With great power comes great responsibility. And it looks like 18 y/o Jeremiah Smith is all set to be the Spiderman for Ryan Day‘s boys. The Bucks are in for the big cheques, and the Irish are the only ones remotely capable enough to shake up Ryan Day and Co. Now, you might wonder why. See, Marcus Freeman and ND’s defense has been the cream of the crop this year. They held back Georgia to a mere 10 points, and Penn State had a rough time passing the football… But the North remembers. After all, Winter came for the Volunteers and the Horns. And in the center of it all isn’t just OSU’s offense and defense but Smith being set and ready to take up the mantle and be the leader of the Big 10 monsters…

“I gotta be a decoy this game as well. I’m gonna be a decoy… Whatever helps us win,” Jeremiah Smith pointed out on Bucknuts 247Sports. Sometimes, you gotta keep your running shoes in the locker and be ready to be the shield for your boys. Remember the Horns game? Yeah, so the No.4 phenom was coming off of a 187-yard bomb and 2 TD run game against the Ducks. Naturally, you would think, “Yeah, he is going to do the same against Texas,” right? “You watch the film — they doubled, tripled me,” Smith pointed out. Not only did Steve Sarkisian block off Smith, but he barely allowed the star to go past 3 yards on a single reception.

“But being a decoy helped us win the game,” Smith added. He had to sit back and let TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins do all the heavy lifting and did it work? He-k yeah. Bucks pulled a 28-point game against one of the best SEC teams out there…

“But he can also take out two or three guys at a time [as a decoy], and sometimes that’s a good thing,” QB Will Howard had once mentioned about Smith. Although the Cotton Bowl was the least productive game for the young talent, it also allowed him to extend coverage by blocking guys and opening doors for Judkins and his 2 receiving touchdowns.

Say what you want, but this opportunity to be the shield instead of the sword comes at a really solid time for No.4. The PTD. Started because of Eric Chenowith (ex-Kansas Basketball player). The permanent total disability insurance is like having a safety net cover your whole life. If anything is ever to go wrong, PTD has got you covered. Now that Smith is going to focus on being the decoy, this insurance is going to keep him safe. 

A blessing for Jeremiah Smith

Now, you might think that if PTD is that ‘revolutionary,’ why don’t more athletes opt for it? Well, you gotta be really special to be selected into that club. See, for Smith, the PTD runs till August 1st, 2027, or when he enters the NFL. Now, the main catch is that the player or his family are not responsible for paying the premiums.

The school has to use the athletic budget to cover the insurance and pay for the premiums. Now you understand why we said, “you gotta be really special”. Being only 18, Smith has created more NFL hype than veteran players like Travis Hunter or even Will Howard…

OSU taking this step means they love their boy, and the relationship feels mutual cause Smith is all set to get tackled and thrown around when it needs to if it means the Bucks are getting the win!