Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate and WR1A and WR1B: Receiver Mailbag

Bill and Doug answer questions about Ohio State's top two receivers

Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith is tied for second in receptions among power conference receivers. (Photo courtesy of Ohio State)

COLUMBUS — There were so many questions about Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate from our recent callout that we saved a whole group of them for this receiver-only Q&A.

Carnell is doing this year what we thought JJ was going to do, including catching the impossible balls. Put another way, if JJ was doing what Carnell was doing, the Heisman would already be on display at his apartment. Agree? — Elie

Doug: Tate has more spectacular plays — I think Smith must have watched Tate jump between two Wisconsin defenders for that first touchdown Saturday and thought to himself, ‘Man, I want to do that.’

But no, Smith with Tate’s season wouldn’t have him leading the Heisman conversation. First, Smith still leads the Buckeyes in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns. Can’t win the Heisman without leading your team in stats.

But the overall vibe of OSU WRs in the Heisman picture is that whenever two of them are awesome, it makes it harder for one to win. In 2020, Alabama receiver Jaylen Waddle had 25 catches for 557 yards through four games. His teammate DeVonta Smith had 38 catches for 483 yards. Then Waddle got hurt.

Smith went from averaging 121 receiving yards per game to 147 yards per game and won the Heisman. If Waddle doesn’t get hurt, Smith probably doesn’t win it. Alabama quarterback Mac Jones might have.

So the main thing hurting Smith’s Heisman chances is how good Tate has been. But that doesn’t mean Tate’s season would win the Heisman — because the two of them are too good together.

Bill: I think that’s right, but … if everything about Jeremiah Smith’s season so far was the same, meaning his production was exactly what it is now, but he made that first touchdown catch against Wisconsin in the same fashion instead of Tate, Smith would be getting more Heisman love than he’s getting right now.

I’m not sure he’d have better odds than Julian Sayin, but people like to be wowed. Smith has the production, but not the wow factor right now. Meanwhile, the wow factor alone is not enough for Tate to be this team’s Heisman contender when he’s 15 catches shy of being the leading receiver on his own team.

It seems like Jeremiah isn’t the first read (based on Sayin’s eyes) on a shocking amount of passing plays, so he isn’t getting targeted on some plays where he’s actually open if Sayin were looking there to start and decisive. Think that is responsible for some of the frustration JJ seems to be showing with his body language? — Rory

Is there any reason to think that Jeremiah Smith is bored/not engaged or is my group chat just schizophrenic? — QB Draw

Bill: Smith is the most targeted player in Ohio State’s offense by a wide margin, with 22 more targets than Tate. He has the 11th-most targets among all FBS receivers and the fourth-most targets among Power 4 receivers. His target share is top 10 in the country among all receivers, running backs, and tight ends. He’s seventh nationally in receptions per game. He’s tied for the third-most receiving touchdowns in the country.

He does all of that on a team that ranks 126th out of 136 FBS teams in plays per game.

The ball comes Smith’s way plenty.

Is he first read on every single pass play? No. Is he the first read on many of them? Yes. You don’t get 63 targets from a college quarterback through seven games by routinely being the second or third read in a progression. You do it by being the first read.

I don’t believe Smith is bored and or disengaged. Could he have been frustrated by not pulling in any of his three end zone targets? Sure. Who wouldn’t be? But I didn’t see any bad body language or loafing. However, he didn't look quite 100 percent to me in that game against Wisconsin either. I wonder if he was feeling any aftereffects of the nasty hit he took the week before against Illinois, which left him favoring his back. He’s one of the most explosive college football players I’ve ever seen, and he wasn’t quite jumping off the screen at me in the same way in the last game.

Mostly, I think there’s nothing at all to worry about with Smith, his role, his attitude, or how he’s impacting the offense.

Doug: By my count, on the first drive against Wisconsin, Smith was the first read, or at least the first place Sayin looked, on five or six of the eight passes. The other two were quick flips to Brandon Inniss and Max Klare.

