Anonymous Big Ten Coach DISRESPECTS Jeremiah Smith | Is he right?

0:00football is back and this is believe you're home for NFL and college football news and analysis all season long. Now let's start the show. One big 10 coach just gave Jeremiah Smith the kind of quote how you say probably wished every opponent would say out loud because according to this coach stopping the best receiver in college football apparently isn't all that complicated all you got to do is just play cover 2 over and problem so. So in this episode of the big 10 out of presented by Fandall I want to explain why that comment is so fascinating so ridiculous what the coach may actually be trying to say and why designing your entire defense around taking Jeremiah Smith away might create an even bigger problem for opponents of Ohio state because the actual quote was not subtle. A big 10 running back coach was asked about Jeremiah Smith and basically said not Jeremiah play cover 2 over him and

1:01you can take him out of the game. Then he added that Smith is closer to DK Metcalf. Then he is to Jackson Smith and Jigba which if you know about the NFL Jackson Smith and Jigba best receiver in the NFL right now or one of the best at least. And listen this is this is a really a take I'm almost positive it was Tony offered for Michigan I mean who else would be that that crazy with that much hate for Ohio state especially because almost everyone else seems to be saying that the best player in the NFL is what else seems to be saying the exact opposite. A big 10 defensive back coach said Jeremiah Smith is simply better than everyone else. An ACC analyst called him a legitimate generational player and when coaches were asked which player should be the highest paid player in college football Jeremiah Smith received the most votes by a lot. The athletic put this together. So somebody sees a generational receiver somebody else sees a racialized. And the receiver who can be neutralized which is kind of one basic coverage family. Both of those cannot be equally simple and that's why this is worth kind of breaking down a

2:01little bit here. So and before we get into the football of all this too much look at how Jeremiah Smith is being viewed nationally. Currently plus 1500 on Fandall to win the highest trophy which gives him the six best odds in the country for a wide receiver think about that quarterbacks dominate this award they touch the football every snap they control the stats they control the highlights and Jigba Smith is the highest in the country. So this is not a conversation about whether Jeremiah Smith is good or not. I mean we're way past this at this point. The real question is can defenses actually take him away and if they can what does Ohio State get an exchange because this is the part the area sorry because that's the part I think gets lost when people say you know well just double and do do cover two over top of them. Okay go ahead but the football doesn't give you 13 defenders if you put two over him you're consistently leaning towards Jeremiah Smith and those players are not somewhere else. Ohio State is perfectly happy to go make the make you

3:01pay the bill elsewhere out there. So let's start with the coach what they probably mean because I don't want to make this dumber than it needs to be or dumber than it actually sounds because when someone says play cover two over him that does not necessarily mean you want to make it happen. So let's start with the coach what they probably mean because I don't want to make it happen. So I'm not necessarily mean you line up and of a nela cover two every snap like your plane mad in 2006 the basic idea is simple. You keep a corner underneath Jeremiah and you keep a safety over top of them. Texas did this at least once I can't remember if they did in the 2024 game or not too but you keep the safety over top of them you make it difficult for Ohio State to simply isolate him outside and throw the ball over his head. That part does make sense. Every defense in America is a game for Jeremiah Smith. You'd be irresponsible not to. If you're leaving Jeremiah Smith one on one with no help at you know all afternoon your defensive coordinator should probably update his resume because he's going to be someplace else next year. So yes cloud him bracket him,

4:02roll the safety, change the picture, do all those things, make Jeremiah Smith throw to somebody else. That's that's honestly smart football if you if you can do that. But saying that takes Jeremiah Smith out of the game, that's where this conversation completely changes. Right? Because Jeremiah Smith is not just some guy running go routes out there, you can easily take out. This is where the DK Metcalf comparison gets really interesting kind of as well because DK Metcalf is an unbelievable player. Like trying to talk about how a guy is like not somebody else, he's just DK Metcalf. Like this is not insulting to DK Metcalf. He's a really good player. But the implication of that comparison is that Jeremiah wins primarily because of his of being being a ridiculous physical specimen. You know fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, big, strong, explosive. And if you take away the vertical route, maybe you take away his biggest advantage out there on the field. The problem is, is that Jeremiah's already shown he can hurt you in more ways than just that. You can get him the ball underneath. You can move him around.

5:02You can create intermediate throws. You can make him catch the ball in traffic. I mean, he did that tons of times his freshman year. And when he catches six yard pass, you still got a task of, so all of that truly does matter. So just, you know, because the cover two can maybe discourage some certain throws over there, cannot remove the player from the field and just kind of bypass it from there. If Jeremiah catches something underneath and turns six yards into 18 yards, your perfect coverage, you called, didn't really solve the problem. It just changed where the problem started. And now we get to the part that really should worry Ohio State opponents. Because let's say the coach is a player who is going to get the ball in the field, you can't get the ball in the field. You can't get the ball in the field. You can't get the ball in the field. You can't get the ball in the field. So let's say the coach is somewhat right. I guess, right? Let's just say for, for sake of the argument that he's somewhat right. Let's say your plan actually does work. You commit two defenders to Jeremiah Smith all afternoon and dramatically reduce his production.

