$4.2 million WR named No. 1 wide receiver in college football

College football wide receivers were spread evenly across the country in 2025, with elite production coming from Group-of-Five programs and Power Five bluebloods alike.

San José State’s Danny Scudero paced the FBS with 1,291 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, while UConn’s Skyler Bell followed closely with 1,278 yards on 101 catches and 13 scores, earning consensus All-America honors.

North Texas’ Wyatt Young and Miami’s Malachi Toney each cleared the 1,200-yard mark, and USC’s Makai Lemon, the 2025 Biletnikoff Award winner, finished the year with 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Still, when ESPN published its “CFB Player Rank: The top 100 players of the 2025 season” on Friday, one receiver stood above the rest, with Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith being named the most dominant wideout of the 2025 season.

Smith checked in at No. 8 overall, the highest ranking of any wide receiver, with Lemon next at No. 13.

Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. — Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith (4) runs for a touchdown during the 2025 Cotton Bowl | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Smith arrived at Ohio State in 2024 as an elite five-star prospect, ranked as the No. 1 player in the country, and immediately lived up to the billing.

He broke Ohio State freshman receiving records that season, finishing with 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns on 76 receptions across 16 games while leading the Big Ten in both receiving yards and touchdowns.

His production in 2025 was even more impressive on a per-game basis. Smith posted 87 receptions for 1,243 yards and 12 touchdowns in just 13 games, earning unanimous All-America honors, Big Ten Receiver of the Year recognition, and a spot as a Biletnikoff Award finalist.

That rapid two-year rise has placed Smith among the most decorated underclassmen in the country, and among the sport’s most marketable stars.

His reported NIL valuation sits around $4.2 million, the highest among college wide receivers and third among all college athletes, trailing only Texas quarterback Arch Manning and BYU basketball star AJ Dybantsa.

Smith’s performance once again helped power Ohio State to a strong 2025 campaign. The Buckeyes finished the regular season a perfect 12–0 before suffering a narrow 13–10 loss to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship and a 24–14 defeat to Miami in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal.

Even in defeat, Smith delivered on the biggest stages, hauling in eight catches for 144 yards in the conference title game and seven receptions for 157 yards in the CFP quarterfinal.

The Buckeyes have already sent a remarkable string of elite pass-catchers to the league, headlined by Marvin Harrison Jr., who became the highest-drafted wide receiver in program history at No. 4 overall in 2024 and quickly established himself as a professional star.

Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave were both first-round selections in 2022, followed by Jaxon Smith-Njigba in 2023 and Emeka Egbuka in 2025.

Smith now appears next in line to join that group, already viewed as one of the top prospects for the 2027 NFL Draft, reinforcing Ohio State’s sustained pipeline from Columbus to the NFL.

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