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Jeremiah Smith is going to make a lot of money in the NFL one day, but he’s already made a pretty penny as one of the top wide receivers in the country for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
That’s just life in the NIL and transfer portal era. Players are getting paid, and the great ones are getting paid a ton of money.
There are role players in the NFL who would be jealous of the money that Smith, a rising junior, has pulled in during his first two seasons in Columbus.
Smith has an NIL valuation of $5 million in 2026. That’s not even counting the money he’s made via NIL deals in 2024 and 2025.
At this point, he’s a veteran when it comes to making money playing football, but for his first big NIL purchase, he approached it like a seasoned pro.
Smith was asked what his first big purchase was once he started making real NIL money.
“I think I bought my grandma’s house,” Smith told Complex Sports (h/t On3). “I bought my grandma’s house from her. Yeah. I bought this last year… I was 19 (years old).”
Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith expected to make $5 million in NIL in 2026
There used to be a time in college football when a 19-year-old sophomore paying off his grandma’s home like that would be unheard of. It would be video game material.
The truth of the matter is that Smith is far from the highest-paid player in college sports in 2026, though. That title belongs to Miami Hurricanes transfer quarterback Darian Mensah, who is getting paid $6.5 million.
One could argue that these players are worth every cent they are getting paid from an “eyeballs” perspective. They get a ton of attention, and with every big play they make for their respective program, their “gravity,” as well as the revenue for their school, simply goes up.
As a freshman at Ohio State, Smith caught 76 passes for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns. Last season, he caught 87 passes for 1,243 yards and 12 touchdowns.
He’s one of the best in the business right now, and business is boomin’.
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