Another low star/offer guy:
http://www.macon.com/2015/06/21/3807...-two.html?rh=1
West Laurens’ Smith elite in two sports, even undecided
BY MICHAEL A. LOUGH
[email protected]e 21, 2015
When Missouri offered West Laurens’ Justin Smith a football scholarship, there’s no doubt fans of the Tigers were a little worried.
When he committed in the middle of January, stories noted that he had not earned a “star” in assorted recruiting ratings, like from ESPN.com or Rivals.
By the time National Signing Day rolled around in early February, despite not having played football since November, stars appeared next to his name, mostly three stars.
Smith was then, and still is, unbothered by the perceived lack of attention. After all, he might’ve been more of a basketball player than football player up until the middle of the fall of 2014.
“I never really worried about stars all that much,” Smith said. “I knew the reason why I didn’t have any.”
Because his summers were filled mostly with playing travel basketball rather than making the summer camp circuit at colleges or competing in assorted 7-on-7 competitions, Smith understood the lack of attention.
“I was out of state and always on the go,” Smith said. “I didn’t really have a chance to go to the ... camps every year. I was always playing basketball. That’s probably the main reason I don’t have any stars or why my recruiting wasn’t as good as it could’ve been.”
There was also a perception that he favored basketball.
Football eased ahead of basketball during the fall, but Smith’s impact in both sports was huge. Throw in a sixth-place finish in the GHSA Class AAAA track and field meet, and it was a pretty full year for The Telegraph’s Selby Buck Athlete of the Year.
Smith was a first-team Georgia Sports Writers Association all-state selection and a second-team All-Middle Georgia receiver last fall, following up with All-Middle Georgia honorable mention in basketball.
Then he finished sixth in the high jump in thE GHSA meet, earning honorable mention All-Middle Georgia in that event.
Competition for the top athlete honor was tight, with male and female multi-sport standouts at Veterans, Fitzgerald, Northside, Jones County, Lamar County and Hawkinsville, among others.
Ironically, Smith’s senior season at West Laurens almost didn’t happen.
Basketball had always had the edge over football for Smith, who didn’t play football as a sophomore and spent summers playing travel basketball. Then suddenly, West Laurens football head coach Stacy Nobles heard last summer that Smith was heading to Hargrave Military Academy, a prep school in Virginia, to focus on improving his basketball skills and his stock.
“We almost didn’t have him,” Nobles said. “For 2- 1/2 weeks, he was gone.”
And then he was back.
“He came back in town and talked to me and (basketball head coach O.J.) Hall. ‘I’ve decided to stay here at West Laurens and finish my senior year with my friends and see where the football and basketball thing can go.’ ” Nobles said.
That certainly paid off for Smith and West Laurens.
Smith helped the football team to a 9-4 record, the program’s best since going 10-3 in 1994 and only the fourth nine-win season in its history. The Raiders went 5-1 in GHSA Region 2-AAAA and broke the 30-point mark in five games, matching the total of the previous two seasons.
They won a pair of playoff games before losing 31-13 to St. Pius X on the road in the quarterfinals. It’s a game he’d like to replay.
“We should have jelled a little bit more than we did,” Smith said. “We should have done certain stuff a little bit harder, like running routes or run the ball harder. Just do more.”
Smith finished with 65 catches for 1,038 yards for the resurgent Raiders. Transition time was minimal for Smith to trade in cleats for high-tops.
“As soon as the football season is over with,” Hall said, “(you) step off the field on Friday night and (are) back on the basketball court on Monday.”
Smith said his numbers could have been better, but he thought it best for the team if he pulled back a little bit, which would force more teammates to expand their own game, leading to more success.
Hall said that’s typical Smith.
“He’s very selfless guy,” said Hall, a sentiment echoed by Nobles. “There’s not a selfish bone in his body. He’s always been willing to sacrifice what his abilities allow him to do in order for everybody else around him to be better.”
West Laurens was the No. 2 team out of the region in the playoffs and beat Westover in the first round before losing by 15 to Johnson-Gainesville in the second round.
The 22-8 record was the Raiders’ best since before Smith reached high school.
Then came spring.
Smith reached 6-foot three times in the high jump and 6-4 twice, tying his personal best. He also competed once in the 200 meters and in the 400 and ran a leg in a relay at the state meet.
The focus on football, as well as finishing up his senior year in high school, meant Smith wasn’t on the track every day. Hall can only imagine what the resume would have looked like if Smith had more time for track.
“In between everything that was going on, he would jump on the days that he didn’t have anything else going on in either one of those two sports,” Hall said of Smith’s basketball and football work.
Smith realized that there are substantially fewer 6-7 football players than basketball players, which played a big role in him finally picking football. And that final football game left him wanting more.
“He told me the night we lost to St. Pius that he had made his mind up, that he wanted to play college football,” Nobles said. “I know that made a lot of college recruiters real, real happy. There were a lot of people that didn’t offer Justin, I think, because they weren’t sure what he was going to do.”
Nobles and Hall are convinced that Smith escaped to Missouri under the radar and will be on the radar soon enough. Finally, however, it will be the radar of just one sport.
“I think his upside in football is going to be remarkable, just because he’s going to be playing the game full-time,” Hall said. “He’s going to be in the weight room getting stronger. His route-running is going to get better. I think there are so many things that’s going to be an upside for him in football ...”
Both talk of Smith’s high ceiling on the next level.
“At 6-7, a wide receiver that can power clean 310 pounds and run a 4.5 40, you’re a special player,” Nobles said. “He didn’t reach his potential in high school. (Football) was always a second deal for him and something he almost didn’t do.
“He hadn’t even come close to being the player he can be. He can start reaching for that ceiling now.”