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WHEN JUAN SOTO began to initiate himself with the New York Yankees, his third team in less than two years, the takeaway from those who observed it was how seamless it felt — how comfortable he looked, how easily he found his voice, how quickly it seemed as if he had been there forever.

He’s getting better at this.

“It’s definitely easier than the first time,” Soto said with a laugh earlier this month, about two weeks after his first official workout as a Yankee. “The first time, it was really tough.”

It can be jarring to consider Soto — the accomplishments he has had, the legends he has been compared to, the trades he has been at the center of — and realize he is only 25 years old, younger than Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman, Toronto’s Bo Bichette and Atlanta’s Austin Riley. Before Soto, no player had ever made three All-Star teams and been traded twice before the age of 26.

The latest brought him to his sport’s most decorated franchise, for whom he’ll debut in an Opening Day matchup against the rival Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on Thursday afternoon. The Yankees will pair Soto with fellow superstar Aaron Judge in hopes of revitalizing a lineup that often looked listless amid an 82-win, playoff-less season last year. But only the 2024 season is promised. After it ends, Soto will venture into the free agent market, potentially on the move once more.

There was a time, not too long ago, when Soto thought his career would be a steady and continuous ascension, the type reserved for only a select few of the game’s greatest. Debuting at 19, winning the World Series after his age-20 season, claiming a batting title at 21 and drawing comparisons to Ted Williams by 22 will do that. He has since had to grapple with interruption, calamity, imperfection. He believes he has been hardened by it.

“The Nationals showed me the business side of the game,” Soto said, “and I’m just glad they showed me that.”

Soto spent an entire morning crying after being traded away from the Washington Nationals, the team that signed him, shaped him, watched him become a star and helped make him a champion. In the aftermath of his trade from the San Diego Padres 16 months later, in December 2023, he was unemotional, fully adept at navigating the cold realities of professional sports.

“I’ve been growing a lot,” Soto said. “On the business side, I’ve been learning a lot of things — about different organizations, different cultures. I think I’ve been learning from that. I’m happy I’m learning that way, so that whenever I get to one spot I know how to react whenever I get around a clubhouse that is going to be different.”

Barring an unexpected extension with the Yankees, Soto, a Scott Boras client, will become baseball’s most coveted free agent in a little more than seven months. Given the heavy deferrals in Shohei Ohtani‘s contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers — he signed for $700 million, but the present-day value, based on how it impacts the competitive balance tax payroll, sits at $460 million — Soto still has a chance to sign the richest contract in baseball history.

But what he wants more than anything is stability.

“That’s the best thing for me,” Soto said. “Stay in one place and try to, whenever I do this deal, just finish in that one spot.”


THE DETAILS OF professional sports contracts are often public, forcing athletes to live with the pressure of how much money they make. Few, though, have to live with the pressure of how much money they turn down. Soto lived that reality in the summer of 2022, during a 17-day window that began with the revelation that he declined a 15-year, $440 million extension from the Nationals on July 16 and ended with his trade to the Padres on Aug. 2.

The noise didn’t just come from fans and media, but from friends and family, many of them miffed by how anyone, let alone a person with such humble beginnings, could turn down generational wealth.

“It was days,” Soto said, “where I’d wake up and I’d get so many text messages, calls, phone calls, everything, that it just made you not even want to go to the field.”

Roughly 17 months later, the anger over all of it becoming public still feels fresh.

“I was a guy who was loyal to the team,” Soto said. “I always tried to say, ‘Anything we do business-wise, it was just between the team and myself.’ And it was really shocking for me, it was really tough for me. It was really frustrating at the same time, because I really trusted that team. I gave all my trust to be able to negotiate and do things like that, and when you see stuff like that, you just feel so bad. It was really uncomfortable.”

The Nationals’ extension offer, which didn’t come with any deferrals, would stand as baseball’s second-largest contract even today. But its average annual value, $29.3 million, would rank Soto behind 18 other players this season. Given the combined $54 million he will make in his last two arbitration years, Soto projects to do better than that in free agency, especially with another MVP-caliber year in 2024. Any free agent deal exceeding $386 million would net him more money in the aggregate.

Just as big a deterrent as the average annual value for Soto, though, was that the Nationals were for sale at the time.

