OSU star Smith warns Ducks against playing man
-
Chris Low, ESPN Senior Writer
LOS ANGELES — Jeremiah Smith served notice Monday to Oregon‘s defense if it chooses to play single coverage on him or any of the Ohio State receivers.
“I’m just laughing in my head. Why are y’all really playing man-on-man against us, or against me, I should say?” Smith said. “And when we see man [coverage] against any of our receivers, we’re going to take a shot down the field.
“So I’m just letting everybody know right now that if you play man Wednesday, we’re taking a shot.”
Smith, Ohio State’s dynamic freshman receiver, torched Tennessee with six catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns in the Buckeyes’ 42-17 rout of the Vols in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Dec. 21. He was a one-man wrecking crew against Tennessee’s man coverage.
Smith will be a focal point for Oregon in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential when the two teams meet Wednesday in a rematch of their Oct. 12 game, won 32-31 by the Ducks in Eugene.
“They’re going to see a completely different player than the last time,” said Smith, who caught nine passes for 100 yards and a touchdown in the first game against Oregon. “Even [receivers] Coach [Brian] Hartline told me the other day that I’m a whole different player from the first time we played Oregon until now. It started with understanding the game plan and knowing what the defense is trying to do.”
Smith said the entire Ohio State team was “pissed off” about the 13-10 home loss to Michigan to end the regular season and played that way against Tennessee. He said the same goes for the Buckeyes’ first loss, earlier in the season to Oregon.
“We were ready to get that bad taste out of our mouth, let it all loose and dominate Tennessee,” Smith said. “Here’s a chance to do it again.”
It was an “angry” team that took the field against Tennessee, Ohio State quarterback Will Howard said.
“And you could see it,” Howard said. “And I think when we play like that, we’re hard to beat, and we have to keep that same mentality. I think that’s really what the difference was, that anger, [being] pissed off, that chip on our shoulder we played with, and that’s going to be crucial in this game.”
The same goes for getting the ball to Smith, who leads the team in receiving yards (1,037) and touchdown catches (12). He said he arrived on campus weighing 208 pounds but is now up to 225 — and hasn’t lost a step.
Senior cornerback Denzel Burke is amazed every time he sees the 6-foot-3 Smith make an opposing cornerback look helpless.
“He’s one of the best I’ve seen, and I think will be the best to come through here, and I’ve seen a lot of great ones and played with them,” said Burke, reeling off the names of NFL receivers Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. “You see all those same qualities. He’s calm. His work ethic is crazy, and he performs on game day.
“He’s just different. He’s a dog. You don’t see that in a young 18-year-old coming out of high school.”
Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who has been a head coach at both the collegiate and NFL ranks, said Monday that he has yet to see a receiver just like Smith.
“Not with that combination of size and speed and ability to catch and ability to track the ball,” Kelly said. “There have been some other guys smaller that can do it and guys who were the same size, but they didn’t run and move like him. And then it’s his approach and mindset that truly make him special.
“We have to pull him back sometimes in practice. Some guys with that skill set will be like, ‘Nah, I’ve got this.’ But he never wants to miss anything. He’s going to continue to grow because he wants to.”
Smith said the leaders of the team, the regular and fifth-year seniors, have been the ones to help Ohio State weather the storm this season and get the Buckeyes to this point where they still have a chance to win a national championship despite the close losses to Michigan and Oregon. The loss to the Wolverines was especially hard to stomach. Ohio State was a three-touchdown favorite and has now lost four straight in the rivalry after winning eight in a row.
“Nobody wants to lose to [Michigan]. Everybody knows that, and I know the fans hate it. It’s been going on for the last couple of years, and I know they’re tired of it,” Smith said. “But we were going to move forward, and the leaders on our team were going to make sure that happened. We were going to be ready for whoever we played first [in the playoff], and I can promise you we’ll be ready for this game and everybody else who comes next.”
ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this story.
-
Chris Low, ESPN Senior Writer
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe and linebacker Jihaad Campbell each declared for the NFL draft Thursday.
Milroe, a redshirt junior and Alabama’s starter the past two years, announced the news via an Instagram post. He thanked Nick Saban, Kalen DeBoer and his teammates, among others.
“To the entire Alabama family, thank you for embracing a kid from Texas and allowing me the honor of wearing the script ‘A.’ Representing this university has been one of the greatest honors of my life ” Milroe wrote.
Milroe finished sixth in Heisman Trophy balloting a year ago and played an integral role in Alabama winning the SEC championship and getting to the College Football Playoff.
But he had an up-and-down 2024 season, passing for 2,844 yards and 16 touchdowns but also throwing 11 interceptions. A dynamic running threat, Milroe led Alabama with 726 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns, ranking second nationally among quarterbacks. His 33 career rushing touchdowns is tied for eighth in Alabama history.
Off the field this season, Milroe was the recipient of the William V. Campbell Trophy, commonly known as the academic Heisman.
Milroe is ranked as the No. 3 quarterback prospect for the 2025 NFL draft by ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr.
Campbell led the Tide in total tackles (117), sacks (5) and tackles for loss (11.5) this season, while adding two forced fumbles, an interception and a fumble recovery.
“These last three years in Tuscaloosa have molded me into a better player and a better man,” Campbell said as part of an Instagram post. “And this experience has been special and something that I will never forget.
“I feel like I am ready now to take the next step in my career.”
A first-team All-SEC selection and a Butkus Award semifinalist, Campbell ranks No. 20 on Kiper’s latest Big Board for the draft. Kiper ranks Campbell as the No. 2 draft-eligible off-ball linebacker, behind Georgia‘s Jalon Walker.
