Ohio
'He's generational': Inside Jeremiah Smith's path to stardom at Ohio State
Somewhere in the Miami area is a youth football coach who unknowingly fueled the rise of a record-breaking wide receiver.
This is the coach who told Jeremiah Smith he didn’t make the Miami Gardens Ravens after the 7-year-old tried out to play football for the first time.
Much like the high school basketball coach who cut Michael Jordan or the NFL executives who allowed Tom Brady to fall to the sixth round of the draft, the snub ignited a fierce determination to be great within Smith. As the Ohio State freshman told FOX’s Tom Rinaldi in November, “I was just a whole different type of person from that day forward. It just made a kid more hungry, that’s all I can say.”
The cut also inspired Smith’s father to do more to help his son maximize his talent and achieve his goals. Chris Smith spent endless hours alongside J.J. (as he’s known to family and friends) at the park, the field or the gym, instilling the work ethic that made his son an elite prospect before anyone knew he would grow to become a 6-foot-3, 215-pound genetic marvel.
The very next year, the younger Smith not only made the youth team he tried out for but claimed the league’s version of the Heisman Trophy. The way his uncle, Geno Smith Sr., puts it, “Something just clicked in J.J. at a young age after the cut and he has pretty much been an animal from that time on.”
Hailed as the next great Ohio State receiver when he arrived in Columbus, Smith has achieved feats that even Marvin Harrison Jr., Jaxson Smith-Njigba and Garrett Wilson could not. The cousin of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith has smashed Cris Carter’s school records for receptions, yardage and touchdown catches by a freshman.
The hype hit a crescendo after Smith’s dazzling 187-yard, two-touchdown tour de force against previously undefeated Oregon in the Rose Bowl last week. Not only did Smith help Ohio State advance to face Texas in Friday’s College Football Playoff semifinals, the 19-year-old rekindled debate over whether he should have to wait two more years to play on Sundays.
ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky said Smith would “easily be the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft” if he were eligible for it. NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay has said the same. Former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones even suggested Smith should consider only playing one more season at Ohio State to prepare for the draft rather than risk injury.
“The guy is NFL-ready,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said after the Rose Bowl. “He’s that talented, that special.”
Climbing the hill
Deep in the South Florida suburbs is a spacious public park built on the site of a former landfill. Where heaping mounds of trash once stood is now a towering, man-made hill. On a clear day, visitors can climb to the top and enjoy views of downtown Fort Lauderdale.
For Jeremiah Smith, this hill was a proving ground, the starting point of his journey to becoming college football’s most heralded receiver. He has been sprinting up its steep slopes since he was a wisp of a boy, the sting of getting cut still fresh.
Each Saturday morning, the kids in Pearson Sutton’s training group would gather at the bottom of the hill and then do sets of incline runs in the sticky Florida heat. Smith was always among the leaders during those runs, even when surrounded by older kids.
“I’d have kids going to the bushes and throwing up or crying and saying they didn’t want to do it,” said Sutton, a former Alabama State receiver and a childhood friend of Smith’s father. “Jeremiah ran every rep 150%. I never heard him complain. Never.”
At the same time that Smith began spending weekend mornings jumping rope, running hill sprints and doing plyometric and resistance training with Sutton, he also began working with another of his father’s lifelong friends.
Sly Johnson is a former Miami (Ohio) wide receiver who discovered in college that there was far more to mastering the position than just running and catching. Johnson had big games against the likes of North Carolina’s Dre Bly and Ohio State’s Nate Clements after learning how to use a defensive back’s responsibilities against him to gain leverage and create separation.
When Johnson finished playing, he returned to his native South Florida eager to teach the next generation of receivers the route-running nuances he once didn’t know existed. The renowned wide receiver skills trainer worked with the likes of Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy and Elijah Moore before getting the chance to help mold Smith every weekend.