6:02Congratulations. But now what? Because Ohio State coaching staff is not standing on the sideline crying because Jeremiah Smith only has four catches. So let's say the coach is going to be able to throw the ball in the field. Maybe it's the middle of the field is lighter. Maybe the running game gets some cleaner boxes. Maybe another receiver gets one-on-one opportunities. Maybe the tight end gets a matchup that Ohio State likes. I do think Ohio State's tight ends are a little underrated going into the season so far this year. Maybe Julian saying gets the easiest answer in the play because your entire coverage structure is tilted to one side of the field against one singular receiver. That's the hidden power of having somebody like Jeremiah Smith. Sometimes the best thing that he does for your offense is that he doesn't always appear on the box score. Maybe as much as people think he would because he changes the geometry. He makes the defense to clear what it is afraid of. And then the offense attacks the space created with that fear. How many times the car now take benefit from teams trying to go over on Jeremiah Smith the entire game. That's why I would actually love to see defenses consistently play Ohio State this week. Go ahead. Try it.

7:02Try and see how it goes out for you. Make Jeremiah Smith the center of every single call for you. Because Ohio State cannot punish that. Well, they know Ohio State has a bigger offensive problem than Jeremiah Smith. Now, that's a fair counter argument here. Elite teams have slowed great receivers before. Of course they have. Nobody's uncoverable. Nobody gets 180 yards every single Saturday. Eventually you're going to play a defense talented enough to disrupt releases, disguised coverages, pressures, quarterback, and forced the offense to stay patient. So, I think that's the very important thing that I would like to say. I think that's the very important thing that I would like to say. I think that's the very important thing that I would like to say. It's a very important thing that I would like to point out not to stay patient. So, that's especially important with Julian Sain. Because the greatest benefit of bracketing Jeremiah Smith may not be stopping him. It may be testing whether the quarterback becomes impatient and tries to go to him. We saw this with Will Howard in the 2024 game. That's the strategic part of this. Saying sees Jeremiah doubled and tries to force the football his way now.

8:02The defense can have the opportunity to win of taking what the coverage actually gives him. Now you can create turnovers. But if saying simply says fine, you want to put two on Jeremiah, thank you very much. I'll throw it over here at Devon McEwen. I'll get it to Brandon Innis. I'll get it to Chris Henry Jr. Right, I'll get it to Brock Boy, Kyle Parker, when he gets back. That's when the strategy becomes dangerous for the defense. And honestly, that might be one of the biggest developments on how the state needs this season. Not finding more ways to feed Jeremiah Smith, but finding more ways to punish teams for obsessing over Jeremiah Smith. And that's the other thing too, is that he is not going to line up in just traditional kind of formations and traditional kind of areas. I mean, if you look and saw what Tennessee Titans did with AJ Brown when, and Arthur Smith was the offensive coordinator there, they used AJ Brown. They used Eric Henry in really effective ways to complement each other the entire game. And you would see AJ Brown come across in motions and things like that so they could get him and figure out, OK,

9:03do they have man coverage on him? And they would have to play a lot of man coverage because of how dangerous Derek Henry was. To me, that's one of the key pieces of this. It's not just, oh, can they cover the other one? Receiver. So we can't double Jeremiah Smith. No, you need this play action. You need this run game to be very effective. So that way you can run the play action. Arthur Smith ran some of the most play action in all of the NFL. I think in 2019, it was he actually had the highest play action rate of any offensive coordinator in the NFL. And he's consistently in the top 10, top 5, every single year. He does that because he knows he has a really good wide receiver. When he knows he has a really good wide receiver, when he knows he has a really good running back and he has a quarterback who can sell the play action well, you're putting him in a really good situation to be able to find the wide receiver whoever it is, especially when you have the motion to try and figure out, excuse me, to try and figure out what the coverage is over that player. So if every opponent enters these games saying, well,

10:03we're just not letting for beat us, then the challenge becomes even more interesting. Can Jeremiah Smith still produce when he's the first name on every defensive game plan? Can Arthur Smith still get him the ball? Can Ohio State manufacture touches when opponents are desperate to avoid them? I totally think they'll be able to do that. Because I think Arthur Smith is experienced enough to be able to find those weaknesses. He was able to find them in the NFL. I think he's certainly going to be able to find them in college football against some coordinators that are not NFL coordinators, essentially. I don't want to try to disparage them or anything, but there's a lot of guys that are going to be playing that are not NFL caliber coordinators. And Arthur Smith was an NFL caliber coach. I didn't last long there, but he was an NFL caliber coach. So if you're going to stop Jeremiah Smith, stop him. If it were that simple to just play cover two on him and do that kind of stuff, everybody would do it. But I don't think it's that simple. I definitely don't think it's going to be that simple with Arthur Smith this season, what he can do. So the harder question is what happens to the other nine defenders when you do do that cover two

11:06over him? And that may be where Ohio State becomes most dangerous. Because the ultimate sign that Jeremiah Smith has become the most feared player in college football might not be a 200 yard game. It might be opponents redesigning their defense just to prevent one big huge game that they could have against them. And then watching Ohio State beat them somewhere else, right? So we'll see what it looks like for them this season. I think the comments a little ridiculous. I can kind of see where it's coming from in some ways. But you're not select Tony offered. You're not slick. Like the video. Subscribe here to the Big 10 Huttle for more Big 10 football and basketball analysis. And let me know the answer to the question here. Is the coach actually, is this coach actually Tony offered a Big 10 running backs coach? Or do you think it's somebody else? We'd love to know your thoughts. Thanks for listening. Have a good one. We'll see you next time. If you liked the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe. It really does help the show to grow. Thank you for listening.