In his freshman season at Ohio State, Jeremiah Smith was a force in Chip Kelly’s offensive scheme.
The No. 1 wide receiver recruit in the 2024 class, Smith caught 76 passes for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns for the Buckeyes’ national championship team. In the College Football Playoff alone, Smith hauled in 19 catches for 381 yards and five touchdowns in wins over Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame. If Smith was able to leave for the NFL after one season, he’d be in the running for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft.
Rules stipulate that the Miami Gardens, Florida native has to stay in school two more years. Smith will produce at OSU no matter who his offensive coordinator is, but it won’t be Kelly anymore after the veteran coach left on Sunday to become the offensive coordinator of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Shortly after the news broke, Smith reacted with a simple “Nooooo” on X/Twitter, along with a broken heart emoji.
Kelly lasted only one season in Columbus. The 61-year-old surprised many by leaving UCLA after six season as head coach to go back to being an offensive coordinator.
At his introductory press conference at OSU, Kelly said the chance to coach the Bruins’ quarterbacks during the team’s bowl game led him to consider returning to being an OC.
“I actually coached the quarterbacks for the bowl game, and I just started to think, like I hadn’t actually coached a position since 2008,” Kelly told reporters. “I think my wife remarked, she was like, ‘I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time.’ And, to me, the best part of football is football. And so, you got to do football, and not do some of the things involved with the head coaching deal.”
Kelly’s previous NFL experience was as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles from 2013-15 and San Francisco 49ers in 2016.
With his departure for Las Vegas, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day now has to replace both coordinators from his title-winning team. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles already left last week for the same role at Penn State.
Buckeyes offensive line coach Justin Frye is also on his way out, heading to the NFL’s Chicago Bears to lead their offensive line.
Related: There’s A Massive Exodus At Ohio State This Offseason