Does it seem like Jeremiah is not making the contested catches this year like he did last year? — Eric

Doug: This is a pretty stunning stat. According to PFF, Smith has caught just two of 10 contested balls this season. That’s far below last year, when he caught 12 of 22 (55 percent).

Among power conference receivers who are regular parts of the offense, his contested catch rate of 20 percent ranks 168 of 193. Meanwhile, Tate is 10 for 11 and his rate is the best in the country for any receiver with at least five contested attempts.

I’m not sure what it means — but you are right in what you are seeing.

Bill: Smith had three contested catch situations against Wisconsin, all in the end zone, and didn’t come down with any of them.

The first two of those passes were slightly underthrown — one of which, I think, was because Sayin was under pressure and couldn’t put his whole body into the throw — but we’re so used to Smith making ridiculous catches that we can easily ding him for not living up to his own ridiculous standard. The third was thrown in a good spot, but the defender got his hand on the ball and knocked it away from Smith.

Smith hasn’t had a drop since the Texas game, so it’s not like he’s nearly reeling these passes in and then letting them go. I also thought the catch that was reviewed and overturned against Illinois was a catch, but I’m not a replay official.

Lastly, I think Sayin’s accuracy on the contested balls to Tate has been just a bit more consistent than his accuracy on contested balls to Smith. And when the ball is in the right spot, Tate has such strong hands that he’s probably going to bring it in. Smith is sure-handed, too, but I think the degree of difficulty on some of his contested balls might be a little higher.

After the last couple of weeks, I’m officially of the mindset that it’s WR1A and WR1A with Smith and Tate and not WR1 and WR2. Marvin Harrison Jr. used to say Tate would be better than him, and I’m honestly starting to see it. — Chris

Bill: Tate isn’t going to be drafted as high as Smith, but he’s certainly elevated himself into that Harrison-Olave-Wilson-JSN-Egbuka echelon of recent Ohio State receivers. I wasn’t sure that he would quite get there. He unequivocally has.

It’s a matter of preference to determine who is “better” or “best”, but Tate’s competitiveness at the catch point stands out relative to the rest of that group. He has strong hands, which he often shows late, and great body control in traffic. I still think Smith has the most complete game of all of them, and is just a different level of height/weight/speed athlete.

If you want to call them Smith and Tate, Tate and Smith, 1A and 1A in this offense, that’s great. The head coach sounds like he agrees.

“He’s just a different style of player than Jeremiah, but just as dangerous and just as good,” Ryan Day said after the Wisconsin game.

It won’t bear out that way come draft time, but all that matters for Ohio State is that both are impacting games and threatening defenses. They are.

Doug: It’s hard to wrap your head around. Smith is viewed by many as the best player in college football and Tate is … just as good? I’m not sure how to categorize or define it. But we can all agree to enjoy it.

Is Ohio State’s WR2 actually WR1 in the upcoming draft? Is that partly because of Emeka’s success? — Marlon

Doug: Looking at four ESPN draft analysts, plus Dane Brugler of The Athletic, and PFF, Tate isn’t listed as the first receiver among 2026 draft prospects for any of them. Jordyn Tyson of Arizona State is first on five of the six lists and second on the other, and he does have some impressive highlights this season. He also has 21 more targets than any other power conference receiver this year.

Tate is third on all six of those draft lists. The other player most commonly ahead of him is USC’s Makai Lemon, though Washington’s Denzel Boston is second on one list.

I’m not a draft expert, but I do think Egbuka’s NFL success helps. If Egbuka was dinged at all in the draft runup by not being the best receiver on his team — behind Marvin Harrison Jr. and Smith — that shouldn’t happen with Tate. Playing with talent doesn’t make you lesser. So Tate’s draft profile should be sky high.

Bill: There’s a lot of time for Tate to work his way to WR1 status for the upcoming draft, but I think he’s unquestionably a first-rounder, and that wasn’t a guarantee coming into the season.