Ohio State football freshman wide receiver Brock Boyd hasn't played a game in college, but he's already earned a new nickname from teammate Jeremiah Smith. According to Smith, Boyd has the speed to back the nickname up.
Appearing on "The Triple Option" show Aug. 24, Smith revealed the name he has been calling Boyd: "White Lightning."
"Does he deserve it?" Fox Sports commentator Rob Stone asked.
"He's just fast. He knows everything that he's doing."
— The Triple Option (@3xOptionShow) August 25, 2026
— Jeremiah Smith on freshman WR Brock Boyd ⚡ pic.twitter.com/vOu0WgwoDV
"For sure," Smith said. "He's just fast; he knows everything that he's doing. A very smart football player and he's going to make a lot
of plays for us."
Smith said he was aware of Boyd while he was in high school.
"Everybody was telling me he's got all these types of yards and all these types of touchdowns in high school, so he was pretty good coming in," Smith said.
Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer asked Smith if "White Lightning" is faster than Smith.
"He's fast," Smith said, smiling. "I wouldn't say he's faster than me, but he can run for sure."
"You ain't getting blessed with that name if you ain't got that juice, you know what I mean?" said former Heisman Trophy running back Mark Ingram.
Boyd, a three-star prospect, was highly productive at the highest level of Texas high school football, recording consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons at Carroll in Southlake, a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth. He and fellow freshman wide receiver Chris Henry Jr. were the first freshmen to lose their black stripes, a milestone for newcomers to the program.
Boyd received praise from veteran cornerback Jermaine Mathews Jr. at Ohio State practice Aug. 21.
“Brock is just different,” Mathews said. “There’s something about Brock. He’s different. I love Brock.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Why Jeremiah Smith calls Ohio State freshman Brock Boyd ‘White Lightning’
