East L.A. College's Antoine Smithson signs his letter of intent with the University of Utah.
By
Ron Guild
Story Created:
Jan 9, 2009 at 3:15 PM PST
Story Updated:
Jan 9, 2009 at 3:38 PM PST
Changes in fortunes don’t come much more dramatically than this.
By putting his signature to a national football letter of intent with the University of Utah Jan. 7, East L.A. College wide receiver Antoine Smithson went from a program that won a single game in two years to one that went a perfect 13-0 this past season.
After playing on Husky teams that were a combined 1-19 the past two seasons, the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Baltimore native is better equipped to deal with adversity, though, it’s not likely it’ll be necessary.
The Utes just completed an unbeaten season with a dominating 31-17 victory over Alabama, ranked No. 1 nationally a good portion of the season, in the Sugar Bowl.
“The last two years have helped me as a person and a player in every way,” Smithson said.
Losing never dampened his spirit.
“I came out to every practice like we were winning, and I always went in to every game expecting to win,” he said.
It’s a testament to Smithson’s talent that he earned first-team JC All-American honors as an all-purpose player despite playing for a one-win team this year. That victory occurred in week eight against Santa Monica, a game in which Smithson was sensational.
There wasn’t much the Huskies didn’t ask of Smithson, who played wide receiver, running back, some quarterback and returned kicks.
He caught 58 passes for 795 yards, rushed 83 times for 348 yards, completed three of nine passes for 193 yards and three touchdowns and averaged 20 yards per kickoff return and 12.2 per punt return. He scored seven of the team’s 27 touchdowns.
Smithson said the Utah coaches plan to use him in much the same way he was employed at ELAC, lining him up at multiple spots.
“I like that because I grew up wanting to play every position,” he said. “It probably hurt me as far as stats, but that didn’t matter because I wanted to do what was best for the team.
“That’s why I like the Utah program. It’s a fast-pitch offense that gets its athletes the ball.”
Also recruited by Oregon State, Pitt and Kentucky, Smithson found Salt Lake City to be an ideal fit beyond football.
“I’m a laid-back person and it’s a laid-back area,” he said. “Also, the coaches are down-to-earth who I felt understood where I was coming from. My family supported my decision, too.”
One of the family members, sister, Tamicka, is a prep track star in Baltimore who is also being recruited by Utah. His sister, a 4.0 student, could also wind up at Harvard.
Family has a lot to do with Smithson going cross-country to attend college. Because he didn’t have qualifying scores on his SATs coming out of Frederick Douglass High School, the JC route was his next option.
With cousin, Quinton Garrus, already at L.A. Pierce at the time and soon to transfer to ELAC, Smithson decided to head west. The 2008 Husky team included cousins Smithson, Garrus, Antonio Salter and Devin Redd, all Baltimore natives.
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