“You’re being offered a contract from a faceless owner,” Boras said in a phone conversation. “And Juan Soto didn’t want to place his career in that position, because he really wanted to know who he was going to be working with for years to come.”

“People can judge you, but at the end of the day, it’s you who has to feel comfortable,” said retired outfielder Nelson Cruz, a confidant of Soto’s with the Nationals in 2022 who briefly joined him with the Padres in 2023. “That made me really proud of him, to see him figure out, ‘It’s me who has to deal with it.’ It was great to see him grow up as a player, grow up on the business side, because he understood his value and what he’s worth. He’s very educated with that. I hope he gets what he wants.”

Once he arrived in San Diego, Soto said, “all the noise just stopped.” But the 2022 season still saw him finish with only a .242 batting average and a .452 slugging percentage, by far the lowest marks of his career. The Padres won anyway, making it all the way to the National League Championship Series. The ensuing offseason saw them sign Xander Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280 million contract. Later, near the end of February, Manny Machado was given an 11-year, $350 million extension.

It seemed like the Padres — also tied long-term to Fernando Tatis Jr., Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish — didn’t have any more millions to give. But Soto said he maintained hope of staying, too. His conversations with owner Peter Seidler made him believe it was possible.

“He really wanted me to be part of the team,” Soto said.

Boras saved his last exchange with Seidler, a short text message from Nov. 2. In it, Seidler, who late in the season had undergone an undisclosed medical procedure, wrote that he was “improving steadily” and that though doctors had told him to stay off his phone, “I’m going to keep in touch with you anyway.” Twelve days later, Seidler died. Sources familiar with the team’s thinking believe the Padres ultimately would have had no choice but to trade Soto; it was their best — and perhaps only — route to adding starting-pitching depth and getting their payroll below $200 million, two clear goals at the start of the offseason. But many wonder if Seidler would have found a way to keep Soto regardless.

“I only know everything that Peter said to me,” Boras said. “Peter Seidler always said to me that Juan Soto will be on his team. He said it 50 times to me — ‘Juan Soto will be on my team.'”


SOTO HAS SAID all the right things about becoming a Yankee. But he hasn’t been as effusive as one might expect for what feels like such a natural fit — a magnetic, star-level player for a premier franchise. Some have rationalized it as another bargaining move, not unlike Soto’s decision to turn down the Nationals’ final offer; a way to maintain leverage in the lead-up to a free agency that will include the crosstown New York Mets, among others, as aggressive suitors.

It might be something else, though: a defense mechanism. Soto doesn’t want to get hurt again, and so he won’t allow himself to.

“That’s how things go,” Soto said. “You definitely love where you’re at, you’re definitely happy, excited with where you’re going to be and how the team’s going to be — but they show you you cannot fall in love, like I did with the Nationals. I was more than excited to be there, and they just cracked everything open and let me go.”

Boras has had precisely 52 meetings with Soto (“I keep track of them,” he said) to go over “the economics of the game and his value in it.” Soto is not just one of the best hitters of this era; at a time when players constantly sacrifice strikeouts to keep up with the high velocities and elevated spin rates of the modern game, his combination of patience and power is unmatched. Soto drew a major-league-leading 412 walks from 2021 to 2023, 136 more than the second-place Kyle Schwarber, but also accumulated 91 home runs, tied for 15th. His adjusted OPS of 157 is the fifth highest all-time through a player’s age-24 season, trailing only Ty Cobb, Mike Trout, Mickey Mantle and Jimmie Foxx, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

That he’ll be a free agent at 26 years old only adds to the possibility that his next contract will reach the $500 million threshold that had been so elusive until Ohtani. Soto, though, cares about the length of his new deal at least as much as he cares about the value attached to it. It’ll be the first contract he signs, but he also wants it to be his last.

“At the end of the day, everybody wants to be where they’re going to finish their career,” Soto said. “This free agency was really tough for a lot of players, but I think if you ask any guy in the clubhouse, anywhere, they will be happy to be in a long-term deal and try to finish their career where they can be. That’s the best thing for me — to stay in one place and try to, whenever I do this deal, just finish in that one spot.”

Soto brought up his four most prominent ex-teammates — Machado, Bogaerts, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper. Machado, Bogaerts and Turner each signed 11-year deals that carry them through their age-40 season; Harper signed a 13-year contract after hitting free agency at a similar age as Soto will. All have full no-trade clauses.

