Some things you can’t teach. Like how to catch a football on your tip toes at the back of the end zone in tight coverage while fellow millionaires in field level luxury suites toast you with $20 cocktails.
Like how to catch a swing pass and spin out of multiple potential tackles for a touchdown, like a cartoon character spilling out of a revolving door onto the sidewalk.
Like how to zig-zag between blockers, avoiding defenders like they are slowpoke drivers at rush hour.
Like how to rocket a pass into a window the size of a 14 by 14-inch porthole.
Doing all the above makes you a talent 1 percenter, and Ohio State has more than a few such genetic unicorns.
Jeremiah Smith, Julian Sayin help their Heisman Trophy hopes
∎ Jeremiah Smith, who toed the end line while snagging a Julian Sayin 3-yard touchdown pass
in Ohio State’s 56-3 win against overmatched Ball State Sept. 5 in the Horseshoe.
∎ Sayin missed his first two throws then went 19 of 23 for 320 yards and three touchdowns, plus scored on a 3-yard scramble for the first rushing touchdown of his career.
∎ Legend Bey, who after making two boneheaded decisions to return kickoffs from 5 yards deep in the end zone – “We can’t make the same mistake twice,” Day said – recovered by scoring on a 25-yard pass from backup quarterback Luke Fahey. Bey turned to snatch the ball thrown behind him and, as defenders moved in, cut to his right and kept cutting, avoiding three tacklers on the way to a Braxton Miller-type TD.
“You can see the talent, you really can,” coach Ryan Day said of Bey.
∎ Bo Jackson and Ja’Kobi Jackson. Having elite field vision, the ability to see and, more importantly, feel how to use blockers and find openings in the defense, is an underappreciated asset. Ohio State’s two tailbacks have such capacity. Bo Jackson zigged for a 65-yard touchdown early in the third quarter and Ja'Kobi Jackson, who transferred from Florida, zagged for a 49-yard score. Both runners displayed cutback moves that would have worked against defenses much better than what they faced Saturday, which is the best way to grade performances against the Ball States of this world.
It can be short-sighted to read too much into OSU’s 53-point win, considering Ball State is a Mid-American Conference school, and the Buckeyes have manhandled MAC teams by an average margin of 51.5 points since Day replaced Urban Meyer in 2019.
As Day explained it, “There are times where the talent in the players sometimes overcomes some of the coaching. But we know in matchup games that’s not going to work.”
Texas won’t wilt defensively the way Ball State did, and the Longhorns’ offense put up 59 points on outmanned Texas State, so the real test comes Sept. 12 in Austin.
But that doesn’t mean individual performances against a weaker opponent should be discounted. What Smith, Sayin, Bey and the Jacksons did against Ball State – senior transfer Devin McCuin also showed flashes of brilliance at receiver – they would have done against most other teams, because their innate gifting transcends most of the defensive talent they will face.
Ryan Day often amazed by Buckeyes' talent
“There are definitely times, for sure,” Day said of being wowed by his players’ talent. “But I also know what’s coming down the road and that teams we play are going to have those types of players as well. … Nonetheless it’s still good to build confidence, to see the connection with Julian and Jeremiah and to see Bo break a tackle, and another tackle, to see the effort of Brock Boyd running down the field and the block Chris Henry had on that was excellent.”
Not everyone was as dazzling as Sayin, Smith and the Jacksons. Bey made those mistakes on kickoff returns and Henry dropped passes. But it is even more clear after Ball State that OSU will be a tough out for teams lacking a top-five defense.
Even Sayin was surprised by his teammates’ moves.
“The [run] Bo had and Ja’Kobi had, I handed off and carried out my fake and was kind of peeking around to see what’s going on and I’m like, ‘Oh, he’s getting tackled for 10 [yards] and then he splits it,” Sayin said. "It’s awesome to see."
Ja’Kobi Jackson likes to amaze teammates, but even more enjoys being amazed by them. The senior was quick to point out, however, that in a way that neither he nor they can take total credit for any of it.
“That’s just natural talent right there,” he said of Smith’s second touchdown. (Smith’s first TD catch was just as impressive). “He’s been doing it his whole life. It can happen at any moment.”
It needs to happen against Texas, which has been tough on Smith in the previous two meetings between the national powers. Fortunately for the Buckeyes, they showed against Ball State that elite talent goes beyond No. 4.
It should be a rock ’em, sock ’em showdown in Texas. Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at @rollerCD.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State's 1-percenters put Texas on notice after Ball State Rout
