Darius Smith commits to BG

[mk455]

From the Plain Dealer (8/10/05):

Euclid's Smith opts for Bowling Green

Bob Fortuna
Plain Dealer Reporter

Darius Smith's far-distant future aspriations are to crunch numbers as an accountant.

A year from now, however, the Euclid High senior's concerns will lie in crunching Mid-American Conference quarterbacks.

Smith will have that chance now that the 6-3, 210-pound defensive end/offensive tackle has orally committed to Bowling Green.

"It's close to home, and it has a good business department," said Smith, who registered 60 tackles and five QB sacks a year ago.

Smith, who also visited Indiana and Akron, is slated to play defensive end at the next level.

"They have a senior and sophomore at [the postition] right now, and I don't know how many more they're recruiting," Smith said. "But I'm willing to play anywhere they need me."

anyone know anything about this kid??

[OptionQB]

http://rivals100.rivals.com/viewprospec ... _key=33493

If you can't read it . . . The quote from his HS coach is "The kid can run and is going to get bigger" . . .

4.65 40

Sounds like a pretty good OLB to me, but if he is any type of athlete at all, we all know he'll be on offense in our wonderful recruiting scheme we have going on.

[hammb]

From the Insiders. They've got him ranked as a * recruit.

Euclid (OH) High School’s Darius Smith knows big-time college football, being the younger brother of current Ohio State Buckeye, Brandon Smith.

Despite having tremendous size and a decent junior year that saw him make 36 solo tackles from the defensive end spot, Smith has not seen a tremendous amount of college activity.

“I have offers from Bowling Green, Buffalo and Akron,” Smith said. “I am very excited about being offered by all of those schools because they are all my first offers. I’d say they are my top schools right now, as well as Michigan State and Pittsburgh”

“Michigan State at one point had said they really liked me and were talking about offering, but I haven’t heard from them much since,” added Smith.

At 6-foot-3 and close to 210 pounds, Smith says recruiters like his athleticism and speed at the end spot, a place he feels he can really become a player at the next level. “I’m a very fast player,” Smith suggested, “I’m very good at running in the open field and getting to the opposite side of the field. I’m a very smart player, as well.”

Smith says distance will not play a factor in his decision, but academics will. He hopes to make a decision soon.

From the looks of it, I'd say that he's a pretty good prospect. I'm going to go out on a not too long limb and say that the big schools never came with an offer because they thought he had the speed of a DE with the size of an OLB. He says he's pretty quick on the corner, which is understandable, but he needs to bulk up about 30-40 pounds to play DE. I'm betting that the bigger schools either thought he wouldn't be able to add that weight, or that he'd lose too much speed if he did.

Sounds like just the type of player we could use...wouldn't mind seeing him work on speed and become an OLB. I'd guess that he'll be a surefire RS to hit the weights no matter which position he plays.

[rocketfootball]

At 210 he has a lot of bulking up to do if he wants to play DE. My guess is that he will convert to an OLB.

Toledo played with a few 230 lb DE's last year and they just got blown off the line against the good teams.

[mk455]

http://rivals100.rivals.com/viewprospec ... _key=33493

If you can't read it . . . The quote from his HS coach is "The kid can run and is going to get bigger" . . .

4.65 40

Sounds like a pretty good OLB to me, but if he is any type of athlete at all, we all know he'll be on offense in our wonderful recruiting scheme we have going on.

if you check out that link under the college choices, looks like he chose BG over cinci, michigan state, ohio state, pitt, akron, and buffalo. its always nice to get a guy to commit to BG instead of msu, osu, and pitt

[Falcon30]

I teach at Euclid HS and I am friends with the coach, Mike Rezzolla. I also happened to watch every Euclid HS game last year as one of the marching band directors. Euclid's defense was awesome last year, but as good as the defense was, the offense was much worse. I spent most of my time watching Thaddeus Gibson destroy every offense we played....I have to find out what number Darius wore because I can't remember watching him specifically....

I wish I had better info, but I will let you know what I find out.

[BGSU-Ph.D.]

At 210 he has a lot of bulking up to do if he wants to play DE. My guess is that he will convert to an OLB.

Toledo played with a few 230 lb DE's last year and they just got blown off the line against the good teams.

It depends on the kid's build. I entered college (1-AA) at 195 lbs. and I was slotted to play DE. In high school, I was an OLB in Ohio D-1, and I played at about 180 - 185 lbs. In large part because I was acting like a dumb kid, I quit. But, after I quit, I still hit the weights pretty hard. In three years I was about 225 lbs. and I hadn't lost any speed. It is possible to put on 30 - 40 lbs. and not lose speed or, at least, not lose much speed. Plus, an undersized player can compensate for lack of size with good technique (as long as he isn't too small).

[Class of 61]

If I recall correctly, his older brother was one HECK of a LB at about 6'3, 235 or so....so the genes are there... Was originally committed to WVA, then OSU got into the picture and he switched.

In fact, I'd seen a Euclid -Garfield Hts. game and emailed coach Brandon the next day about TWO good LB's, one from each school... Obviously, Mr. Smith went to the osuwhos, and the Garfield kid went D1-AA I believe, perhaps to Youngstown, but not sure.