“Long contracts,” Soto said, “because they know they’re going to finish their career right there. Anything can happen in the future. Maybe they get traded. But that’s going to be on them if they want to get traded, instead of going to free agency and trying the market again. They just know they’re going to be there for a long time.”


YANKEES GENERAL MANAGER Brian Cashman lowered the expectations early. On the first day of spring training, when he met with the New York media, he essentially stated that, barring something unforeseen, Soto will play out the 2024 season in the Bronx and then become a free agent. It was a reaction to a conversation Boras had with managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner shortly after the trade, during which Boras relayed Soto’s desire to “learn what it’s like to be a Yankee” before making a long-term commitment.

It was also an acknowledgment of the obvious.

“Scott Boras is his agent,” Cashman said plainly. “Scott takes his guys to free agency. That’s typically what he does. It’s just reading the landscape and recognizing that that is the most realistic avenue. It doesn’t mean that’s what’s going to happen. I don’t rule it out. But I just feel like under-promise, overperform is probably, in the New York market, the best thing you can do.”

The Yankees are expected to be aggressive in their efforts to bring Soto back this offseason, even if it means giving him a contract that tops the one signed by their captain, Judge, who landed a nine-year, $360 million deal as a 30-year-old in December 2022.

The results of 2024 could have a lot of sway.

The Yankees are coming off one of their most disappointing seasons in recent memory and will be without their ace, Gerrit Cole, until at least May or June while he recovers from what has been diagnosed as nerve inflammation and edema in his right elbow. Soto has never needed to be more of a difference-maker, and the early signs were promising. His first seven Grapefruit League games saw him hit four home runs, leaving his new team in awe.

“I feel like he’s going to kill the ball every time he swings,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said at the time.

“I knew I would enjoy watching him,” Cole said, “but I love watching him.”

There are no questions surrounding Soto’s ability to hit, but there are plenty surrounding his ability to defend, so much so that there are already talks — among fans, but also among scouts and executives — about him eventually transitioning to designated hitter, perhaps sooner than later. It’s the one aspect of his game that could prevent the massive contract he once seemed pre-ordained for, and he knows it.

“I want to show people that I can play outfield, I can play defense,” Soto said. “I saw those comments and everything, that they say I’m not going to be [much] longer in the outfield. But I feel like I can.”

By Statcast’s Run Value metric, Soto was a minus-30 from 2018 to 2023, though the number was heavily skewed by an abysmal showing in 2022. He was worth four outs above average in 2021, but minus-16 in 2022 and minus-9 in 2023. In hopes of getting him closer to the metrics of three years ago, Yankees outfield coach Luis Rojas spent a large portion of spring training working with Soto on pre-pitch techniques in hopes of improving his first step, usually by taking live reads during batting practice. His desire to improve has been obvious.

“I noticed that from the first day we talked,” Rojas said. “You can sense it right away, when a player takes over a conversation and basically owns it. You see the sense of responsibility that he has for his career, in all areas.”

Cruz sees Soto as the prototypical Yankee, for reasons that extend far beyond a short right-field porch. Cruz, 43, spent 19 years in the big leagues and struggled to find someone more focused, more disciplined and more mature than Soto. Those traits, while coupled with a strong demeanor and a hard exterior, have at times distanced Soto from teammates, as some around the Padres can attest to. But Cruz believes they’ll be a major benefit under New York’s magnifying glass.

“The fans are going to love him,” said Cruz, now an adviser with the Dodgers. “He’s the type of player the Yankees are looking for.”

Soto made fast friends with fellow outfielder Alex Verdugo, his new throwing partner and locker mate at the Yankees’ spring training complex in Tampa, Florida. One locker over was Trent Grisham, the veteran center fielder who came over with Soto in the most recent trade. Grisham was on the same Padres team where Soto admittedly struggled to adapt and was surprised to see Soto now so comfortable, so at ease, at such an early stage with the Yankees. He told him as much before the end of the first week.

“He looks happy,” Grisham said a few days later. “He looks excited.”

He’s done this before.

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MLB All-October team: The stars who ruled the 2024 playoffs

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MLB All-October team: The stars who ruled the 2024 playoffs

The 2024 World Series ended with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the championship in a stunning comeback in Game 5, with Walker Buehler the unlikely pitcher to close out the 7-6 win over the New York Yankees. First baseman Freddie Freeman was handed the World Series MVP award for his record-tying 12-RBI performance.

