Jeremiah Smith says SEC powerhouse was his ‘dream school’

Jeremiah Smith has a chance to be one of the best college wide receivers of all-time when all is said and done.

He’s been a superstar for the Ohio State Buckeyes and has lived up to all of the expectations as the former consensus No. 1 overall recruit of the 2024 class.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day should be waking up every morning and thanking his lucky stars for the simple fact that Smith is catching footballs for his team.

It almost didn’t work out that way for the Buckeyes, though. In fact, recently at Big Ten Media Days, the 6-foot-3, 223-pound receiver from Miami Gardens, Florida, revealed that his dream team growing up was the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Alabama backed off on recruiting Jeremiah Smith after he committed to Ohio State

“Growing up my dream school was Alabama when Nick Saban was there,” Smith said on Wednesday, according to Daniel Hager of On3. “They wasn’t recruiting me, though. It is what it is. But, I always wanted to go to ‘Bama growing up.”

Smith had an offer from Alabama, of course, but he committed to Ohio State in December 2022, a full year before he had to sign his letter of intent with the Buckeyes.

Because of that early commitment, the superstar wideout feels Alabama decided to back off of him on the recruiting trail.

“That was crazy. I mean, I always dreamed about going to Alabama because a lot of guys at that time from South Florida was going to ‘Bama and having success like Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy, Calvin Ridley. I think I committed to Ohio State too early and that’s why they stopped. They thought there was no chance,” Smith explained.

It sounds like there was a chance, though one has to wonder if Saban’s decision to retire from coaching after the 2023 season would have played a factor for Smith anyway. If he wanted to play for Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa, he wouldn’t have gotten a chance.

It’s worth noting that Smith could absolutely transfer to Alabama this offseason and you know Kalen DeBoer and the Tide would be more than happy to welcome him aboard.

Stranger things happen every day in college football, but for now, Smith seems likely to head for the 2027 NFL Draft after this college football season rather than head down south to Alabama.