CFB insider questions Ohio State's critics after Jeremiah Smith receives $5 million offer to enter the transfer portal

Jeremiah Smith isn't even a week removed from helping Ohio State win a College Football Playoff national championship. Such success comes at a price, however, whether for the Buckeyes or for the other programs around the country interested in the generational talent who helped Ryan Day's team bring home the title.

Smith is one of the two notable names that programs elsewhere are reportedly enamored with, the other being fellow gifted Ohio State receiver Carnell Tate. The Buckeyes poured $20 million into NIL deals to put together this year's team.

Smith could collect a quarter of that by himself on the market, which leads On3's J.D. PicKell to wonder where the criticism is for the other teams willing to dump a pile of money in front of Ohio State's players.

"Someone offering Jeremiah Smith almost $5M but people want to be upset when Ohio State put their entire national title roster together with $20M?" PicKell wrote Friday on X/Twitter.

Those comments were in response to an On3 upload the same day that said,

"NEW: Ohio State is working to retain its top talent after winning the National Championship... Jeremiah Smith has a $4.5+ offer and Carnell Tate has. $1M+ offer to enter the Transfer Portal, @PeteNakos_ reports."

Why is Jeremiah Smith such an important piece for Ohio State?

If college football fans didn't know of Jeremiah Smith before the Buckeyes' clash with Big Ten champion Oregon in the Rose Bowl, they sure did after. The true freshman standout finished that contest with seven receptions for 187 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

That receiving yardage total broke Ohio State's record for a freshman. He also added his name to the top of the conference leaderboard for touchdown grabs by a freshman in that 41-21 win.

Smith's first campaign in Columbus was memorable, as he recorded 76 catches for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns. He turned in five 100-yard receiving games during the season and hauled in a score in 12 different outings.

After just one season as a Buckeye, Smith ranks 30th in receiving yards, ahead of guys like Binjimen Victor, Anthony Gonzalez, Terry McLaurin, and Curtis Samuel. Smith has already lived up to the hype that was attached to being listed as the top-ranked recruit in the 2024 class, according to 247 Sports.

That same recruiting service's director of scouting, Andrew Ivins, had compared Smith to Julio Jones, who was arguably the most dominant wideout of his time in the NFL.

"One of the top prospects to come out of South Florida in the modern recruiting era and the type of wide receiver that will give opposing defenses fits given the rare combination of his size, speed and hands," Ivins said in his scouting report.

That might have seemed like exaggerated praise at the time, but Smith's showing backed it up this fall.