Under Johnson, Smith learned more than just route running basics, proper technique to catch a ball and how to get a clean release against press coverage. Smith also soaked up advanced concepts at a young age, becoming proficient at reading coverages, recognizing what defenders were trying to take away and shaping the path of his route to use that against them.
Johnson recalls testing Smith during workouts by throwing scenarios at him. He might tell the young receiver, “Hey J.J., you have an in-breaking route against a two high safety look and the corner has inside leverage.”
Inevitably, Smith would tell Johnson the path he was going to take down to the step, where he was going to catch the ball and where he would try to score. Then J.J would go demonstrate what Johnson had just described, doing it again and again until he got it exactly right.
“Whatever concept I gave him, he was almost OCD about mastering it,” Johnson told Yahoo Sports. “I’ve worked with lots and lots of Division I kids, but no one has picked up concepts as quickly as him.”
Although Smith was an attentive pupil while working with Johnson, he also became known for occasionally disobeying his youth football coaches when they instructed him not to field a punt. Recalled his uncle, Geno Smith Sr., with a laugh, “They’d be yelling at him, ‘Get out the way, get out the way!’ He’d pick the ball up and take it to the house.”
Smith produced another stunning highlight in one of his first 7-on-7 tournaments as a member of the Miami Gardens Ravens. Head coach Rod Mack remembers the rail-thin 10-year-old rising above multiple defenders to snag a one-handed catch in the back of the end zone.
“We could not believe that someone so young could do that,” Mack told Yahoo Sports. “His skill level has always been beyond his years.”
In those days, the Miami Gardens Ravens were the rock stars of the youth football circuit. The juggernaut team featured well over a dozen future Division I football players, many of whom blossomed into four- and five-star recruits. Fans would pack local high school stadiums to watch the Ravens play and line up for photos and autographs after games. Content creators would post mix tapes and highlight reels to social media. Retired NFL players who lived in South Florida were regulars on the sidelines. So were high school coaches seeking to attract the area’s best middle-school talent.
Even amongst that group, Mack says Smith always stood out. It wasn’t even the speedy receiver’s sure hands, precise routes or elusiveness in the open field. More than anything, it was Smith’s quiet, businesslike determination at such a young age.
“He was never the type of little kid you had to tell to pay attention or stop playing around,” Mack said. “He was always out in front in sprints, always working hard. He always took football very, very, very seriously. It was always very important to him.”
The route to Ohio State
The first time Ohio State receivers coach Brian Hartline scouted him in person, Smith had just finished his freshman year of high school. The young receiver joined his South Florida Express 7-on-7 teammates at a camp in Columbus in June 2021.
The national perception of Smith at the time was that he was a very good prospect but not a generational talent. Miami, Florida State and Florida had all already offered scholarships to Smith over the previous few months, as had national powers Georgia and Penn State.
Before he left Columbus, Smith added an offer from Ohio State to his haul. Hartline told Geno Smith Sr. that he was as impressed with the younger Smith’s eagerness to learn as much as his skill set and physical tools.
“I think Hartline saw that J.J. was coachable,” said Geno Smith Sr., the coach of his nephew’s South Florida Express 7-on-7 team. “If he feels like someone can help him get better, he’s going to listen, he’s going to learn and he’s going to pick it up pretty quick.”
The intensity of Smith’s recruitment surged over the next few months as he sprouted from 6-0 to 6-3. All of a sudden, Smith became a bigger target with a wider catch radius yet he didn’t sacrifice any of his trademark skill or shiftiness.
The growth spurt transformed an already coveted prospect into one without obvious weaknesses. Smith led Florida powerhouse Chaminade-Madonna High to three straight state championships, piling up 146 catches for 2,449 yards and 39 touchdowns over the course of his junior and senior seasons.
“He’s generational,” Chaminade-Madonna coach Dameon Jones told Yahoo Sports. “I’ve been coaching for 20 years now, and. I haven’t seen a kid at the high school level that looks like him.”
