A pair of Ohio State players earned the honor of being included in Bruce Feldman’s ‘Freaks List’ on Monday.
Feldman, a college football insider who wrote the story for The Athletic, compiled the 101-player list that chronicles the strongest, fastest and most physical players in college football. Sophomore receiver Jeremiah Smith sat atop the list at No. 1, while redshirt junior linebacker Sonny Styles was listed at No. 10.
As the former No. 1 overall recruit in the country out of high school, Smith’s placement atop the list comes as no surprise. Not only did Smith break all of Ohio State’s freshman receiving records, but on the way to doing so, he seemed to make a highlight-reel play almost every game.
“Part of an unprecedented run in Columbus of elite wide receivers, the 6-foot-3.5, 223-pounder is clearly the most gifted,” Feldman wrote. “He’s the biggest, strongest and fastest. Smith’s testing and timing numbers are remarkable.”
According to Feldman, Smith has an 11-inch broad jump, a 38.5-inch vertical leap and can run as fast as 23.5 miles per hour. The athletic feat Smith is most excited about, though, is his 20 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press, he told Feldman.
As a recruit, Styles wasn’t quite as revered as Smith, but he, too, was a five-star prospect out of high school. Styles came into Columbus as a safety, but has since moved to linebacker and added plenty of weight. Feldman listed the Pickerington, Ohio native at 6-4.5, 243 pounds and said he broad jumped 11 feet, vertical jumped 40 inches and squatted 675 pounds.
Styles told Feldman his most recent sprint speed was 22.8 miles per hour, but in the past, he has reached 23.2 miles per hour.