But that doesn’t tell the full story of everyone who played a starring role this October — a postseason that featured a record six grand slams, among other wildness. So, to honor the best of the entire postseason, we’ve created our first MLB All-October Team.

From wild-card-round sensations to World Series heroes, here are the players our ESPN MLB expert panel voted as the best of the best at every position along with some award hardware for the brightest stars of October.


2024 All-October Team

Catcher: Kyle Higashioka, San Diego Padres

Why he’s here: To be honest, it wasn’t a great playoffs for catchers — they hit just .184/.254/.310. Higashioka is the one catcher who did hit, belting three home runs and driving in five runs in the seven games the Padres played.

Honorable mention: Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers


1B: Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers

Why he’s here: Freeman didn’t have an extra-base hit and drove in just one run in the first two rounds of the playoffs as he tried to play through the severely sprained ankle he suffered at the end of the regular season. He didn’t even play in two games of the NLCS and required hours of physical therapy before each game just to get on the field. But the five days off before the World Series clearly helped, and he homered in the first four games, including his dramatic walk-off grand slam in Game 1 that will go down as not only the signature World Series moment of 2024 — but a World Series moment for the ages.

Honorable mention: Pete Alonso, New York Mets


2B: Gleyber Torres, New York Yankees

Why he’s here: Torres had a solid October as he heads into free agency, although he had little competition here. Indeed, second basemen collectively hit just .219 with three home runs the entire playoffs — two of those from Torres — and drove in 24 runs, with Torres driving in eight himself. He had three multihit games and scored five runs in five games in the ALCS, while also taking walks to help set the table for Juan Soto.

Honorable mention: Brice Turang, Milwaukee Brewers


3B: Mark Vientos, New York Mets

Why he’s here: Max Muncy set a record when he reached base 17 times in the NLCS, including a single-postseason-record 12 times in a row, but he went hitless in the World Series. Vientos, meanwhile, had a stellar first trip to the postseason, hitting .327/.362/.636 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in 13 games. That followed a breakout regular season in which he posted an .837 OPS with 27 home runs in just 111 games. He looks like he’ll be a fixture in the middle of the Mets’ lineup for years to come.

Honorable mention: Muncy, Los Angeles Dodgers


SS: Tommy Edman, Los Angeles Dodgers

Why he’s here: Edman was an under-the-radar pickup at the trade deadline, in part because he was still injured and hadn’t yet played for the St. Louis Cardinals. Most of Edman’s starts came at shortstop, especially after Miguel Rojas was injured in the NLDS, but his bat got him here. Edman was the NLCS MVP after hitting .407 with a record-tying 11 RBIs in the series. He had started at cleanup just twice in his career but was slotted there twice against the Mets, driving in seven runs in those two games. Then he went 2-for-4 in each of the first two games of the World Series, including a home run in Game 2, and finished the Fall Classic hitting .294/.400/.588 with six runs.

Honorable mention: Francisco Lindor, New York Mets


OF: Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers
OF: Juan Soto, New York Yankees
OF: Enrique Hernandez, Los Angeles Dodgers

Why they’re here: Betts entered this postseason in a 3-for-38 postseason slump going back to the end of the 2021 NLCS — and it initially looked like it would be more of the same when he went 0-for-6 the first two games of the NLDS, including a robbed home run courtesy of Jurickson Profar. Everything turned in Game 3 when Profar almost robbed him of another home run — but didn’t. After that, Betts was in the middle of most of the Dodgers’ big rallies, hitting .321/.394/.625 with four home runs and 16 RBIs over the Dodgers’ final 14 playoff games.

Soto’s at-bats spoke for themselves: He never seemed to have a bad one. His big at-bat was the three-run home run in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the ALCS to send the Yankees to the World Series. Getting intentionally walked twice while batting in front of Aaron Judge speaks to Judge’s struggles, yes — but also to how locked in Soto was all postseason. He finished the postseason slashing .327/.469/.633 with 4 home runs, 9 RBIs and 14 walks in 14 games.

Hernandez actually began October on the bench, but we’ve seen him perform big in the postseason before, and he stepped up when Miguel Rojas was injured in the NLDS. Hernandez homered in the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory to close out the Padres in the NLDS, had a big two-run home run against the Mets in Game 3 of the NLCS and got the series-turning five-run rally against the Yankees in Game 5 started with a leadoff single in the fifth as well as the series-winning rally in the eighth with another leadoff base hit. Overall, he hit .294/.357/.451 with 11 runs and six RBIs.

