Ohio State's Jaxon Smith-Njigba Reacts To Record-Setting Rose Bowl Performance

The sophomore set multiple school records and had more receiving yards than anyone ever in a bowl game.

Author:
Andrew Lind
Jan 2, 2022 12:45 AM EST

Ohio State sophomore wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba had one of the most memorable performances in college football history in Saturday’s Rose Bowl win over Utah, as he tied his own school single-game record with 15 catches for 347 yards, the most ever in a single game in school, Rose Bowl and bowl history.

It broke the marks set by former Buckeyes wide receiver Terry Glenn, who caught nine passes for 253 yards and four touchdowns a 54-14 win at Pittsburgh in 1995; former USC wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, who caught 12 passes for 216 yards in a 41-32 victory over Northwestern in the 1996 Rose Bowl; and former Hawai’i wide receiver Jason Rivers, who caught 14 passes for 308 yards in a 41-24 win over Arizona State in the 2006 Hawai’i Bowl.

If you ask Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, though, it’s wasn't a surprise to see Smith-Njigba have that kind of success on Saturday. In fact, it was just another day at the office for the former five-star prospect from Rockwall, Texas.

“I think Jaxon has done what he’s done all year, and that’s just play within himself,” Day said. “Certainly, some of the plays he made tonight were tremendous. We leaned on him a lot. At one point, I asked him, ‘Are you tired?’ He looked at me like, ‘What are you, crazy?’

“He went back out there and played one of the best games probably in the history of the Rose Bowl.”

Smith-Njigba already entered Saturday’s game as Ohio State’s leading receiver, but his importance only increased with the absence of senior Chris Olave and junior Garrett Wilson, who both opted out of the Rose Bowl to avoid injury and prepare for April’s NFL Draft.

Redshirt freshman quarterback C.J. Stroud leaned on him all evening, targeting him 16 times, including a critical fourth-down play with a little more than four and a half minutes remaining in the game. That conversion set up a 30-yard touchdown pass from Stroud to Smith-Njigba on the very next play that gave the Buckeyes their first lead of the game.

“C.J. and him just have a great connection,” Day said. “They have a great feel, and I think there’s a lot of trust there that’s been built over the year. They read each other really well and they have a special connection. The throw on the touchdown pass was probably as good as I’ve ever seen in a big-time spot.”

Smith-Njigba said he didn’t feel any extra pressure to step his game up with Olave and Wilson out. He just played the same way he had all season, when he caught a school single-season record 95 passes for another school and Big Ten single-season record 1,606 yards and nine touchdowns.

“Honestly, I just trust the process,” Smith-Njigba said after the game. “Trust the coaches are going to put me in the right opportunity, that C.J. is going to put me in the right opportunity and just take advantage of every opportunity that I get. That’s the only thing I can do, really, and it worked out.

“It’s just a blessing. I just try to take in every moment every time the ball’s in the air and I feel like I did that today. It’s a blessing.”

With that, Smith-Njigba became the eighth player in Ohio State history to take home Rose Bowl MVP honors, joining fullback Fred “Curley” Morrison in 1950, quarterback Dave Leggett in 1955, quarterback Rex Kern in 1969, quarterback Cornelius Greene in 1974, quarterback Joe Germaine in 1997, quarterback Terrelle Pryor in 2010 and quarterback Dwayne Haskins and safety Brendon White in 2019.

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