It was no accident, according to Jones, that so many of Smith’s high school receptions were YouTube-worthy one-handed catches. Smith practiced those before and after practices, the Jugs machine whipping balls at him and him plucking them out of the air with a single hand.
“I’m one of those coaches who’s like, ‘Catch everything with two hands,’” Jones said. “But when he’s practicing one-handed catches and getting a bunch of reps, it’s like, OK, I can’t get mad at him like he’s trying something. He actually works on it.”
When a lingering hip flexor injury slowed Smith as a junior, Jones urged his star receiver to sit out a few practices to allow it to heal. The way Jones remembers it, Smith refused, telling his coach that he couldn’t afford to miss any reps.
Another time, Jones happened to check social media the morning after one of his program’s state title game victories. There was a new video of Smith, sweating his way through a workout in the Florida sun.
“We just won a state championship,” Jones said. “We just went through a long, grueling season. Even as a coach I didn’t want to see football for a couple days, but the next morning, not even 24 hours later, he’s out there trying to get better.”
Smith was so dominant during high school play and on the camp circuit that he became Rivals.com’s No. 1 ranked player in the Class of 2024. Ohio State landed a verbal commitment from Smith in 2022, then waited to see if he would get tempted by the chance to join some of his longtime friends at Miami or Florida State.
The intrigue escalated until Smith reaffirmed his commitment by signing with Ohio State on Dec. 20, 2023. That led to a moment of unmistakable relief from Buckeyes coach Ryan Day when he learned Smith’s decision while speaking with reporters during his annual national signing day news conference,
Ryan Day can finally take a deep breath knowing the Buckeyes signed the number one player in the 2024 class.
Here is his reaction of learning the news that Jeremiah Smith will be the newest member of zone 6: pic.twitter.com/pLK437lASz
— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) December 20, 2023
It didn’t take long to grasp why Day would feign fainting over the opportunity to coach Smith for the next three seasons. At the same time as he should have been picking out tuxedos for senior prom, the early enrollee wowed Ohio State players and coaches with his meticulous routes and circus catches on the practice field and with his quiet professionalism and workmanlike attitude away from it.
He was the first Ohio State newcomer to shed the black stripe on his helmet during the spring. He was the first-ever true freshman to earn “Iron Buckeye” honors thanks to his dedication to weight training and conditioning during fall camp. Seldom did a day go by without social media being set ablaze by a crudely shot video of Smith plucking a football out of the air during an Ohio State practice.
Said Day with a grin to reporters during spring practice: “I’m gonna be careful what I say, but he certainly has been a pleasure to watch.”
To those who have watched Smith since grade school, nothing that he has achieved in his first 14 games at Ohio State has come as a surprise.
The one-handed touchdown catches against Michigan State and Iowa? He’s been practicing those forever.
The key 3rd-and-9 out route against Penn State where he created space for himself and pinned a corner on the inside? That’s a concept he and Johnson first worked on when he was in 10th grade.
The pair of Rose Bowl touchdown catches against Oregon? Both plays he made in high school.
When asked how big an impact the infamous cut had in setting his son on a path to freshman stardom, Chris Smith credits J.J. for putting in the work.
“At the time I really didn’t think about it,” Chris Smith told Yahoo Sports. “I just used that time to get him in shape for the next season. Everything else was God and him.”
Fans got their first glimpse of the 2026-2027 Buckeyes during their spring game earlier today. In contrast to last year’s offensive takeover, it was the defense this year that shined for the most part.
With this, we still saw plenty of Buckeyes that proved that they are ready to play, and ready to play now. Here are three standouts from the Ohio State Spring Game.
Chris Henry Jr.
Coming into the game, most Ohio State fans had already penciled Chris Henry Jr., the No. 1 WR in the 2026 class according to ESPN, as the successor to Carnell Tate in the Buckeye offense.
Anyone that didn’t, probably should now.
The freshman wideout hauled in 4 passes for 96 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.
