Ryan Day addresses challenge of balancing Jeremiah Smith’s Heisman campaign, rest of WR room

Ohio State is no stranger to pumping out Heisman Trophy winners, though it’s been nearly two decades since it has produced one. Could receiver Jeremiah Smith buck the trend and become the next Buckeye to win college football’s top award?

Coach Ryan Day alluded to the challenge of getting a receiver enough production to win that type of honor while discussing how he balances promoting Smith’s Heisman Trophy campaign against keeping the other receivers happy. It’s an interesting and delicate balance.

“A little bit of both in terms of you design plays where you think the ball may go one place, but if a defense is designed to stop that area or that player, that area of the formation or area of the field or whatever it might be, then the ball needs to go somewhere else,” Day said. “And I think that’s what’s challenging for a receiver.

“I say that and whether Jeremiah gets the statistics that he would need to get into the Heisman race or not, it’s sort of out of his hands because there’s just certain things that can happen that are out of his control.”

Smith has been excellent so far this season. He’s on roughly the same pace receiving-wise as a year ago, when he finished with 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns.

But opposing defenses have certainly tried to take him away more regularly this year. It hasn’t always worked, but he’s usually the focal point of the defensive game plan. So his numbers may not be as big.

“That doesn’t change who he is as a player, his impact on the game or anything like that,” Day said. “So we have to make sure that we’re figuring out as many ways as we can to get him the ball, knowing that that’s not the No. 1 most important thing. The most important thing is to move the ball and score points and be efficient.”

One thing Day has been careful about is making sure everyone in the receiver room feels appreciated. Carnell Tate and Brandon Innis are both excellent, too, and the Buckeyes might well have the best receiver room in the country when you couple them with Jeremiah Smith.

Day is quick to praise. Not just Smith, either.

“That’s why I mentioned that after the game Carnell has done a lot of the dirty work that’s allowed some of the other guys on offense to have success and then vice versa,” Day said. “Jeremiah dictates coverage or is a decoy on a play to open up something for Carnell, and that’s winning football. That’s going to be the key moving forward.”

The receiver production, led by Jeremiah Smith, has also allowed other groups to shine of late. That’s Heisman Trophy caliber impact. Day explained.

“I think you’re seeing guys like (tight end) Max (Klare) and our running backs really starting to take strides forward to make an impact,” the Ohio State boss said. “We just want to make sure when we go into a game that based on what the defense is giving us that we can attack them in that area. When you lose that balance, that’s when you put yourself at risk. So whether it’s in personnel groupings, running, throwing, styles of play, we always want to make sure we’re on the attack.”