ANTHONY SMITH | A Profile Hubbard grad shows talent in Ohio all-star game

The Syracuse-bound free safety won Defensive Player of the Game honors for the North.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDIC'ATOR SPORTS STAFF
HUBBARD -- Many of the top college football schools in America were trying to recruit free safety Anthony Smith of Hubbard High.
His sparkling performance for the North team against the South in the recent Ohio All-Star Football Classic confirmed their judge of talent.
Smith broke up several passes and made a host of tackles, as the North rallied from a 26-3 deficit entering the final quarter to a 27-26 win at Columbus Crew Stadium before some 8,000 fans.
For that performance, he was named Defensive Player of the Game for the North.
Quarterback Nate Szep from Cleveland St. Ignatius was selected the North's Offensive Player of the Game.
Vintage Smith
Hubbard coach Jeff Bayuk, who long has been aware of Smith's ability, said his protege was vintage Smith during the game.
"He made some really nice plays on long passes," said Bayuk. "He had four breakups on four passes, and he had eight tackles and he had a couple of hits on special teams.
"He also returned two kickoffs [and] played on the punt special team."
Bayuk said that Smith (6-foot-2, 175 pounds) "was recruited heavily by Division I schools," and eventually selected Syracuse University.
"He was offered 24 scholarships, including to Ohio State, Pitt, West Virginia and, of course, Syracuse where he is going, and Notre Dame."
Has tools to succeed
The reason: "He also has great speed. He has a vertical jump of 35 inches. He is very strong. He has all the tools, and hopefully he will have success in college," said Bayuk, noting that Smith will play free safety at Syracuse.
"Coach [Paul] Pasqualomi at Syracuse said he really thinks that Smith is one of the top safeties in the nation, and that they were very fortunate to get him."
Smith was one of five area players on the North squad. The others were Tom Manning, offensive lineman from Ursuline; Gaby Dibo, defensive lineman from Poland; Jay Upthegrove, defensive back, and Steve Vallos, offensive lineman, both from Boardman.
Poland coach Paul Hulea served as assistant coach for the North team.
Smith believes the North rallied to win because, "I guess the other team thought they had a victory, and the North just stuck with it and started to score."
Smith's highlight
Smith recalled that he contributed "a couple of tackles and batted down passes that stopped them from scoring."
But he thinks his highlight occurred when, "One of our defensive backs was getting beat and I came from the other side of the field to defend against the pass, and I broke up the pass and I almost intercepted it."
Smith was glad for the week spent with practice and the game.
"It was a great experience," said Smith. "I got to hang out with a lot of different guys. It was a nice atmosphere. I got to play with the best of them. I got to see what the competition is going to be like next year."
Smith also is carrying academic momentum into Syracuse, where he plans to major in business.
"I was on the honor roll every quarter my senior year. My GPA for my senior year was about 3.8. I made a special effort to be better academically my senior year to get prepared for college," said Smith, the son of Charlotte and Homer Smith.
Bayuk said he and the other Hubbard High players made the trip to the game by chartered bus, but left prematurely because of the lopsided lead and didn't get to see the come-from-behind ending.
kovach@vindy.com