Can Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith snap 30-year NFL draft drought?

Ohio State has high expectations for the 2026 campaign. Part of those high expectations surround wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. Smith is a potential Heisman candidate in 2026.

Meanwhile, he is likely playing his final season of college football, now that he is eligible for the NFL Draft at the end of the season. A wide receiver has not been drafted first overall since 1996, when Keyshawn Johnson was selected first overall. Now, Mel Kiper Jr. thinks that 30-year drought could end with Smith, speaking on The Golics.

“Jeremiah Smith’s the number one player in this draft. Leonard Moore, you could argue, is number two, three, a great corner. So I would say, Jeremiah Smith. Obviously, he’s projected down just a little bit because of the so-called projected need, and we don’t know if these teams are going to need that,” Kiped said. “We don’t know how these quarterbacks are going to pan out. We do know Jermiesh Smith. He could have come out his freshman year and been a top guy. Sophomore year, now he’s finally draft-eligible… If it wasn’t for needing the quarterback and these quarterbacks were projecting to pan out, Jeremiah Smith’s guaranteed to be the number one pick.”

Only three wide receivers have been taken with the first overall selection. Dave Parks went first overall to the San Francisco 49ers in 1964. Twenty years later, Irving Fryar went to the New England Patriots first overall. Then, in 1996, the New York Jets selected Johnson. There have been multiple receivers taken in the top five since then. This past year, Smith’s former teammate Carnell Tate went number four to the Tennessee Titans.

Meanwhile, Travis Hunter, Calvin Johnson, and Charles Rogers have all gone second overall since the last time a receiver was selected first.

Ohio State comes into the season as the top team in the nation. After hosting Ball State in Week 1, they will travel to Texas in the second week of the season.

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