Smith named Odessa American's Defensive Player of the Year.
The article begins, " Don’t get beat deep.
Those four words speak volumes to Permian senior cornerback Des Smith. However, over time, that statement has evolved to not just play on the football field, but to the rest of life.
“Growing up, football has been a way to let out all emotions that’s outside of football,” Smith said. “When I first heard that phrase, don’t get beat deep, I just tried to apply that in every aspect of my life. To me it doesn’t just mean don’t get caught on a deep pass, it means when something gets hard it’s not the end.
“You got to play the next play. You have to have a short memory. When things get tough, don’t panic. You have another chance.”
Smith was named the Odessa American’s All-Permian Basin Defensive Player of the Year for 2015. After Smith’s standout junior season, it didn’t take long for college coaches around the country to find the Permian cornerback. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound senior finished his junior campaign with 70 tackles, 18 pass break-ups and four interceptions. Smith experienced the flood of recruiting interest from a vast number of Division I programs from around the country. It was a process he didn’t initially know how to manage.
“The recruiting process has been crazy,” Smith said. “You really have to stay grounded. It’s definitely a blessing to have the opportunities that I have, but staying grounded is the most important thing in the recruiting process. You can’t get lost in it. I haven’t seen or heard of anything with the recruiting process and after my junior year it all started hitting me. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know how to handle it.”
Before the Panthers’ first game against McAllen on Aug. 29, Smith was verbally committed to Texas State. However, Smith decommited after the game and reopened the recruiting process. Smith received a wealth of attention which included interest from Texas Tech. The Permian standout watched a pair of games — TCU edged the Red Raiders 55-52 on Sept. 26 followed by Texas Tech’s win over Kansas State 59-44 on Nov. 14 — at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock.
On Nov. 17, Smith made his verbal commitment to Texas Tech via Twitter. As of Dec. 19, his commitment tweet has 271 retweets and 787 likes.
http://www.oaoa.com/oavarsity/boys/article_d5709a7c-a854-11e5-af30-1f9a3cce14fc.html
The article begins, " Don’t get beat deep.
Those four words speak volumes to Permian senior cornerback Des Smith. However, over time, that statement has evolved to not just play on the football field, but to the rest of life.
“Growing up, football has been a way to let out all emotions that’s outside of football,” Smith said. “When I first heard that phrase, don’t get beat deep, I just tried to apply that in every aspect of my life. To me it doesn’t just mean don’t get caught on a deep pass, it means when something gets hard it’s not the end.
“You got to play the next play. You have to have a short memory. When things get tough, don’t panic. You have another chance.”
Smith was named the Odessa American’s All-Permian Basin Defensive Player of the Year for 2015. After Smith’s standout junior season, it didn’t take long for college coaches around the country to find the Permian cornerback. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound senior finished his junior campaign with 70 tackles, 18 pass break-ups and four interceptions. Smith experienced the flood of recruiting interest from a vast number of Division I programs from around the country. It was a process he didn’t initially know how to manage.
“The recruiting process has been crazy,” Smith said. “You really have to stay grounded. It’s definitely a blessing to have the opportunities that I have, but staying grounded is the most important thing in the recruiting process. You can’t get lost in it. I haven’t seen or heard of anything with the recruiting process and after my junior year it all started hitting me. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know how to handle it.”
Before the Panthers’ first game against McAllen on Aug. 29, Smith was verbally committed to Texas State. However, Smith decommited after the game and reopened the recruiting process. Smith received a wealth of attention which included interest from Texas Tech. The Permian standout watched a pair of games — TCU edged the Red Raiders 55-52 on Sept. 26 followed by Texas Tech’s win over Kansas State 59-44 on Nov. 14 — at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock.
On Nov. 17, Smith made his verbal commitment to Texas Tech via Twitter. As of Dec. 19, his commitment tweet has 271 retweets and 787 likes.
http://www.oaoa.com/oavarsity/boys/article_d5709a7c-a854-11e5-af30-1f9a3cce14fc.html