Playing all snaps on the outside, Henry Jr. looked very poised, showcasing smooth route running and breakaway speed. The connection between him and another Buckeye on this list was the highlight of the offense for the day. There is no doubt he should be an immediate contributor in this Ohio State offense.
Tavien St. Clair
After a subpar showing at the spring game last year, Tavien St. Clair showed flashes of the top-10 recruit he was just two years ago.
He dazzled early with two big completions to Chris Henry Jr., showing off his big arm in the process.
His touchdown pass to Henry Jr. was a beautiful look off from St. Clair, who launched it right to the right pylon to find the freshman wideout.
It was not all sunshine and rainbows for St. Clair on the day though, as he was forced into a couple three-and-outs as well as a few balls that could have been intercepted.
All in all, all tools are there for St. Clair to be great when his number is called, and another year of growth under Julian Sayin should help him get there.
Beau Atkinson
Buckeye fans were surprised when Beau Atkinson was basically a non-factor on the defensive line a season ago, as the hype around him coming from North Carolina was immense.
The player they expected to see last year was on full display, as the senior finished the day with a sack and an interception off a Julian Sayin batted ball at the line of scrimmage.
His high motor was one to watch early, as his get-off and confidence at the position looked vastly improved from last year. He is one to seriously watch to be the starter next to Kenyatta Jackson Jr. come September.
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A vulnerable woman, suffering from multiple health conditions and alcohol-related dementia, was “dumped” at a homeless shelter by an Ohio nursing home, prompting staff to call the fire department.
The woman, who was diabetic, managing a tibia fracture, and incontinent, arrived at the shelter carrying “a large bag of medications.”
Federal inspectors from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) documented the incident following an August 3, 2023, inspection, noting the woman was “unclear of what was going on, scared, and not sure who dropped her off there.”
The Eastland Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Columbus had involuntarily discharged the woman after she was caught drinking beer at the facility. While staff reportedly sought a substance abuse rehabilitation bed, none were immediately available.
Eastland staff failed to contact the county’s psychiatric bed board for alternative placement before taking her to the shelter, where she faced a waiting list of about 100 people.
The incident highlights a disturbing trend, described by industry experts as rare but increasingly common, where nursing homes transfer medically fragile patients to homeless shelters. CMS, which funds most nursing home care in the U.S., has previously faulted Eastland and six other facilities for similar discharge practices in recent years.
The shelter at first declined to admit the woman, leaving her outside in the late-summer heat. Staff eventually relented, letting her sit in the lobby with a glass of cold water while they summoned a city rapid response team, including the fire department and a social worker.
Neither Eastland nor the CMS inspectors could locate the woman by the time the report was published.
“In addition, the events of what occurred at the addiction recovery center or how/why Resident #83 ended up at the homeless shelter … could not be determined as the facility was unable to provide any additional information regarding Resident #83,” the inspection report says.
The administrator at Eastland declined to return phone calls about the inspection. Facility staff declined to provide contact information for Garden Healthcare, the corporate owner of the nursing home, which operates five other facilities, according to CMS data. It doesn’t publish any contact information online.
Most of the patients in these situations are older, homeless, unemployed and lack support networks of family or friends that might be checking in on them, according to Chip Wilkins, who leads the city of Dayton’s Long Term Care Ombudsman program, which acts as a legal advocate for long term care patients.
“We are starting to deal with it more and more. The facilities are so closely monitored on discharges, but yet they still try and send them to hospitals and not take them back. Or drop them off at homeless shelters,” he said in an interview.
“I would say certainly over the last six months there has been an uptick.”
Leilani Pelletier, the statewide ombudsman, said she didn’t have ready access to data that could confirm whether the discharges to homeless shelters have increased in frequency statewide.
But health care is as subject to macroeconomic forces like inflation as other sectors of the economy. And Medicaid, which pays for most nursing care, is under increasing cost pressure as federal lawmakers have reduced program funds.