Campbell led Alabama with 11 tackles in Tuesday’s ReliaQuest Bowl loss to Michigan. The New Jersey native became a starter in 2023 and finished third on the team with 66 tackles.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report.
-
Eli Lederman, ESPN Staff Writer
South Carolina beat in-state rivals Clemson and other finalists Colorado, Ole Miss and Tennessee to the pledge of four-star wide receiver Donovan Murph, the top remaining uncommitted skill position player in the 2025 class.
Murph announced his decision Thursday afternoon on ESPN2 during the 2025 Under Armour All-America Game in DeLand, Florida, leading the cast of top high school prospects who made verbal commitments at the annual high school football showcase.
A 6-foot-2 pass catcher from Columbia, South Carolina, Murph is the No. 182 prospect in the 2025 ESPN 300 and entered Thursday as the No. 2 uncommitted prospect in the 2025 cycle. With his pledge, Murph becomes the sixth ESPN 300 prospect to join a 2025 Gamecocks recruiting class that began Thursday at No. 23 in ESPN’s team rankings for the cycle.
“South Carolina was the school that stayed consistent with me,” Murph told ESPN. “All fall they were showing me love and letting me know they believed in my talent. That played a big role in my recruitment.”
Murph lands with South Carolina after catching 96 passes for 1,328 and 12 touchdowns in his final season at Irmo (South Carolina) High School, and joins a deep Gamecocks wide receiver class in the 2025 cycle. Along with Murph’s pledge, South Carolina holds signatures from fellow top-300 pass catchers Jordon Gidron (No. 129 overall), Malik Clark (No. 178) and Lex Cyrus (No. 292). Four-star wide receiver Brian Rowe and three-star pass catcher Jayden Sellers also signed with the program during last month’s early signing period.
Initially a member of the Class of 2026, Murph took unofficial visits to Ohio State, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama during the fall before announcing his intention to reclassify into the 2025 cycle on Oct. 1. Murph’s decision to enter college early attracted significant Power 4 interest in the final months of 2024, but ESPN’s No. 22 wide receiver prospect limited his official visits in November to South Carolina and Clemson before Murph returned for an unofficial visit with the Tigers on the final weekend of the college football regular season.
The pair of in-state powers battled hard for the No. 4 overall prospect in the state of South Carolina, and Murph pointed to the Gamecocks’ rising trajectory as a key factor in his decision. South Carolina reached nine wins for the first time since 2017 this fall, emerging as a dark-horse College Football Playoff contender behind breakout star quarterback LaNorris Sellers in coach Shane Beamer’s fourth season in charge of the program.
“I like the direction they’re heading in,” he said. “They’re trending up. They continue to get better and better. I think I can add to that and be a playmaker who makes an impact early.”
For the first time in the 17-year history of the Under Armour All-America Game, team rosters for the 2025 showcase event included high school juniors. Among the Class of 2026 prospect who made up roughly 30% of the player pool, several followed Murph with commitment announcements on Thursday, still 11 months from the 2026 early signing period.
The most high-profile of those decisions came from four-star defensive end JaReylan McCoy (No. 94 in the ESPN 300), who announced his pledge to LSU during the fourth quarter of the all-star game, picking the Tigers over USC, Tennessee and Alabama.
McCoy is ESPN’s No. 9 defensive end prospect in the 2026 cycle and has logged 140-plus tackles and 18.5 sacks in three seasons at Tupelo (Mississippi) High School, where he was a key member of a team that finished 14-0 team on its way to a Class 7A state title this fall.
McCoy now stands as the top-ranked prospect in a 2026 LSU recruiting class that holds pledges from three other top-300 pledges from in-state defenders Aiden Hall (No. 108 in the ESPN Junior 300), Jakai Anderson (No. 152) and Richard Anderson (No. 171).
McCoy told ESPN that he remains undecided on taking visits to other schools in 2025, but emphasized that the timing of his commitment was part of a plan to find a home early in the cycle in favor of a quieter recruiting process. While USC pushed hardest in the final days of McCoy’s recruitment, he credited Tigers defensive line coach Bo Davis and a handful of unofficial visits to the program as two elements that ultimately helped pull his commitment to LSU.
“I felt ready to lock in with somebody so I can play for my family in my senior year,” McCoy said. “It’s a new year — this was the right time to slow down my recruitment and the right time to pick my new family.”
Earlier Thursday, four-star 2026 wide receiver Carnell Warren (No. 203 in the ESPN Junior 300) announced his commitment to Virginia Tech, landing with the Hokies over Georgia Tech, Duke and Wake Forest.
The 6-foot-4 pass catcher from Bluffton, South Carolina, caught 58 passes for 846 yards and 14 touchdowns during his junior season this fall and joins four-star quarterback Peyton Falzone (No. 200 in the ESPN Junior 300) as the second member of Virginia Tech’s 2026 class. The pair of top-300 commits represent a strong start for the Hokies in the upcoming cycle, and Warren referenced his connections with coach Brent Pry and Virginia Tech assistants Fontel Mines and Stu Holt as prominent forces in his decision.
“The relationships I have there were important,” he said. “Everything that’s going on at Virginia Tech and the bond that I’ve built with them over the last couple of months was something I couldn’t break. I knew Virginia Tech as the place.”
Three-star 2026 cornerback J.J. Dunnigan of Manhattan, Kansas rounded out the series of 2026 pledges on Thursday with his commitment to Kansas over Kansas State, Nebraska, Stanford. The top-ranked member of the Jayhawks’ 2026 class, Dunningan wrapped an impressive week of practice performances in Orlando with a fourth-quarter interception in Thursday’s game.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway