COLUMBUS: Ohio State wide receiver Corey Smith admitted he was crushed when he broke his left leg Oct. 3 against Indiana.
But that feeling didn’t come from the fact that his unpredictable life had taken another unexpected turn.
“I love being out there with my brothers competing. That’s what I like to do,” Smith said.
Many times Smith has feared that kinship would be lost. Playing at Grand Rapids (Mich.) Community College in December 2011, he was evicted from his apartment, a victim of a rent scam that contributed to the demise of the football program. Smith landed at East Mississippi Junior College in Scooba, Miss., with a population of 730. Once recruited by Alabama, Tennessee, and LSU, according to his Buchtel High School coach Ricky Powers, Smith surely worried that no one would find him there.
But when adversity struck again in 2015, when his tibia and fibula snapped against the Hoosiers, Smith didn’t agonize over his future. He believed he could play against “the best of the best” at the next level. He applied for a medical redshirt, which the NCAA granted, giving him a sixth year of eligibility.
Had it been denied, Smith was prepared to throw himself into pre-draft workouts and hope an NFL team would take a chance on him.
Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and receivers coach Zach Smith did in 2013, making Smith the Buckeyes’ first junior college transfer since Larry Grant seven years before. Smith didn’t know that Zach Smith had been keeping an eye on him since he left high school.
Now Smith, 23, who became the first in his family to graduate from college when he received his diploma in African-American studies in May, is projected as a starter for a Buckeyes team ravaged by an exodus to the pros.
Thanks to one of his ex-teammates, receiver Michael Thomas, the nephew of Keyshawn Johnson selected 47th overall by the New Orleans Saints, Smith believes he can carry on the successful OSU tradition at his position.
“That was my guy. He showed me the way, honestly,” Smith said Sunday during Ohio State media day at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. “I saw him do it, now I know I can do it.
“My mind just cleared, my soul cleared, my mind focused on what exactly I need to do to make my team better.”
OSU quarterback J.T. Barrett believes Smith is ready to take advantage of his extra season.
“With the things he’s been through, he’s in a good place,” Barrett said. “He’s understanding that this is an opportunity for him and he’s going to make the most of it.”
Standing 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, Smith enters the opener against Bowling Green on Sept. 3 with 25 career receptions for 317 yards with no touchdowns after sitting out 2013 as a redshirt. Twenty catches for 255 yards came during the Buckeyes’ national championship season in 2014, when Smith had his career-long of 47 yards in the College Football Playoff title game against Oregon. Smith also stands out as the gunner on special teams, likely one of the reasons Smith’s injury last season upset Meyer.
“[Smith is] one of my favorite players, a guy who has been through a lot in his life and certainly a lot here, but my heart bleeds for that guy along with the rest of the team,” Meyer said on Oct. 5, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
With his sights set on a starting role, Smith will take graduate school courses and watch over the needs of his five children, ages 6, 4, 4, 2 and six months. His four sons will live in Columbus with Smith and his fiancé Tasheema Thomas, whom he’s known since his days as a Buchtel underclassman. Smith’s daughter resides in Akron.
Since he arrived at Ohio State, Smith said his “attitude, character and mindset” have improved. He sounds prepared to handle whatever his final college season may bring.
“I’m just thanking God every day and making the most of every opportunity I get,” Smith said. “I always keep my goals high because at the end of the day I feel like God had a plan for me.
“Regardless if I felt like it was ever going to go through or not, I felt like he granted me that extra year because it’s something special he’s got for me.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.