There is absolutely no denying just how talented former Ohio State wide receiver Jackson Smith-Njigba was when he was suiting up for the Buckeyes, and is to this day while suiting up for the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.
And, somewhat obviously, the star NFL wideout will be rooting for his alma mater as the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes come to town to face the No. 4 Texas Longhorns.
However, Smith-Njigba might be carrying a slightly bigger grudge than just cheering for his former team on Saturday.
A Texas native, Smith-Njigba was raised in Rockwall, just outside of Fort Worth, and actually grew up a fan of the Texas A&M Aggies, but the team he wanted to play for when he was coming out of high school?
Well, that would be none other than the Horns, and the Horns didn't want him.
When Smith-Njigba joined Barstool Sports' The Ryen Russillo Show, he shared that while he wanted to play for the Longhorns, the Texas recruiting staff didn't put that much effort into bringing him onto their team.
"[I talked to] Texas a little bit, but it wasn't like 'We want you to come here, commit today,'" Njigba-Smith said. "I definitely had my mind made up on [Texas or OU]... I turned my back on them, and we're going to Ohio."
JSN ended up at Ohio State because Texas didn't recruit him pic.twitter.com/mEMijws4N9
— The Ryen Russillo Show (@TheRyenRussillo) September 3, 2026
Tom Herman failing to recruiting Jackson Smith-Njigba still stings
Of course, current head coach Steve Sarkisian wasn't holding the reins on the 40 Acres when Smith-Njigba was coming out of high school in 2020, and then-Texas head coach Tom Herman seemingly declined to pay attention to the 5-star wideout.
Ryan Russillo asked Njigba-Smith if itw as a matter of the Horns simply coming into the recruiting process too late, and not showing that effort early on. His answer? A resounding yes.
"Oh yeah, they came in way too late," Smith-Njigba said.
Well, now all we can do is sit back and say, "Oh, what could have been..." because Herman didn't put that effort into bringing one of the then-and-now-most highly coveted wide receivers in the nation.
Of course, Smith-Njigba isn't suiting up when the Buckeyes come to Austin for Week 2, but man, does his story rub salt in the wound of a poor era of Longhorn football. And once he touched down in Columbus, he never looked back, not even looking in the direction of the transfer portal during his collegiate career.
So, once Sarkisian did take over at Texas, he didn't have the chance to bring Smith-Njigba onto his roster, so maybe the wideout isn't holding the grudge directly against the Horns' current head coach.
However, with the game already being one of the biggest matchups of the entire regular season, much less the second week of the year, Smith-Njigba's beef with Texas may only add fuel to Ohio State's fire.
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