The challenges nursing facilities in Ohio are facing reflect a broader and concerning trend affecting facilities across the country, said Scott Wiley in a statement, CEO of the Ohio Health Care Association, an industry trade group.
“This issue has been growing as more residents face unstable housing,” he said. “State oversight and resources are needed to help tackle the issue on a larger scale to find meaningful, long-term solutions for Ohioans who struggle with homelessness. It will require a collaborative approach that a single nursing facility provider is not equipped to manage on their own.”
The state ombudsman’s office gets copies of every involuntary discharge from a nursing home in Ohio. One of the first things they check, Wilkins said, is the proposed discharge location.
Homeless shelter discharges are priority cases because they’re almost always unsafe, he said. They can’t manage the 10 to 20 medications they might need daily. Some rely on wheelchairs or walkers.
“Invariably, that ends up being a horrible experience for the individual because they’ll go to the shelter, and typically, within two to three days, the shelter will send them to the hospital because they can’t meet their needs,” Wilkins said.
Often, the issues trace back to insurers, including Medicaid and Medicare, that cut off residents’ benefits. Sometimes the facilities cite aggressive behavior or substance use.
Homeless shelters aren’t built to handle medically fragile patients. They aren’t medical centers. Some may require residents to climb to a top bunk, a tall task for older patients.
Marcus Roth, director of communications of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, said the practice puts the shelters in a tight spot. They’re tending to a population they’re not equipped to handle, but they’re also the de facto safety net.
“The emergency shelter system, to the extent we have a system, is often the only thing available when other interventions don’t work,” he said.
Pelletier emphasized in an interview that such involuntary discharges to shelters against residents’ wishes are rare. That said, she estimated about 13,000 Ohioans are discharged from a nursing home each month.
Nursing homes, she said, have legal obligations to make sure that discharges are “safe and appropriate.” And it’s not up to the facilities, she said, to unilaterally decide where a person should go.
Whether a shelter is “safe and appropriate” is a fact-specific question. Pelletier said there are instances where it could be, pending the care needs of the resident and abilities of the shelter. It’s the kind of thing that ombudsmen hone in on when reviewing discharges.
“The real issue is when people are discharged to a homeless shelter and there’s been no work or investigation done on if that would be a safe or appropriate discharge,” she said.
It didn’t matter that its patient was diabetic and struggled to manage his blood sugar. Neither did his history of glaucoma, cataracts, or suspected autism, or his 22 years of residency at the nursing home.
What mattered is that his insurance stopped paying, and the Laurels of Hillsboro wanted him out, according to a Dec. 29, 2025 CMS inspection of the facility. The facility was sold in July 2025 and rebranded to Hillsboro Health and Rehab, but state and federal records reflect the previous name.
The man told CMS inspectors in an interview that nursing home staff never told him he was being taken to a homeless shelter.
Federal law says nursing home residents must be given at least 30 days’ notice before a discharge, barring health and safety emergencies. But the patient at Hillsboro, who isn’t identified in the investigation, wasn’t given any. According to his former roommate, facility staff misrepresented the discharge, claiming he’d be going to an assisted living apartment as opposed to an emergency shelter that would only house him for up to 90 days.
The man wasn’t taught to manage his medications and showed up at the shelter without any needles to use. He struggled to see with his cataracts. He had no driver’s license, birth certificate or other documents he would need to get a job, income or housing.
“I can’t believe they would do someone dirty like that,” the patient’s roommate said to CMS inspectors.
Hillsboro, via a receptionist who declined to provide her name over the phone, declined to comment but said the facility is now in “substantial compliance” with the state.
In some of the facilities cited by CMS, the providers allegedly failed to ensure patients got their medications as they were discharged to homeless shelters. And some failed to provide patients their 30 days of notice before an involuntary discharge.