Honorable mentions: Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians; Teoscar Hernandez, Los Angeles Dodgers; Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres


DH: Giancarlo Stanton, New York Yankees

Why he’s here: The Yankees were often a two-man show in the postseason, just like they were in the regular season — except it was Soto and Stanton, not Soto and Judge. Stanton blasted seven home runs throughout the playoffs, including in the final three games of the ALCS (earning MVP honors) and in Games 1 and 5 of the World Series. He finished the playoffs hitting .273/.339/.709, and those seven homers are the most in a single postseason in Yankees history.

Honorable mention: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers; David Fry, Cleveland Guardians


SP: Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees
SP: Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

Why they’re here: Certainly, it seems as if the status of the starting pitcher in the postseason continues to decline — although, that doesn’t mean they’re not important. There were certainly some stellar individual outings along the way: Corbin Burnes allowed one run in eight innings (but lost 1-0) for the Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings (but that would be his only start) and the Padres’ Michael King fanned 12 to beat the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. Skubal had two scoreless starts against the Houston Astros in the wild-card series and Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS, confirming his status as one of the best in the game — or maybe the best, as his soon-to-be AL Cy Young Award will attest.

Cole was really the one consistent starter throughout the postseason, making five starts with a 2.17 ERA. Unfortunately, that ERA doesn’t register the five unearned runs from the final game of the World Series when the Yankees’ defense turned into a comedy of errors — including Cole himself opening up the floodgates by failing to cover first base to get what would have been the inning-ending out.

Honorable mention: Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers; Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers; Sean Manaea, New York Mets; Seth Lugo, Kansas City Royals


RP: Luke Weaver, New York Yankees
RP: Blake Treinen, Los Angeles Dodgers

Why they’re here: It also wasn’t the best of postseasons for closers — not even great ones. The Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase allowed five earned runs all regular season — and then eight in the playoffs. Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams blew that wild-card game against the Mets. All-Star Jeff Hoffman lost two games for the Phillies. Weaver, however, was the one consistent late-game performer and was great while often pitching more than one inning. He posted a 1.76 ERA across 15⅓ innings. Who knows how the World Series ends if Yankees manager Aaron Boone keeps Weaver in the game in the 10th inning of Game 1. (Weaver had thrown just 19 pitches.)

Treinen, meanwhile, capped his comeback season — he had missed almost all of 2022 and then all of 2023 — with a 2.19 ERA across 12⅓ innings, winning two games and saving three others. In the World Series clincher, he recorded seven outs and got out of a two-on, no-out jam in the eighth inning to preserve the Dodgers’ 7-6 lead before handing the ball to Buehler to close out the ninth.

Honorable mention: Cade Smith, Cleveland Guardians; Michael Kopech, Los Angeles Dodgers; Beau Brieske, Detroit Tigers


All-October Award Winners

October MVP: Freddie Freeman

Pitchers of the month: Gerrit Cole, Walker Buehler (tie)

Best October introduction: Mark Vientos

Clutch performer: Freeman

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SMU QB Jennings cleared for Pitt showdown

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SMU QB Jennings cleared for Pitt showdown

SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings has been medically cleared for the top-20 clash with Pittsburgh this weekend and will start for the Mustangs on Saturday night, coach Rhett Lashlee told ESPN.

Jennings has been described as being among a “bunch of beat-up guys” by Lashlee and was listed as questionable heading into the game. His injury has not been disclosed. He required medical clearance to play Saturday night, sources had told ESPN earlier in the week. That clearance came late this week, Lashlee said.

Jennings is 5-0 as a starter this season for No. 20 SMU, which hosts a key matchup against No. 18 Pitt. Jennings is 6-1 in his career as a starter and has emerged as the engineer of one of the ACC’s most dangerous offenses.

He has thrown for 1,594 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions this season. He completed 21 of 27 passes in a road win at Louisville and threw for 322 yards in a win at Stanford. Jennings has also run for 321 yards and three touchdowns.

Both quarterbacks in Saturday’s game had some ambiguity around their status. Pitt’s Eli Holstein was also cleared late in the week, coach Pat Narduzzi announced on his radio show Wednesday.

