Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba apparently struggled to stay healthy at Ohio State because he was wearing the wrong shoe size. He has not had the same issue in the NFL.
His cleats actually fit his feet!
I am not quite sure whether this reflects most on him or the Buckeyes, but it seems like this should’ve been an easy fix. Smith-Njigba missed a majority of his college football career because his shoes were too big.
Jaxsn Smith-Njigba had a hamstring problem at Ohio State.
Smith-Njigba rated as a five-star prospect in the college football recruiting Class of 2020 out of Rockwall High School. He was ranked as the No. 2 player at his position and a top-15 player overall.
The Texas-native ultimately committed to Ohio State over Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Texas Tech, and Oregon, among others. It proved to be a great decision.
The Buckeyes reached the Playoff in all three seasons and played for a national title during his tenure. However, Jaxon Smith-Njigba struggled to stay on the field and played only 23 total games over three seasons. A hamstring injury completely tanked his junior season. He made only five catches in three of 13 regular season and playoff games. That was it!
Seattle decided to take a risk on the superstar pass-catcher with the No. 20 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. The Seahawks were willing to overlook his nagging health issue because of his raw talent.
Smith-Njigba was grateful for the NFL training staff. They got him back to health.
“I think we did it the right way,” Smith-Njigba said at training camp as a rookie. “I appreciate the training staff and the coaching staff for doing that. It’s been a long time since I’ve really been out there since when I started OTAs, so I feel like we did it the right way, and I appreciate them just slowly building me up, and I feel like we are all ready to go and checked a lot of boxes.”
The gamble (which wasn’t that big of a gamble) paid off in a big way. The 24-year-old wide receiver caught 136 passes for 1,992 yards and 12 touchdowns and won the Super Bowl in 2025-26.
The Seattle Seahawks got him the correct shoe size.
Smith-Njigba has not missed a single game of his three-year NFL career. His hamstring has not been an issue since he arrived to Seattle. The Seahawks got him back to full strength and kept him healthy.
According to the organization’s director of equipment, Erik Kennedy, a very simple change made all of the different. He told Seattle Sports that Jaxon Smith-Njigba was wearing the wrong size shoe.
Seattle uses a science-driven foot scanner to get their athletes in the cleat that best fits their foot.
The scan found that Smith-Njigba needed to size down. He wore a 12 at Ohio State. The Seahawks put him in a 10.5. His hamstring issues ceased to exist from that point forward.
If a cleat is 1.5 sizes too big, the foot can slip inside the shoe during cuts, sprints and deceleration. Those movements creates instability in the foot and ankle. That forces the hamstrings to over compensate to stabilize the lower kinetic chain. A proper fit restores proper load distribution to eliminate the strain.
How many other athletes with consistent injury issues are wearing the wrong size shoe?