Why Heather Dinich expects Jeremiah Smith will be a Heisman favorite

The conversation around the 2025 Heisman Trophy is already heating up, and Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is emerging as one of the names bettors need to circle. ESPN college football insider Heather Dinich has gone on record expecting Smith to be a legitimate Heisman contender heading into the season, a notable signal given that Dinich covers the sport closely enough to have a feel for which players are generating genuine buzz among coaches, scouts, and program insiders before the public fully catches on.

This matters because Heisman markets open early and move slowly at first, then violently once the season starts producing highlights and box scores. Smith announced himself as one of the most physically gifted receivers in the country during his freshman campaign at Ohio State, and the expectation is that with another year of development, an expanded role, and what figures to be another strong Buckeye offense around him, he steps into a true featured position. Wide receivers face a structural disadvantage in Heisman voting historically, but the award has become more receiver-friendly in recent years as the sport has shifted toward pass-heavy offenses. Smith is the kind of player who can overcome that bias if the production is there.

From a betting standpoint, the mechanism here is straightforward. When a credible national voice attaches a player's name to Heisman conversation this early, sportsbooks take note and the market responds. If Smith is currently sitting anywhere in the range of double-digit odds, that number is unlikely to stay there once more media voices pile on and casual bettors start associating his name with the award. The sharp play on futures like this is identifying the window between "insider expectation" and "public consensus," because that gap is where the value lives. Once Smith has two or three nationally televised performances and the highlight machine kicks into gear, books will shorten his number considerably and the overlay disappears. Receivers who play in the Big Ten, on a college football playoff contender, with prime-time exposure are exactly the profile that gets Heisman traction in October.

The questions to track from here are straightforward but critical. Who is Ohio State's quarterback, and how much of the passing attack runs through Smith versus other options? A receiver's Heisman case lives and dies with the accuracy and confidence of the passer throwing him the ball. Bettors should also watch preseason depth charts and fall camp reports out of Columbus for any indication of how the coaching staff plans to deploy him. If the offense is designed to feature Smith as the clear top option rather than one piece of a deep room, the case strengthens considerably. Keep an eye on that futures number over the summer — movement before a single snap is often where the most valuable information hides.

Reporting via ESPN. Analysis by the 4th & Value desk.