Ohio State Football: How Will the Buckeyes Replace Devin Smith?

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images By the end of the season, there wasn’t a team in Ohio State’s path that could contain Devin Smith. The 6’1″, 199-pound wide receiver had served as the Buckeyes’ lethal deep threat during his tenure in Columbus, but the blazing pass-catcher hit his stride at the best possible time. In the Big Ten title game against Wisconsin, when Ohio State desperately needed to make a statement for the College Football Playoff selection committee, Smith came through with the best performance of his collegiate career.  Four catches. One hundred and thirty-seven yards. Three touchdowns. Andy Lyons/Getty Images Devin Smith put on a show against Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game. That performance helped the Buckeyes register a historic 59-0 thrashing of the Badgers—a victory that propelled Ohio State over Baylor and TCU and into the playoff, where it was matched up with top-ranked Alabama. Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide didn’t have any answers for Smith either. Smith notched catches of 40 and 47 yards in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama, the latter of which went for a touchdown that gave Ohio State a lead it wouldn’t surrender. Eleven days later, he got behind Oregon’s defense for a 45-yard catch that set the Buckeyes up for their third touchdown in the title game. Former Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman knew what the Buckeyes had in Smith.  “Best deep ball catcher in America that we have seen in a long time,” Herman said, according to James Grega Jr. of The Lantern, Ohio State’s student newspaper. The numbers back that up.  According to CFBStats.com, Smith led the country in yards per reception by a wide margin in 2014, averaging 28.8 yards per catch. Even more impressively, the 12 touchdowns he registered during his senior season averaged 39.1 yards, with a long of 80 (against Navy in the season opener)…

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