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By now, just about everyone who has tangentially followed the NBA knows the borderline apocryphal story of a 15-year-old Michael Jordan being cut from his high school basketball team. It's become an integral part of the lore of arguably the greatest athlete who has ever lived. The origin story of the most overpowering competitive force in the history of team sports. But this story isn't one that's unique to Michael Jordan. Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is living his own version right now.
Jeremiah Smith was touted as a generational prospect before he ever played a game in Columbus, and thus far, he's done nothing to indicate he's not worth every bit of that hype. Smith ranks 5th in the Big Ten in receiving yards (453), 4th in yards per reception (19.7) and 2nd in receiving touchdowns (6). He's practically a guarantee to win the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year Award. But long before the Big Ten spotlight was ever a thought, Jeremiah Smith was just a kid with a broken heart.
As the story goes, which is written beautifully by The Athletic's Bruce Feldman, a seven-year-old Jeremiah Smith was left off the roster of a youth football team that, from all accounts, he had every no business being cut from. It crushed the youngster, prompting him to cry in the car on the entire drive home. But it also sparked what looks to be one of the most promising football careers in quite some time, thanks to a little push from his father.
“We’re gonna work a little harder,” Chris Smith told his son on that day, per Feldman, “and you ain’t gonna have to worry about that again.”
Chris Smith enlisted the help of two of his friends who had become top-tier youth coaches in South Florida, and every weekend, he'd bring his son out onto the practice field to work tirelessly on his craft. But it wasn't just the fundamentals learned during those hot summer days training sessions that landed Jeremiah Smith where he is now. It's the memory of that day when he was seven years old and felt like he wasn't good enough.
“That moment made me tougher. I think about that moment each and every day,” Jeremiah Smith said. “It’s something that I keep in my mind while I’m playing, or if I ever feel like I’m slacking off, I remember that moment and that feeling. I still really remember that moment of the hurt feelings of being a 7-year-old kid that just wanted to play football and didn’t get the chance to that year, so I don’t take anything for granted anymore.”
Chris Smith believes it was some form of divine intervention that kept Jeremiah Smith from making that youth team eleven years ago.
“Whatever God did that day, I think was meant to happen,” Chris Smith said. “Just him hearing that he got cut did something to him.”
What it did was make Jeremiah Smith a potentially once-in-a-generation prospect. Someone who, as a teenager, plays with the polish, power, precision and purpose of a successful, long-time NFL veteran. Just imagine what he's gonna be a few years down the line.
