After a long wait, Ohio State finally gets the LOI via No. 1 prospect Jeremiah Smith.
People in college football can’t wait for Jeremiah Smith. On Wednesday, the nation’s top player within the class of 2024 officially reaffirmed his one-year commitment to Ohio State. However, he has not yet sent in his legally binding Letter of Intent.
Smith openly signed his letter for intent in Chaminade-Madonna High School in South Florida. For it to be legally binding, he had to sign it and send it to the school he wanted to attend. That took place at 12:30 p.m. ET.
It is now 7:30 p.m. ET, and Ohio State has still not said that it has received Smith’s LOI. There has been a lot of talk on social media or message boards that the Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles, two teams that were interested in recruiting Smith, may have made a good last-minute pitch.
Early in the afternoon, Ohio State officials said they were not worried about Smith’s late LOI.
At his signing day press conference, head coach Ryan Day was happy to hear from someone off camera that the receiver possessed reaffirmed his pledge at a ceremony within Hollywood, Florida.
Mum is also believed to be at Miami, though sources say that Dennis Smith, the executive director about football at Miami, sent a hype tweet about a defensive end who plays in the portal instead of Jeremiah Smith.
Dennis Smith’s message on X was an all-caps “YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS” with a cut-out of Sebastian the Ibis, the animal mascot for Miami, smoking a pipe. Smith hasn’t sent in his letter about intent yet, though, and most of the people concerned have stopped talking.
Jeremiah Smith really does go to Ohio State! Smith’s National Letter for Intent was finally approved by the school on Wednesday evening, after a long wait.
Smith’s Early Signing Day began with a lot of mystery. He had been committed to Ryan Day’s school for a long time, and Miami or Florida State were said to be working hard to switch things around.
Around 12:30 p.m. ET, Smith finally said that he was going to keep his promise and sign with the Buckeyes.
There were rumors that his choice was still up in the air because Miami was said to still be interested as time went on and Ohio State didn’t confirm an NLI.
There’s no doubt that Smith’s choice is very important and will have an effect on Day and Ohio State. During an ongoing press conference, the head coach nearly fell to his knees and let out a sigh of relief as he heard Smith’s final choice.
Ohio State got a lot of good players on Early Signing Day. They kept Smith’s promise and signed the 5-star receiver.
Ohio State signed five players with a composite rating of five stars. This was the most of any team within the 2024 recruiting period.
Even so, the bumps in the road were worth it because the Buckeyes now have the signature of the best wide receiver in the country. Smith signed this national letter of intent upon Wednesday.
It’s still not going to be easy. Smith didn’t send in his signed letter in intent until 10 p.m. ET, which was the ending time. The Athletic said that his lawyers were working out the NIL issues in Columbus, even though Miami kept pushing.
There was a fierce late push from Alabama to trade for five-star defensive end Eddrick Harris from Buford, Georgia, but he held out. This is not a job for people who are easily scared.
Rivals.com ranked Ohio State’s recruiting class as the fifth best in the country. The class of 20 men has the best average star number in the country, at 3.95. That caused some stress, but Day could handle it. That’s how they hire people.
That’s a huge win for Ohio State and something Day really needed. Even though he had a 56-7 record, things hadn’t been going well for him since his loss to Michigan less than a month ago.
15 Buckeyes have gone through the transfer portal since then, including starter quarterback Kyle McCord. With players who were leaving for the NFL and those who were no longer eligible, the list was as fluid as it gets at a school like Ohio State.
Soon after, it was time to sign. This week alone, two four-star recruits—wide receiver Jeremiah McClellan to Oregon and running back Jordan Lyle to Miami—broke their promises to sign with another school.
They came after five-star defensive end Justin Scott, who also switched his commitment to Miami in late November.