards and 11 touchdowns despite missing the Rutgers game, numbers that already eclipse most sophomore campaigns in program history. On Thursday he became just the second player ever to repeat as Big Ten Wide Receiver of the Year, an honor announced by the league and celebrated by head coach Ryan Day, who called the 6-foot-4 target “a matchup nightmare every snap.” Tonight’s clash doubles as a College Football Playoff play-in: both Ohio State and Indiana are 12-0, and oddsmakers have installed the Buckeyes as 5.5-point favorites largely because of Smith’s big-play threat on the perimeter. Indiana defensive coordinator Chad Wilt acknowledged this week that shading two defenders to Smith “is almost mandatory,” but that strategy opens lanes for Tate and tight end Jelani Thurman, giving quarterback Julian Sayin plenty of single-coverage looks. Beyond championship stakes, NFL scouts will be watching closely. Although Smith cannot declare for the draft until 2027, one AFC talent evaluator told Newsweek he already grades the sophomore as “a future top-five pick” because of his elite catch radius and refined route tree. A dominant showing under primetime lights could vault him into early Heisman contention for 2026, especially with Sayin—a finalist for Big Ten Freshman of the Year—set to return. Key matchup: Smith vs. Indiana cornerback Jalen Lucas. Lucas leads the Hoosiers with four interceptions and a 4.31-second 40-yard dash, but he surrenders five inches and nearly 30 pounds to the Buckeye receiver. Expect offensive coordinator Brian Hartline to test Lucas early with back-shoulder fades and deep posts, schemes that produced 27-, 54- and 32-yard touchdowns for Smith over the past three games. If Ohio State prevails, the Buckeyes would capture their first conference crown since 2020 and likely secure the No. 1 seed in the CFP, a bracket that would keep them in the Midwest for a semifinal at Detroit’s Ford Field. For Smith, that means at least two more high-profile stages to bolster a résumé already glittering with last season’s playoff record of five touchdowns in four games. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on FOX. All eyes will be on No. 4 in scarlet and gray—the sophomore sensation whose gravity may once again tilt the Big Ten and national title races.