Nice Read for WVU fans on our future QB Geno Smith

[wvuraiders 10]

Came across this very interesting article on WVU quarterback recruit Eugene Smith. Smith is expected to join the Mountaineer program in January and take part in spring drills.

 

By MIKE PHILLIPS

mphillips@MiamiHerald.com

 

 

This isn't just about the magic in Eugene Smith's arm or that clock in his head that tells him when to stay and when to go.

 

It is as much about his feet as anything, moreover what is under them.

 

Smith easily can quote the Bible and tell you Christ's parable about the man who builds his house on sand, and the man who builds his house on a rock.

 

Smith is standing rock-solid these days.

 

The kid who wanted to grow up and become a preacher is as comfortable in the pulpit as the pocket. Smith, one of the top-rated quarterbacks in the nation, will lead Miramar High against Cypress Bay in a Region 3-6A semifinal Friday night, and on Sunday he will lead his entire team to church.

 

'There's only one Geno. He did that before the season started, and everyone grew closer,' Miramar coach Damon Cogdell said. ``More than 50 players showed up in church, and it will be the same next Sunday. They don't come along like him.'

 

The church Smith grew up in and where his grandmother is one of the pastors is named New Direction, a misnomer if there ever was one because Smith always has had plenty of direction -- from a mother who worked long, hard hours to make sure her children had every opportunity, to an uncle who believed in him, a father who loved him and two grandmothers -- Joann Smith and Mosetta Bratton -- who inspired him.

 

'My family is the reason I'm where I am,' Smith said. ``They always taught me this was supposed to happen with hard work.'

 

Smith said he was throwing spirals in the crib, and that almost is true.

 

'You look at his birth picture, and he's got his hands like this,' said his mother, Tracey Sellers, holding her hands slightly apart in front of her face. ``We never thought about it then, but it looks like a football could fit there perfectly. It's like it was destiny.'

 

Destiny had a lot of help -- Antwan Sellers, Tracey's brother, and Eugene's uncle, mentor and more who pushed and prodded.

 

'I've gotten a football every Christmas of my life since I was born,' Smith said. ``My uncle has always been there for me, and still is. He'll call me up and say get ready, and he'll pick me up and we'll work out early in the morning, or after practice.'

 

Little Geno had five touchdowns in his first organized game in the park league. He was 9. Everyone else in the game was 12 and 13.

 

'When I was 9, my uncle told me every time I step on the field, I'm two levels ahead of everyone,' Smith said. ``When I was 12, he told me I would be the starting quarterback for the varsity when I was a freshman.'

 

Antwan was right. Smith started the third game of the season when he was a freshman. By his sophomore year, he had Miramar to the state quarterfinals, and by the time he was a junior, just about every college in the United States had him on its wish list.

 

'You could tell even back in the Optimist League that Geno was special,' Miramar running back Orwin Etkins said. ``You knew then he had the stuff, that he was the real deal.'

 

Now the projections are even loftier.

 

'You watch him play, and you realize he is going to play on Sundays,' Miramar athletic director Don Reed said.

 

For sure, on Saturdays.

 

'He makes throws right now that kids in college can't make,' said Larry Blustein, who has been covering high school recruiting for more than three decades. ``I've seen all the quarterbacks down here since the 1960s, and he's the best quarterback prospect to ever come out of South Florida.

 

``I've never seen a quarterback with that kind of arm strength and accuracy, and that kind of speed. He's cerebral. He doesn't panic. He stands on the sideline with his receivers. He has it all.'

 

Smith (6-4, 190) can run a 4.5 40-yard dash and throw the ball 70 yards in the air, but he had options off the field, too. He was in a program in elementary school for gifted students, and by the time he was out of eighth grade, he had won a country-wide oratory competition, performed in the Nutcracker and was such a gifted artist, he was being courted by the New World Center Arts magnate school.

 

He still paints a bit and sketches. He likes Tom and Jerry cartoons and Dr. Seuss, reads Alex Haley, Lorraine Hansberry and others, and is intrigued by history and even English literature. He has a 3.0 grade-point average and hopes to graduate early.

 

He's even more impressive on a football field.

 

Last summer, Eugene Cyrill Smith III stood out in every camp he showed up in, even the prestigious Elite 11 in California, where the top 11 quarterbacks in the nation competed for three days.

 

West Virginia was elated when Smith, rated as the fifth-best quarterback in the nation, made an oral commitment earlier this month and has been targeting top receivers since.

 

'I've gotten letters from fans in West Virginia,' Smith said. ``But even before I signed, I was getting letters from kids who want autographs. I even had one from California.

 

``It's crazy sometimes. After we lost to St. Thomas Aquinas [the No. 1 team in the nation], some of their players asked me for my autograph.'

 

Smith said that rock comes in handy.

 

'There's a lot of hype with all this. People think you are some kind of Superman. You have to stay humble and remember who you are, and what you are,' he said of his Christian faith.

 

He said it with the same quiet resolve he says everything. Smith, who gave up the idea of being a preacher, might be electric on the field, but he speaks softly in a deep voice that sounds far too serious for his age.

 

He plays with the same poise and patience, and has led four last-minute comebacks this season, including a 65-yard drive in the final 27 seconds to close to 41-40 against Cypress Bay. After an offside penalty, Cogdell went for two and the victory and fell about an inch short. The rematch is Friday night.

 

After that game, Cypress Bay coach Mark Guandolo, who has been coaching in South Florida for 22 years, said of Smith: ``He's the best I've seen.'

 

There's more.

 

'After we lost the two games this year, Geno would call me at home, and ask me if I was all right,' Cogdell said. ``Imagine that; he's worried about me.'

 

Smith doesn't worry about much.

 

'It seems like there could be a lot of pressure, going through all this,' he says. ``But people make things bigger than they are. I'm not the first or the last great quarterback to come out of Florida.'

 

He sounded rock-solid.

[Fighton_3 10]

That's awesome, sounds like a wonderful role model and just an all around class act.

[fieldgeneral 10]

That's awesome, sounds like a wonderful role model and just an all around class act.

 

This kid will be special. No doubt about it. I'm really excited to see Deon Long and Logan Heastie catch the ball that this kid will throw. He will be the starter at WVU no later than his Sophomore year.

[bluefieldRocks 14]

I let wvuraiders know as soon as we got him... I knew this guy was gonna do something awesome for WVU football

[Deleted Account 5,203]

A classy young man. He'll do you guys proud.