Iowa is coming off a dramatic win, and Mike Greenberg, the host of ESPN’s Get Up show, wanted to know how the Hawkeyes slow down receiver Jeremiah Smith this weekend. Analyst Kirk Herbstreit said everybody is debating that question, but he knows exactly who he’d trust to answer it.
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“If there’s anybody who’s going to come up with a plan, it’s Phil Parker, probably the most underrated, unknown defensive coordinator in the sport at Iowa,” Herbstreit said. “He’s as consistent as anybody. Not to get too technical, but he likes to sit back as much as he can with two safeties back. That’s just who they are. That’s who they’ve always been.”
That’s the problem for Ohio State because Parker keeps two safeties deep, and that look is designed to take away the big plays down the field that Smith thrives on. Herbstreit doesn’t expect Parker to change it. But that’s a big compliment for a coach who doesn’t get much national attention and also a heads-up for Ryan Day.
“They’re going to play as much zone as they can, which means Ohio State’s running game, led by Jackson [Ja’Kobi Jackson], could be the key to this football game,” Herbstreit added. “Try to get their running game going, got to win the line of scrimmage, see if you can get the safeties down, and then maybe you create some one-on-one opportunities for number four.”
So the path to Smith runs through the ground game. If the Buckeyes win up front and pull those safeties closer to the line, Smith gets more room to work.
Herbstreit explained why Iowa can’t just get physical with him either. He and Joey Galloway talked about it on a podcast this week, and his point was simple. Very few teams are willing to jam Smith at the line “because of his strength.”
“Yet at the same time, as we saw last week against Illinois, you don’t want to give him a running start,” Herbstreit said. “At 6’3, 220 pounds and running downhill with a safety who’s sitting back at 10 to 15 yards, it’s just a mismatch, especially if he’s trying to stay with him vertically downfield.”
Illinois showed what that looks like when Smith caught 12 passes for 217 yards and four touchdowns in the 42-19 win, and he earned Big Ten and National Player of the Week honors, and it hasn’t been a one-week thing.
In the opener against Ball State, Smith had eight catches for 151 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half, in a 56-3 win. Against Texas, he put up eight catches for 164 yards and a score in the 24-23 loss. In Week 3 against Kent State, he surpassed Michael Jenkins to become the Buckeyes’ all-time leader in career receiving yards.
He now holds the school record with 3,175 receiving yards over three seasons. He has played in 33 games, starting 32, with 196 catches and 34 touchdowns.
But Parker’s experience is a big reason Herbstreit trusts him. In 2023, he won the Broyles Award and the AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year Award, and both go to the best assistant in the country.
He’s been coaching for decades, beginning with Iowa in 1999, right after Hayden Fry retired, and joining Kirk Ferentz’s staff. He worked with the defensive backs for 13 years, then took over as coordinator when Norm Parker left.
He’s got a link to Ohio too, as Parker is from Lorain, and he played defensive back at Michigan State, where he made first-team all-Big Ten.
Ohio State is 3-1 and heads to Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, October 3, 2026, for a top-15 road matchup. Smith is the player everybody is talking about, and Herbstreit’s message to Day is that Parker is the coach most likely to have a plan for him.