Jeremiah Smith quickly made a name for himself in college football last year during his true freshman season. The former five-star wide receiver racked up 76 catches for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns as an 18-year-old.
Smith capped off his elite freshman campaign with a game-sealing catch against Notre Dame in the national championship. Despite his 88-yard performance in the title game, a former Super Bowl champion is claiming that Smith was ‘strapped’ by Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore, and Smith isn’t taking the claim lightly.
Jeremiah Smith Responds to Jonas Gray’s Praise of Leonard Moore
For those of you who don’t know the name Leonard Moore, he is a former three-star who PFF named as their number one returning cornerback in all of college football heading into his sophomore year.
There’s no denying that Moore is great, but former Super Bowl champion Jonas Gray may have taken the praise a little too far, posting this on X about the matchup between Moore and Jeremiah Smith in the national title game.
He actually strapped up Jeremiah Smith in the Natty, but people aren’t ready to have that conversation yet. https://t.co/L98oomN7uI
— Jonas Gray (@JonasLGray) June 7, 2025
Smith took no time at all to respond to Gray’s claim, posting this simple two-word response:
Yea ok🤣 https://t.co/vr5aTl0Uhf
— Jeremiah Smith (@Jermiah_Smith1) June 7, 2025
Smith had five total catches in the national championship game for 88 yards; however, when Moore matched up with Smith, the wideout had limited success, only catching two passes for eight yards.
This was a limited sample size, as Ohio State likes to move Smith around in different formations, while Moore exclusively plays on the boundary for Notre Dame. This means the two often weren’t matched up, but Moore did see more success than most corners did against Smith last season.
Part of me understands the notion to pit these two players against each other, but as a true college football fan, it’s awesome to know that two of the best players in the entire country next season are only going to be sophomores.
As previously mentioned, PFF has Moore as the number one returning corner, but the network also has Jeremiah Smith as the best returning wideout. These two should be the faces of college football next season, and neither one will be draft-eligible until 2027.
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Ohio State and Notre Dame will not face off in the regular season during the rest of these young players’ careers, but hopefully down the line in the College Football Playoff, fans will get to see a rematch of Moore vs Smith to settle this debate once and all.
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