AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith is the most feared wide receiver in college football.
For most teams, anyway. When No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Ohio State meet Saturday, Smith will face the one team that shut him down last season.
Texas held Smith to just one catch for 3 yards in a College Football Playoff semifinal. The Buckeyes won the game 28-14 and went on to win the national title as Smith scored a touchdown and set up the game-clinching field goal in the final minutes with a 56-yard
catch.
Smith is ready for the rematch against Texas and looking for some personal redemption.
“I'm definitely hyped about this one, especially with how things went last year, people saying things about me, about that game I had last year,” Smith said during Buckeyes training camp. “I'm definitely hungry for this one, for sure.”
Texas wouldn't expect him to be any other way. Smith is among the early Heisman Trophy contenders along with Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning.
“He has all the hype right now.," Texas cornerback Malik Muhammad said Monday. “He's the guy everyone is looking at in college football. I'm sure he's overly motivated, especially coming out of that game last year.”
Smith had 76 receptions for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns last season, with all three marks Ohio State freshman records. Yet the Longhorns smothered him with cornerback Jahdae Barron, last season's Thorpe Award winner, and safety Andrew Mukuba. Both of them are now in the NFL.
But while Texas has some holes to fill in the secondary, it's hardly a rebuild. It's more like a reload.
Texas senior safety Michael Taaffe, like Smith a preseason All-American, and Muhammad will anchor a unit that has plenty of experience. Some analysts rate the position group among the best in the country.
Texas also adds the return of Duane Akina as safeties coach and passing game defensive coordinator. Akina spent 13 seasons at Texas from 2001-2013 when he coached two Thorpe Award winners (Michael Huff in 2005 and Aaron Ross in 2006) and two more finalists. He spent the past two seasons at Arizona.
In a straight physical matchup, Smith towers overs most defensive backs at 6-foot-3, 223 pounds. Muhammad is 6-0, 181. Taaffe is 6-0, 189.
Smith also had the speed to lead the nation last year with six catches longer than 50 yards.
“What he does on the football field, it doesn't seem like a real human's doing that ... It's going to be really fun going against him because he's a freak of nature," Taaffe said. “The best thing about him is going up and getting the football. You can put three DBs on him, but if you get it up in the air, he's going to go get it.”
Texas made sure Smith was always covered by multiple defenders on almost every play last season. But that also opened the field for the rest of the Buckeyes. Carnell Tate had seven catches for 89 yards against the Longhorns in the playoff.
The same scenario could play out Saturday as Akina and Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski draw up a game play to neutralize Smith again.
“Ideally you’ve got multiple people with eyes on him and guarding him, but you still have to play great team defense," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “And you’ve gotta cover the two other wideouts they have or two other really good players, too.”
But Smith is the Buckeyes' ultimate playmaker.
“I do think, at the end of the day, (Smith) is where your attention needs to be,” Sarkisian said. “You better know where No. 4 is at all times.”
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