Meadowbrook Manor, in Trumbull County, sought to discharge a patient with an array of long-term illnesses and a history of substance use and homelessness, according to a July 8 inspection. He was given a 30-day discharge notice, but was sent to a shelter 20 days later regardless.
He was given two weeks’ worth of medications, but no prescriptions, medical appointments or care plan. The shelter staff identified a “mismatch” given the man had trouble walking and couldn’t climb a ladder to reach a top bunk, as the facility requires.
Meadowbrook staff refused to take him back.
At New Lebanon Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, a woman’s insurer sent her a termination letter for her treatment for a series of neural and spinal disorders, plus depression and arthritis.
While she was entitled to 30 days’ notice, the facility gave her roughly 24 hours before discharging her to a homeless shelter. The facility’s social services director said he didn’t know where the woman actually went, only that a friend picked her up.
By:
Friday, April 17, 2026 | 7:01 PM
Central Catholic lineman Jimmy Kalis warms up before the Vikings’ game against Pine-Richland on Aug. 29, 2025, at CMU. (Christopher Horner | TribLive)
Central Catholic’s Jimmy Kalis blocks as Chrys Black carries through the Harrisburg defense during their PIAA Class 6A state semifinal on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, at Mansion Park in Altoona. (Christopher Horner | TribLive)
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Jimmy Kalis will play his college football at Ohio State.
Central Catholic’s 6-foot-8, 285-pound star lineman, surrounded by family, friends and other supporters, gave a verbal commitment to the Buckeyes live on Rivals’ YouTube channel Friday evening.
He thanked many of the people who supported him along his journey, including teammates and coaches.
“I want to thank all of the schools that gave me a chance and believed in me,” Kalis said. “I am really thankful and blessed for all these opportunities I got.”
The soon-to-be senior chose Ohio State over a group of five other finalists that included Georgia, Texas, Clemson, Miami and LSU.
Kalis, a Rivals 4-star offensive tackle, collected more than 40 Power Four scholarship offers with Alabama, Cal, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Indiana, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Pitt, Purdue, Tennessee, Washington, WVU and Wisconsin among the others.
He is the No. 234 overall prospect and No. 21 offensive tackle in the Class of 2027, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking.
Kalis went through an extensive recruiting process that included visits to several of the top schools on his list.
In an interview with Rivals in February, Kalis said Ohio State was “very high on my list because they have been there and been very consistent since Day 1. They develop OL at a high level and have an elite culture and they take pride in getting guys to the next level.”
Kalis was part of a powerful Central Catholic offensive line in 2025 that helped the Vikings rack up 40.8 points per game.
Central Catholic went undefeated in Class 6A, finished 13-2 overall, defeated North Allegheny, 42-7, for the WPIAL title and advanced to the PIAA championship game before falling to La Salle College.
Kalis’ efforts were celebrated with numerous all-star honors including an all-conference second-team nod.
“It’s been an awesome ride watching Jimmy grow and mature,” Central Catholic coach Ryan Lehmeier said. “He’s earned this opportunity. He’s played really well throughout his career with us. He’s a great kid who is so focused on what he wants, and he’s worked so hard towards that. He’s been a delight to coach, and I hope all of our kids are able to reach their max potential. For guys like Jimmy to have this opportunity, I couldn’t be more happy for him.”
Kalis has had a strong support system, and throughout the recruiting process, he leaned on the experience of both his father, Todd, and older brother, Kyle.
Todd Kalis, a Minnesota native, attended Division I Arizona State as a 6-6, 300-pound guard and was selected by the Vikings in the fourth round of the 1988 NFL Draft. He played for the Vikings, Steelers and Bengals over his eight-year NFL career.
Kyle Kalis, recruited by Michigan out of St. Edward High School in suburban Cleveland, got an opportunity as a lineman (6-4, 305) in the NFL with Washington, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Oakland from 2017-2020.
Jimmy’s mother, Kristen, was a former college basketball player. She is 6-1.
Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.
Tags: Central Catholic
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