How Jaxon Smith-Njigba became Ohio State's next great receiver

By Laken Litman
FOX Sports College Football Writer

Jaxon Smith-Njigba ran a fade route, looked over his right shoulder, and caught an impossible touchdown pass from C.J. Stroud. He celebrated by doing the ‘Griddy’ dance as Ohio State took its first lead over Utah in last year’s Rose Bowl.

“It was an exceptional play,” says Brian Hartline, a former Ohio State and NFL wideout turned his alma mater’s passing game coordinator and receivers coach. “When that happened, it was one of those ‘Wow’ moments. And it sticks with me.”

It wowed Ohio State alum Kirk Herbstreit, too, who was calling the game, a 48-45 Buckeyes win.

“You don’t teach what he just did,” Herbstreit said on the broadcast. “The instincts to look over his shoulder, almost like Willie Mays [catching] that football and [making] it look like he’s at a practice on a Wednesday.”

Smith-Njigba, who was named the game’s MVP, smashed a bunch of Rose Bowl records that day: 15 catches for 347 yards (also an all-time bowl game record, program single-game record and the second-most in Big Ten history) and three touchdowns.

That performance came on the heels of a stellar season in which the then-sophomore set all kinds of Buckeyes records with 95 receptions (fifth most in Big Ten history) and 1,606 receiving yards (breaking a 20-year-old conference receiving yards record) on a team that featured first-round NFL Draft picks Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave.

Funny thing about that receiver trio — Wilson and Olave, who were drafted Nos. 10 and 11 overall, respectively, believe Smith-Njigba is the best of the bunch.

“He’s supernatural,” Wilson told Herbstreit in an interview last year.

Ohio State is counting on it.

Last year, the Buckeyes thought they had enough talent to win it all. They went 11-2 and won the Rose Bowl, but didn’t beat Michigan, didn’t win the Big Ten, didn’t make the College Football Playoff and thus didn’t get to play for a national title. The team felt the season was a failure.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s 2021 highlights

Check out the highlights from Ohio State receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s 2021 season before the Buckeyes take on Notre Dame to start 2022.

This year, it’s championship or bust for Ohio State, which begins its quest Saturday hosting Notre Dame (7:30 p.m. ET). And as Smith-Njigba enters his third year, he’s a big key to those high hopes. He’s now one of the top players in college football — a Heisman Trophy candidate (+3000 via FOX Bet) who will be playing alongside two others in teammates Stroud (+225), a finalist last year, and running back TreVeyon Henderson (+4000). He also has a shot at winning the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver.

And luckily for Ohio State, Smith-Njigba has been preparing his whole life for this moment.

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Sports were central in Smith-Njigba’s family. His father, Maada, played linebacker at Stephen F. Austin, and his older brother, Canaan, who Jaxon calls his hero, was drafted by the New York Yankees out of high school and now plays left field for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

From a young age, Maada trained his sons near their home in Rockwall, Texas, 23 miles northeast of Dallas. After he and the boys’ mom divorced, Maada had to figure out what to do with his sons during his time with them. Working for the Dallas Fire Department, he lived in a one-bedroom apartment and didn’t own a TV. Going to the movies or Chuck E. Cheese wasn’t in the cards financially. So he leaned on what he knew best, which was sports.

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