Both teams are undefeated in ACC play, as Pitt enters 7-0 overall (3-0 ACC) for the first time since 1982. SMU is 7-1 overall (4-0 ACC), with its only loss coming early in the year to undefeated BYU.

Jennings took a hit that Lashlee has called “a real shot” during SMU’s game at Duke on Saturday night. He threw three interceptions in the 28-27 SMU win.

In ACC play, SMU’s offense ranks No. 3 in scoring with 36.0 points per game. The Mustangs also rank third with 477.3 yards per league game.

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‘Nothing like him’: Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith a ‘generational talent’

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'Nothing like him': Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith a 'generational talent'

Jack Daniels had never witnessed a catch like it.

The South Florida high school coach of 35 years was playing Chaminade-Madonna — and future Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith — in the playoffs.

“They were already up on us pretty good, and they had the running back throw the ball,” Daniels recalled. “And [Smith] went up — I think he was about 5 feet over the goalpost over a kid that was a Power 4 corner [Kevin Levy, who is now at Rutgers]. … it was just incredible.”

The Cardinal Newman coach has faced dozens of future NFL wide receivers over the years, including Pro Football Hall of Famer Devin Hester and Super Bowl champion Anquan Boldin.

Yet to Daniels, Smith stands alone.

“He is head and shoulders, by far, the best I’ve ever seen,” said Daniels, comparing Smith’s high school prowess to that of Baltimore Ravens MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson, who hailed from Boynton Beach Community High School.

“There’s been nothing like him.”

Archbishop Carroll coach Jorge Zagales, who also lost to Chaminade in the playoffs, recalls only one opposing player over his three decades on the sidelines who could dominate like Smith.

“I coached against Sean Taylor. … and Jeremiah is right there, if not the same as Sean Taylor,” Zagales said of the former Pro Bowl safety from Gulliver Prep, who died at 24. “Sean Taylor probably would’ve been a Hall of Famer. I feel that’s the way Jeremiah is headed.”

Clearwater Central Catholic coach Chris Harvey grew up in West Virginia watching Randy Moss play for DuPont High School. As a coach, Harvey hadn’t come across anyone like Moss — until he met Smith in the Florida state championship game.

“You saw what [Moss] did to professional DBs, so imagine what he did to DBs in West Virginia in high school,” Harvey said. “I love my home state. But we’re not West Virginia in Florida. We’ve got dudes — and Jeremiah Smith made us look like the West Virginia high school DBs.”

All of that might sound hyperbolic.

Except seven games into his freshman season at Ohio State, Smith — still just 18 years old — is already one of college football’s best wide receivers, alongside Alabama freshman phenom Ryan Williams and Colorado Heisman Trophy contender Travis Hunter.

“His physical skills (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) are kind of incomparable for someone at that age, but it’s his maturity level that has set him apart. There’s a lot of guys that could get caught up in that hype. You don’t see that out of him,” said Ohio State offensive coordinator and former NFL head coach Chip Kelly, who noted that Smith carries on like a “10-year NFL veteran.”

“How he approaches meetings, how he approaches practices,” Kelly said, “it’s rare.”

Despite playing on an Ohio State offense loaded with future pros, including running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson, and preseason All-American wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, Smith leads the Buckeyes with 623 receiving yards on 35 receptions.

Last week, Smith tied Cris Carter’s Ohio State freshman record set in 1984 with his eighth touchdown catch, blowing by the Nebraska defense for a 60-yard score.

Saturday in a Big Ten showdown against third-ranked Penn State, Smith needs only seven receptions and 26 receiving yards to break Carter’s other freshman program records, though he’s still well behind Michael Crabtree’s national freshman receiving records at Texas Tech in 2007 (134 catches for 1,962 yards and 22 touchdowns).

Smith has reached the end zone in every game this season, highlighted by his dazzling one-handed touchdown grabs against Michigan State and Iowa.

To those who faced Smith in high school, those spectacular catches are nothing new.

In their state championship game, Harvey assumed Chaminade quarterback CJ Bailey was throwing the ball away.

“Then from nowhere comes this arm,” Harvey said. “And [Smith] pulls it back in for a touchdown, like Stretch Armstrong. It was definitely one of the best catches I’ve ever seen. But the thing about it is, he does that so often, he doesn’t even get excited about it.”

