Joel Klatt stands firm on his best player in college football

Following a terrific Week 4 slate of action in college football this weekend, Fox Sports analyst and commentator Joel Klatt reacted with a new edition of his top 10 college football teams in the country.

As he whittled his way down to the No. 1 spot, Klatt unsurprisingly revealed the Ohio State Buckeyes as his top squad as the regular season makes the turn for Week 5. As part of his laudations for OSU, Klatt reiterated a take he had fired off in the preseason: that Buckeye wideout Jeremiah Smith is the very best college football player in the country.

The comment about Smith came about as Klatt discussed Ohio State's new quarterback, Julian Sayin, and the exceptional start to the 2025 season that he has had. Of course, No. 4 in red and white is also partially to thank for that success.

"Sayin has been terrific," Klatt said of the QB. "He’s leading the country in completion percentage. He throws it down the field as well, it’s not like it’s just dink and dunk in order to achieve that completion percentage; very accurate deep down the field. They've still got Jeremiah Smith, who I think is the best player in college football."

What's even more impressive about Sayin is that he didn't waltz into a roster that's nearly as established as the one Will Howard played alongside a year ago. Perhaps this OSU group will prove to be just as talented, but for now, Klatt credits this new group for stepping up after Ryan Day lost a lot of his top talent from the title-winning squad.

"They've been, to me, the most impressive team," Klatt reflected on the Buckeyes. "Again, you lose 14 draft picks off your team that won a national championship, had all of that senior leadership. They’ve gotta replace so much on their team. And what do they do? They come out and it’s just... reload and go back to business, really."

Back to business with a new quarterback but the same superstar wideout, who is still producing despite drawing more attention now Emeka Egbuka, who's having a sensational start to his rookie year in Tampa Bay, is no longer terrorizing collegiate defenses.

So far in the 2025 season, Jeremiah Smith has 315 receiving yards through three games to go along with four total touchdowns.

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