The College Football Playoff National Championship Game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Notre Dame Fighting Irish concluded last night, where the Buckeyes won by a score of 34-23.
While I understand that this isn't BuckeyesChat, it is relevant to discuss a target that the Seminoles were heavily interested in while he was in high school.
The star of the national championship game had to be Ohio State's true freshman wide receiver, Jeremiah Smith. The talented pass catcher had five receptions for 88 yards and a touchdown in the contest.
Smith had been the talk of the entire season, where he had 76 receptions for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns. What is even more crazy is that the Buckeyes had senior wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, who was expected to be the No. 1 option in the offense.
That just speaks to the talented wide receiver Smith is. Florida State was heavily involved with the former five-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle. At one time, Smith even shared that the Seminoles were the top school in his recruitment.
Jeremiah Smith on FSU: “They’re in the front right now, I can say for sure”
— dennis🥷🏽 (@dennis_r4) November 12, 2023
via noles 247 pic.twitter.com/LXVtKzBygA
Florida State had dealt with talented players going elsewhere, such as Travis Hunter. Smith was the real deal at Chaminade-Madonna Prep where he had 90 receptions for 1,389 yards and 19 touchdowns during his senior season.
It is difficult to hard with the success that wide receivers coach Brian Hartline has had. The Seminoles had one of the worst offenses in all of college football in 2024 so having Smith in the rotation probably would not have done much.
However, it still stings not landing a talented option like Jeremiah Smith. I hope that the Seminoles can get their offense together in 2025 under new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.