Jeremiah Smith passes Chris Olave to set Ohio State career TD catch record

The junior wide receiver caught two touchdown passes against Iowa, with his 36th career scoring grab lifting him past Chris Olave's mark of 35.

Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has become the program's all-time leader in touchdown receptions. The junior broke the mark on Saturday against Iowa, hauling in his 36th career scoring catch to pass Chris Olave, who held the record with 35.

Smith came in at 34 career touchdown receptions, two behind Olave and needing a pair to move into first place outright. His first score of the day drew him even at 35, and his second put him in front. The record-setting grab also brought his touchdown total for the 2026 season to nine.

The accomplishment carries added weight given the school's long track record of developing standout wide receivers. Smith arrived at Ohio State with outsized expectations, and his production has matched them. In one key career category, the receivers who built the program's reputation at the position now trail him.

Olave gathered his 35 touchdowns across the 2018 through 2021 seasons. David Boston is next on the career list with 34, Marvin Harrison Jr. posted 31 and Devin Smith recorded 30. Reaching the top of that group takes years of steady output rather than a few memorable games, and Smith provided it.

The career split shows production from the very start. Smith caught 15 touchdown passes as a freshman during Ohio State's 2024 national championship season, then added 12 as a sophomore in 2025 to reach 27. Seven more touchdowns across the first four games of 2026 put the record within reach. Those two earlier seasons accounted for the bulk of the career total he carried into Saturday's matchup.

The milestone arrived one week after one of the biggest games of his Buckeyes career. Facing Illinois on Sept. 26, Smith caught 12 passes for 217 yards and four touchdowns, matching the school's single-game receiving touchdown record and leaving him one short of Olave's career mark.

That performance followed another piece of history earlier in the fall. Against Kent State, Smith became Ohio State's all-time leader in receiving yards. He claimed the yardage record in September and the touchdown record at the start of October, a stretch that shows how quickly his standing among Buckeyes greats has shifted.

Fox Sports noted the achievement with a post on social media highlighting that Smith had moved past Olave for the program's all-time receiving touchdown lead. Smith's season has also entered the Heisman Trophy conversation, where he and Miami's Darian Mensah have ranked at the front of early odds lists for 2026.

With most of his junior year still ahead, Smith can keep extending the record, and each additional touchdown catch raises the number the next Ohio State receiver will have to beat. Defenses face a more pressing concern right now: he remains the top option for quarterback Julian Sayin, a target who can convert chances into touchdowns.