Harvey and Clearwater Catholic lost the past two state championship games to Chaminade by a combined score of 104-14. Smith caught 11 passes for 170 yards in the second title matchup on the way to a 56-0 victory for Chaminade’s third state championship in a row.

Afterward, South Florida University coach Alex Golesh, who was in attendance, consoled Harvey, telling him, “That’s just what happens when you’re playing a generational talent.”

“And that’s what he is,” Harvey said. “And outside of Randy Moss, I’ve never seen a person have the ability to take over a game at that position the way he did.”

Smith didn’t reach that level by accident.

North Carolina running back Davion Gause, who grew up with Smith and played with him at Chaminade, recalled Smith being cut from their youth football team 11 years ago.

“He still came to the park every day and watched us practice, playing catch with his dad the whole time,” Gause said. “When he came back the next year, he was a different player.”

Bailey, who played on a different youth team, remembered Smith dominating in the championship game that following year.

“He was killing us,” said Bailey, now NC State’s starting quarterback.

Bailey, Gause and Smith later joined forces at Chaminade, forming one of the country’s top high school teams. Chaminade coach Dameon Jones said he’d hadn’t had a player more committed who worked harder in practice than Smith.

“His mindset, the way it is to be so young, is crazy,” said Jones, who coached Miami Dolphins quarterback Tyler Huntley and Cincinnati Bengals running back Zack Moss. “I’ve just never seen it before. … He’s the total package.”

As a junior, Smith was hampered by a hip flexor injury. Jones pleaded with Smith to take off a couple of practices to allow the hip to heal.

“He got pissed at me,” Jones said. “He told me, ‘I’m not missing practice. I’m not missing reps.'”

Smith brought that work ethic to Columbus. This summer, he became Ohio State’s first freshman to be named an “Iron Buckeye,” given to the top performers in offseason workouts.

“Jeremiah is already a freak in the weight room,” said Egbuka, who also earned the honor.

The one-handed catches, however, have been what have set Smith apart this season.

After Odell Beckham Jr. made his famous one-handed touchdown snag for the New York Giants in 2014, Gause remembered Smith toiling endlessly attempting to re-create it.

Later at Chaminade, Smith and teammate Joshisa Trader, who’s now a receiver at Miami, worked on their one-handed catches with the jug machines daily. Jones would get irritated when players would try to catch with one hand in games. But after watching how rigorously Smith practiced them, Jones had to relent.

“The stuff y’all are seeing right now in college with them one-handed catches,” Bailey said, “I’ve seen way, way crazier things from him.”

One of those one-handed catches came during a victory over Miami Central on ESPN.

“[He] would just kill other defenses,” said Pitt defensive end Zachary Crothers, who also played for Chaminade. “You could tell defenses were scared. They did not want to be out there.”

Bailey knew Smith would be special during their first 7-on-7 tournament together; Smith initially had played at Monsignor Edward Pace before transferring to Chaminade as a sophomore. The Lions were down a score, and time was running out.

“We got a played called,” Bailey said. “This is a clutch moment. But JJ [Jeremiah] walks up to the [offensive coordinator] and says, ‘I want a fade.’ Coach says, ‘All right, let him run a fade.'”

Bailey lofted the ball to Smith, who brought the pass down over the defender for a touchdown. Chaminade then went for two to win the game.

“And we never lost a 7-on-7 tournament,” Bailey said. “With him, I’ve seen it all.”

Despite becoming the No. 1-ranked high school receiver in the country, Smith only asked Jones for the ball one time.

An opposing defensive back from American Heritage kept talking trash to Smith during one of Chaminade’s few tightly contested games.

“So we threw [Smith] a bomb, and he caught a touchdown over him,” Jones said. “The one thing about JJ, he’s quiet, he’s humble. But he’s also got that dog mentality inside of him.”

Smith has kept that same mentality in college. Over the past three years, the Buckeyes have generated four first-round draft picks at receiver in Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Marvin Harrison Jr.

This spring, the Arizona Cardinals selected Harrison with the fourth overall pick, making him the highest-drafted receiver in Ohio State history. But Smith-Njigba says he believes Smith could ultimately go higher than any of them — though he won’t be eligible until the 2027 draft.

“He could play one year of college and be ready for the league,” Smith-Njigba said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a receiver that young like him.”

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