Forget loyalty, Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith should enter transfer portal to cash in after national title

It’s unshakeable and unmistakable, this rare and real lifelong bond of college football championship teams. There is no greater truism.

Yeah, well, money changes everything.

Money is the very reason Ohio State star freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith – the best player on the field in Monday’s national championship victory over Notre Dame – should enter the transfer portal and test the open market.

The engraving isn’t set on the national championship trophy, but the writing couldn’t be more on the wall in the now age of get yours. Millions are available in NIL deals, why ignore it?

More to the point: with the NFL still two years away for Smith, why risk a potential career-defining injury without earning as much as you possibly can?

This isn’t about staying true to your school. It’s about financial security in a physically-demanding business, where the end is always one play away.

“I’ve got two, three years left of college,” Smith said. “I’m just focused on college right now.”

Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith (4) makes a catch against Notre Dame during the fourth quarter of the College Football Playoff national championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

And that’s the point. That’s where this uncomfortable but necessary conversation must begin.

Because football, at the college or NFL level, has always been a game of what can you do for me now? And when you can’t do it anymore, for whatever reason, it’s next man up.

If you think college football has moved closer to the NFL in every aspect over the last four years of the NIL boom, it’s obvious what ugly reality comes next. The NFL uses players until they’re not physically able to play at an elite level, and once that happens, they cut players loose.

Thanks for your help, we’re moving on. That’s not college football, you…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/forget-loyalty-ohio-states-jeremiah-150104578.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2025-01-23 15:01:00

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