DALLAS — The standout player left in the College Football Playoff is a formidable 6-foot-3 talent with impressive physique and speed, making him nearly impossible for his college peers to defend against.

As for 19-year-old Jeremiah Smith, a wide receiver at Ohio State, I hope his college football days are over within the next two weeks.

It has been over twenty years since Maurice Clarett, another Buckeye great, attempted — and ultimately failed — to legally challenge the NFL’s eligibility requirements, which mandate that players wait three years post-high school before entering the draft.

It’s time for a new attempt, and Smith has the most compelling case yet.

“The guy’s ready for the NFL,” remarked Oregon coach Dan Lanning on New Year’s Day after witnessing Smith accumulate 187 yards on seven catches during the Rose Bowl. “His talent is undeniable.”

In a sport where talent assessment can be quite difficult, evaluating Smith is straightforward. It’s easy to see how skillfully he navigates routes, how adeptly he catches passes, and how effortlessly he eludes defenders. Few wide receivers have stepped into college football as prepared as Smith.

Experts and NFL scouts agree: if eligible, Smith would likely be a front-runner for the top pick in this year’s NFL draft. His upcoming CFP semifinal against Texas at the Cotton Bowl is expected to showcase his remarkable talent once more, proving he’s destined to become a standout in the NFL.

Currently, however, Smith cannot enter the draft until 2027.

This scenario is favorable for college football, acting like a jackpot for Ohio State and its head coach, Ryan Day. For Smith, it’s not necessarily disadvantageous, as he is set to earn millions through name, image, and likeness agreements before even stepping onto an NFL field.

This aspect starkly contrasts Smith’s situation with that of Clarett, who at a University of New Hampshire symposium last year emphasized that his troubles at Ohio State in 2003 stemmed from a desperate need for $2,000 for car repairs.

The availability of economic rights for college athletes today means Smith’s most realistic and beneficial path involves playing the next two years at Ohio State, potentially winning a Heisman Trophy and becoming wealthy before stepping onto an NFL stage.

This dynamic benefits college football as it ensures that athletes must remain for three years; it aids the NFL by providing a free developmental system and helps existing NFL players by limiting competition for their positions. Given the flow of NIL income, Smith isn’t in a terrible position. Being the most celebrated athlete at a top-tier college is not the worst fate.

However, periodically questioning the established order is beneficial.

“Consider cases we deemed settled like Roe v. Wade — apologies for the tangential thought—but suddenly those decisions can change. Just saying,” Shira Scheindlin, the former Southern District of New York judge who overturned Clarett’s case, reflected at the UNH symposium commemorating the case’s 20th anniversary. “That didn’t please me, but change is constant.”

Even back then, there was significant debate regarding whether the NFL’s draft eligibility conditions violated antitrust laws.

Without delving too deeply into legal intricacies, the NFL claimed that the rule was exempt from antitrust review under a non-statutory labor exemption.

Clarett’s attorney, Alan Milstein, maintained that there was no indication the rule had been collectively bargained and insisted it was an unfair obstacle to entering the NFL job market, which the NFL disputed.

Ultimately, Scheindlin favored Clarett, stating that the three-year rule “should be eliminated.” However, this decision was later overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where current Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the opinion sustaining the NFL rule. Clarett appealed to the Supreme Court, which opted not to hear the case in 2005, and there haven’t been significant challenges since then. A spokesperson for the NFLPA declined to comment to YSL News Sports on whether they would back another player in challenging the rule.

“I believe there are reasonable grounds for differing opinions on these matters,” Scheindlin noted during the symposium.

However, the delicate circumstances surrounding Clarett’s case twenty years ago highlight how tenuous the NFL’s grip has been on enforcing a three-year college rule. What if Milstein had pursued the case in a different jurisdiction? Would a Supreme Court with the current balance of conservative justices yield a different outcome?

Have you considered who has taken the case?

These are valid questions that currently lack straightforward answers, yet the conjectures surrounding them are fascinating. The NFL clearly deemed it significant; during the negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in 2006, this topic was included, leading to the incorporation of the three-year rule into the contract.

Some experts in sports law and antitrust matters suggest that the age-eligibility stipulations might be contested on various grounds — asserting that those who suffer the most (like Smith or Clarett) fall outside the realm of collective bargaining.

“For me, a crucial component of the argument is being entirely outside the bargaining unit,” Scheindlin stated. “If they were to consider this today, the conservative faction (on the Supreme Court) would be less concerned about the union’s stance since those affected are current and former players who have already had their opportunity in the NFL.”

The legal discourse is likely to be much more intricate than what we non-lawyers can easily grasp. However, we can all form our own opinions: Does the three-year rule really make sense?

Particularly in the age of NIL (Name, Image, Likeness), I find myself unsure.

Twenty years ago, there was a legitimate worry that athletes who weren’t quite ready — either physically or mentally — for the NFL would be tempted to prematurely leave college, resulting in a wave of athletes who failed to secure a significant payday in the NFL, along with jeopardizing their education and overall college growth.

Currently, deserving college athletes could potentially earn as much or close to what they would get if drafted in the middle of the third round by simply staying an extra year. The financial calculus has completely shifted. The notion that a college sophomore, or even an outstanding freshman, cannot adequately compete in the NFL should no longer hold any weight. It’s time to allow the market to determine worth.

“Athletes are only drafted in the first round because they are ready for the draft,” Milstein commented at the symposium. “And they only play because they are prepared to compete.”

By all indications, Smith is one of the few college freshmen who is truly ready to take on the NFL right now. If he desires that opportunity, he should be granted it.