MOCKSVILLE — Davie County’s senior fullback Doug Smith will never forget the first play of his first varsity game.
It was Smith’s sophomore year. The opponent: Statesville’s intimidating Greyhounds.
The result? Not good.
“I went to block somebody and the guy just laid me out,” says Smith. “I sort of realized right then that I would have to get better.”
Like the rest of his teammates, Smith has.
Heading into tomorrow’s showdown at Morganton Freedom, Davie’s 5-0 and ranked ninth in 4A.
And a big reason for the sudden success in Mocksville is a blocky fullback named Smith.
Smith — what a perfect surname for someone who’s still anonymous — except to opposing coaches. He’s clearly the third most famous of Davie’s three-headed running back hydra that’s already pounded out 896 yards on the ground.
Tailback Mike Clement has rushed for 422 yards and scored nine TDs. Neil Rice, a multi-talented moose who can play either tailback or fullback has 291 yards in four games, even though he’s still less than 100 percent after an ankle injury.
Smith’s added 183 yards in just 31 carries as a part-time fullback. He’s rushed for a whopping 5.9 yards per attempt, but cheerfully acknowledges that his greatest value is as a lead blocker for the other two.
“Sometimes, yeah, I guess I’m overshadowed a little bit,” says Smith. “But we all get along. I just do what I can. If I get two, three carries a game, that’s great.”
“We rotate,” says Rice. “That way no one ever gets tired.”
Linebackers, however, are sick and tired of seeing Smith coming. If Rice is a bus, Smith is a bowling ball. Smith’s giving new meaning to the words, orange crush. He’s listed at 5-foot-10, 219 pounds, but is probably a little shorter and a little heavier. He’s a load with a low center of gravity and dearly loves getting under taller players’ pads and burying them.
“Doug,” says Rice, “opens up mega-holes. I always thank all my blockers after a run , but my eyes are always on Doug. I watch him. He makes it wide open for me lots of times.”
Last season, Rice played linebacker. That led to daily practice collisions with Smith.
“Everybody was always kidding me, ‘Yeah, go ahead and get some of Neil,’ ” laughs Smith.
Ironically, Davie head coach Doug Illing moved Rice to offense this year, at least in part because he wasn’t sure if Smith would be good enough to do what the War Eagles wanted to do.
“Really, we just didn’t know what to expect from Doug,” admits Illing.
But Smith obviously expected a ton from himself. Like many of his fellow seniors, he dedicated himself to becoming a better athlete. Moments after his disappointing 4-7 junior year ended, he was promising some senior payback.
“Coach asked us to make 24 of the 28 workouts over the summer,” says Smith proudly. “I made 25.”
The heavy workload paid huge dividends. Smith’s never going to have the chiseled body of the team’s star linebacker Patrick Lowery, but he did add 35 pounds to his bench press. He tacked on 50 pounds to his hang-cling and chopped two-tenths of a second off his 40-yard dash time.
“I went from a 5.1 to a 4.9,” says Smith. “That not that good, but it’s a whole lot better.”
Illing says the most obvious change in Smith is the newfound confidence his enhanced strength and speed have handed him.
“When practice started, he was just knocking people down,” says Illing. “He’s got a little burst of speed now. With his additional muscle and explosion, he’s started running right through people. He’s moving people back, moving people out.”
The improvement in Davie’s running game from last year is obvious. The War Eagles added 108 rushing yards to 2000’s paltry output against Statesville. They performed 40 yards better against Mooresville. In both cases, Davie turned 2000 L’s into 2001 W’s. Last year at this time, Davie was 2-3 and reeling.
“Doug’s always been a pretty good blocker,” says tackle Chris Nichols. “But he’s improved so much. Sometimes I’ll be blocking someone and then out of the corner of my eye I’ll see Doug just laying somebody out. Then we go pick him up and congratulate him.”
The first person to notice that a new, improved Smith was bulldozing a path in front of him was Rice.
“I first saw it in our scrimmage with East Forsyth,” says Rice. “We’re running ‘22-Iso’ and then I see there’s just one dude left. Then Doug just kills him and I go all the way.”
It’s like Mooresville defensive coordinator Joe Pinyan said the other day: “Everyone plays hard when they’re carrying the ball. The special ones play hard even when they don’t.”
By that definition, Smith’s special. His eyes used to light up when a play was called for him. Now they light up when the call is “22-Iso.” Smith is No. 22, and “22-Iso” is his cue to block some unsuspecting linebacker into oblivion.
There’s a sign in the Davie locker room that says, “Beat people up, win titles.” Smith and his teammates are already doing the first part of that. They might just do the second.
The War Eagles have a galaxy of stars. Lowery is unreal. Kicker David Wooldridge is as good as it gets. Quarterback Dan Sullivan is one cool customer. Clement and Jason Hogue provide game-breaking speed.
But it’s the grinders like Smith, the foot soldiers who form the supporting cast that are making this Davie team really hard to handle.
“Doug’s a team guy and he realizes we’re on a roll right now,” smiles Illing. “He’s not worried about how many times he touches the ball. He’s just worried about how his team plays.”
Smith wholeheartedly agrees with that scouting report.
“A little glory now and then is nice,” he grins. “But 5-0 — I’d have to say that’s a whole lot nicer.”
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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com
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