Why I surprised myself and didn’t give my Biletnikoff Award vote to Jeremiah Smith
By Andrew Olson
Published:
In October, I received an unexpected email from the Biletnikoff Award, inviting me to vote this year. I had 2 instant reactions: I gladly accept and I’ll obviously vote for Jeremiah Smith.
Fifty-five days after accepting, I realized I wasn’t voting for Smith, after all.
There’s nothing left to say about Smith that hasn’t already been said. He showed the college football world last season that he was worthy of his billing as the No. 1 overall recruit in the Class of 2024. I’m not sure if I can think of another example in my lifetime of a true freshman looking NFL-ready the way Smith did in 2024. (Hopefully, reader, you don’t think my lifetime goes too far back. I’ll just say I grew up watching the Fun ‘n ‘Gun in its prime.)
Smith put up sensational numbers in his debut season, recording 76 catches for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns across 16 games to lead Ohio State to the national championship. Unfortunately for Smith, Travis Hunter also played wide receiver, so he picked up the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best pass-catcher last year before winning the Heisman Trophy, too.
Smith entered the 2025 season with well-earned Heisman hype, and this year’s Biletnikoff Award race seemed like a foregone conclusion before the first day of fall. Certainly, with Hunter off to the NFL, another wide receiver wouldn’t outperform Smith again.
My fellow “Arrested Development” fans, you can cue Ron Howard’s narrator voice: Another wide receiver outperformed Smith again.
Statistically, there were actually wide receivers (yes, plural) that outplayed Smith in 2025. When I looked at the provided statistics before this past Saturday’s voting deadline, I was surprised to see Smith, the preseason Heisman candidate, with the 3rd-best stats of the 3 finalists.
Presented with these 3 options, I voted for Makai Lemon of USC to win the Biletnikoff Award. For all I know, I might be Lemon’s only first-place vote east of the Mississippi, but he felt like the right choice.
UConn’s Skyler Bell is absolutely a worthy finalist for the best pure stats in the nation. He’s 1 of only 2 FBS receivers to post triple-digit receptions this season, joining FAU’s Easton Messer (104). Bell is also 2nd in the nation in receiving yards. His 1,278 yards are just a hair behind San Jose State’s Danny Scudero at 1,291. And Bell’s 13 touchdowns are 2nd in the nation. Only Camden Brown of Georgia Southern has more with 14.
There was a problem with Bell’s candidacy though. A big, triple-digit problem.
The Biletnikoff Award made a point to include Sagarin Strength of Schedule rankings. Seeing Bell’s UConn Huskies at No. 131 stuck out like a pimple on prom night.
Lemon and Smith, on the other hand, both faced competition that ranked in the top-40 most difficult schedules in the regular season. Side-by-side, Lemon posted a better 12-game resume.
The difference of 7 catches could be chalked up to Lemon playing 1 more game than Smith in the regular season. Independent of the number of games played, though, Lemon had better yards per catch (14.6 to 13.1) and better yards per game (96.4 to 85.7). Before Ohio State played Indiana for the Big Ten title, Lemon had faced a slightly tougher schedule than Smith. (Ohio State is now No. 22 in the Sagarin SOS rankings after the Indiana game.)
I didn’t expect to be voting for Lemon but landed there after weighing the 3 finalists. Lemon had a spectacular season while playing tougher competition than Bell and put up better numbers than the super-talented Smith in the process.
As for Smith, he might make me rethink my own stance on “career awards.” This is my first time voting for a major college football award. As an observer, I’ve always scoffed at the players who have won season awards because their college career is nearing its end and they’ve come up short in awards voting. If Smith is a finalist again next year after going 0-for-2 though, I might just have to vote for him.
Bell put up video game numbers. Smith is a special talent. But, this year, Lemon should win the Biletnikoff Award.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
