Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith signs surprising NIL shoe deal

Shoe allegiances can run almost as deep as a favorite college football program. When you can marry the two together, perhaps in charge of marketing may have something special.

That appears to be the case with Ohio State star receiver Jeremiah Smith and Adidas, because according to a social media post on Tuesday, it appears as though Smith has signed an NIL deal with the popular sports apparel company based in Germany. And if you are like many of us, the fact that it’s not with Nike (the apparel company that sponsors Ohio State) might be a little suprising.

But hey, this is what NIL is for, right? Athletes are able to enter their own partnerships with companies to take advantage of their star power, and kudos to Adidas for recognizing what Smith can be for them as a public figure and spokesperson. Of course, we don’t know the terms of the deal and probably never will, but if you are a Smith and Ohio State fan, now you have conflicting priorities.

One has to wonder what kind of cleats Smith will be wearing when he runs out of the tunnel on Aug. 30. Somewhere, there has to be contract language that spells out how this whole thing is going to work. And maybe, just maybe, down the line we’ll get to see some Jeremiah Smith Adidas cleats we can all get our hands on.

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