Signing Day: West's Smith to Arkansas

West Rowan's Chris Smith holds up an Arkansas football T-shirt before a signing party at West Rowan High Library on Wednesday. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

West Rowan held a signing party for five of their football players in the library. Sherry and William Smith laugh as their son Chris Smith reacts to putting on his Arkanas Razorbacks hat. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

By Ronnie Gallagher

rgallagher@salisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA — Credit Scott Young's prodding, David Hunt's coaching and Stevie Williams' nurturing for Chris Smith becoming an Arkansas Razorback on Wednesday.

National Signing Day was a victory for Smith, a hulking 6-foot-2, 235-pound defensive end. As a freshman, he didn't even play football, concentrating on basketball.

First came the prodding of West Rowan head coach Young, who wouldn't leave him alone.

"We recruited him in P.E. class," Young said. "He was a big, athletic kid."

Smith certainly remembers.

"The coaches were getting on me hard," Smith laughed. "I just wanted to try it. I never thought I'd be at the caliber I am now."

Then came the coaching from defensive coordinator Hunt. The first thing he had to teach Smith?

"How to get in a stance," Hunt smiled.

"But we knew we¼ had a diamond in the rough. We knew he had a lot of ability. Once you saw how hard he worked, you knew everything would fall in place."

Then came the nurturing from position coach Williams. A former star defensive end himself at Catawba, he took what he called "a raw talent," under his wing.

"I said, 'Chris, you've got the talent to make millions of dollars,' " Williams said. "But you've got learn the game."

On Wednesday, all three wore the look of a proud papa as Smith joined four West Rowan teammates in signing scholarships. He was one of 25 incoming freshman for Bobby Petrino.

"Chris is a special player," Petrino said. "He's a guy that can rush the passer. As good a first step coming off the ball as I've seen out of a high school player. He can really bend, accelerate."

Smith, hampered by a bad ankle, became a new man once West made it to the 3A state title game, where Smith had three sacks and swatted away four passes. He was the game's defensive MVP.

"The light just came on late," Young said. "He went out in the state championship game and said, 'I'm going to play with reckless abandon.' He was not worried about the ankle and played through the pain because he knew the end was near."

The next week, Smith had another MVP performance in the Shrine Bowl, even running a fumble back for a score.

"He had the most dominating performance I've ever seen in practice Monday through Thursday," said Young, who was a North Carolina assistant.

Smith's speed stunned most onlookers.

"It was a while before I realized how dadblame fast that kid was," Hunt recalled. "When you see a defensive lineman run a sub-4.5 time, you start saying, 'Dadgum, this is a freak.' "

Petrino was impressed.

"When we were at the high school speaking with his coach, they have a number of players that will sign with other schools, one or two with Division I schools, and the one thing that always came up was that Chris was the fastest guy on the team," Petrino said.

Smith made a visit to Arkansas last summer and came home as a Razorback commitment on June 6.

"I fell in love with the school," Smith said.

"He was able to come over here on our campus in the spring and made an early commitment. We hung on to it. A lot of guys came after him, he had a lot of opportunities, but his word to come to the University of Arkansas and his commitment and character to keep that commitment is something that's real special."

Smith said Arkansas talked about making him a linebacker, "but the linebacker coach said he lost that battle," Smith grinned. "They're putting me at defensive end where I know how to play."

Williams was offered by N.C. State after a sterling career at Wilson Hunt, "but I messed up and ended up at Catawba," he said. "I knew what Chris was going through in the recruiting process. We related to each other. He told me, 'Coach, everything you told me happened.' "

Williams, who said he had a good teacher at Catawba in assistant Jim Tomsula, knew he had made an impact when Smith would watch college football on Saturday and call him.

"He'd say, 'Coach you see this? Coach you see that?' He started recognizing stuff. I knew he was starting to understand the game."

So much so that Petrino thinks he can thrive in the big-time SEC.

"He's going to be a special football player for us," Petrino said. "His athleticism and the speed off the edge is something we're really looking forward to helping our pass rush."