Two true freshmen rewrote freshman receiving records in the last two seasons. Only one is positioned to win a Heisman in 2026.
Jeremiah Smith already has the resume of a Heisman finalist. Malachi Toney already has the highlight reel. The gap between them is the storyline, and Smith owns the better one heading into the fall. PFSN’s Football Debate Club tackled this on its season-two college football debut, with host Cam Mellor and analyst Eric Mac Lain landing on Smith over Oli Hodgkinson’s pick of Toney. Mac Lain won the round, and the case isn’t close.
Jeremiah Smith Resume Is Already Built
“I felt like this was the easiest answer on the test,” Mac Lain said on the show. “Jeremiah Smith’s the best player in college football, and he is dynamic. He had 87 receptions a year ago. I think he gets closer to triple digits and that production just keeps going up. He took a little bit down on the yards per catch. He went from 17 yards as a freshman to 14 as a sophomore. I think that gets back up, and he’s just going to turn everybody’s heads.”
The numbers back the framing. Smith caught 76 passes for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns as a true freshman in 2024, the second-most TDs in a single season in Ohio State history. He followed that with 87 catches, 1,243 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2025, earning unanimous All-American honors and back-to-back Big Ten Richter-Howard Wide Receiver of the Year awards.
He also has the quarterback. Julian Sayin returns after a redshirt-freshman season that made him a Heisman finalist alongside Fernando Mendoza, Diego Pavia, and Jeremiyah Love. Sayin threw for 3,610 yards, 32 touchdowns and 8 interceptions on 77% completion, leading the nation in accuracy. That’s not a quarterback who will hold back from feeding his No. 1 target. The chemistry is already there.
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The lone concern is on the sideline. Offensive coordinator Brian Hartline left in December to become South Florida’s head coach, and Smith loses his position coach in the same move. Ohio State hired Arthur Smith from the NFL to call plays and Cortez Hankton from LSU as the new wide receivers coach. New voices, same offense, same QB-WR pair.
Why Malachi Toney Is the Right Argument and the Wrong Pick
Hodgkinson’s pitch for Toney was sharp. “Guy finished the wide receiver two in PFSN’s impact score last season. Reliable hands, caught almost [80] percent of his targets in 2025. But for me, it’s what Malachi Toney does after the catch is obscene. Absolutely obscene. And it’s that kind of highlight reel playmaking that wins you the Heisman Trophy.”
The film backs every word. Toney finished his true freshman season with 99 catches for 1,089 yards and 9 touchdowns through 15 games, leading all FBS freshmen in receptions and receiving yards. He recorded zero drops on 84 catchable targets and led the Power Four in yards after the catch with 623. The FWAA, the ACC, and 247Sports each named him their freshman of the year.
But the Heisman is awarded as much for stability as for production. Miami enters 2026 with a new quarterback in Darian Mensah, who arrived from Duke alongside his former Blue Devil teammate Cooper Barkate.
That’s a chemistry rebuild and a target-share rival in the same offseason. CBS Sports’ preseason Heisman odds board lists 14 of the top 16 candidates at quarterback. Smith and Toney are the only two receivers. Voters need a clear story to break the QB stranglehold. Smith has one.
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Mellor framed it best on the show. Ohio State’s CFP quarterfinal loss to Miami sent Smith home angry. “Losing to Miami, where he grew up, this dude’s like, I’m coming for it all,” Mellor said. Toney played in that same game. He was on the winning side. He won’t carry the same chip into September.
Bet on the angry guy.
