Former Howland High star part of Michigan’s renaissance


Smith, Wolverines hope to finish strong against Florida

By STEVE WILAJ

swilaj@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

It’s kind of funny to De’Veon Smith — but in a good way.

Question: De’Veon, being a Howland grad, what’s it say about the Youngstown-Warren area that a handful of area guys — L.J. Scott (Hubbard) at Michigan State, LeShun Daniels Jr. (Warren Harding) at Iowa, Devine Redding (Mineral Ridge until junior year) at Indiana and yourself at Michigan — are top running backs for some of the best teams in the Big Ten, as well as the entire country?

“Hey,” Smith said with a laugh, “that tells you that you have to go to northeast Ohio to get some running backs, I’ll tell you that.”

That’s exactly what Michigan did in 2013.

Now a junior, the former Tiger starts at tailback for the rejuvenated Wolverines (9-3). You can watch him today at 1 p.m. on ABC when Michigan faces Florida (10-3) in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

“You can have a big game against anybody if you understand the defense, understand the offense that you’re running and study the film,” said Smith, who started nine of 12 games in 2015. “Just looking at the film, I feel like I can have a big game. It’s just a mindset I have to have going in.”

Smith — who set the Trumbull County rushing record with 6,750 yards under former Howland coach Dick Angle — has had his big games this season.

He went for 127 yards and a career-best three TDs against Oregon State on Sept. 12, a career-high 128 rush yards against BYU on Sept. 26 (including a ridiculous 60-yard TD run in which he broke numerous tackles) and 78 yards and a TD against Rutgers on Nov. 7.

In all, he’s rushed for 670 yards and six touchdowns on 155 carries (4.2 yards per carry), up from his sophomore campaign of 536 rush yards on 108 attempts in a backup role.

Still, the 5-foot-11, 240-pounder — who battled a nagging foot injury for a portion of the season — isn’t satisfied.

“I would give myself a C,” said Smith, the youngest of five brothers and the third to play in the Big Ten. “I feel like I could have did a lot more. At times, I wasn’t all the way healthy. So I wasn’t totally myself, but that’s not an excuse. I’m happy about what I did and how I produced for my team, but I think I could have did more.”

Even so, there’s no denying it’s been a season of positive strides for Smith, as well as Michigan.

Prior to the 2015 season, the Wolverines dumped head coach Brady Hoke and brought in their former quarterback, Jim Harbaugh. The former San Francisco 49ers head coach has rejuvenated a program that went just 7-6 in 2013 and 5-7 in 2014.

Sure, it marked Smith’s third new offense in three years, which he said was a challenge, before adding that his football IQ has never been higher. But he’s definitely not complaining.

“It’s a great experience, man,” Smith said. “It seems like the whole entire state of Michigan has its energy back just from having Coach Harbaugh.

“I mean, two years ago, he was in the Super Bowl, so people believe in him, the players believe in him and I know he believes in us. He always tells us we’re the best group he’s had, and it’s always great when a coach tells you that.”

There was one major hiccup along the way — an unbelievable 27-23 loss to Michigan State on Oct. 17 where the Spartans blocked Michigan’s punt and returned it for a TD on the game’s final play (“I’ve never seen anything like that happen before,” Smith said) — but the Wolverines have returned to college football prominence.

This afternoon, Smith wants to cap the bounce-back season in a fitting way — and, in the process, add to the impressive slate put forth this season by the four big-time Mahoning Valley running backs.

“It’s been a while since the [Nov. 28] loss against Ohio State,” Smith said. “So it’s definitely a good thing to get back out there. We’ve been practicing very hard because getting that chance to win is so important to our team.”

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