Macon Telegraph Story
By Michael A. Lough
FORT VALLEY — Sometimes surprises are good when spring football practice rolls around.
And sometimes, no surprises can be a good thing.
Eugene Smith is not surprising Fort Valley State head coach Donald Pittman this spring.
“I think Eugene Smith is gonna be the guy,” Pittman said. “He’s night and day from the other quarterbacks and moving the ball down the field.”
Well, he has raised Pittman’s eyebrows a little bit.
“We knew he was a good passer,” Pittman said. “But he’s a better passer than I ever envisioned. He’s just natural.”
The 6-foot-2, 225-pounder out of Pensacola, Fla., was a first-team all-conference pick in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference in 2008 and second-team selection as a freshman in 2007.
He passed for 2,099 yards as a sophomore and completed 59 percent of his passes while also rushing for 319 yards.
And Smith, who sat out last year, may be proving that the Wildcats got a steal. He was a Rivals.com three-star recruit out of junior college and was that site’s No. 29 dual-threat quarterback.
“We knew he was going to be a great one,” Pittman said of Smith, who originally signed with Florida A&M out of Pensacola Catholic as the state’s No. 14 quarterback. “But we didn’t know he was going to be this good and grasp everything so fast.”
Smith succeeds Nate Samas, who was the SIAC freshman of the year in 2006 and then hardly played again until his senior season in 2009. Samas led the SIAC in efficiency and was second in passing yards per game.
Smith will get to work with Ricardo Lockette, who played at FVSU in 2008 and transferred to Bethel (Tenn.) College for 2009 but didn’t play and is back on campus.
Lockette, the NCAA Division II 200-meter dash champion in the spring of 2009, isn’t practicing this spring but will be in uniform in August.
“But we know what he can do,” Pittman said.
Pittman said former Rutland standout Denzel Wesley has regained his eligibility.
FVSU’s spring game is Saturday, a day after the Lomax & Porter Golf Tournament in Perry, with proceeds going to the football program. The tournament is named after the two legendary FVSU head coaches.
The Wildcats return the majority of starters on defense, including defensive end Alex Cook, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in late September.
The injury wasn’t as serious as originally believed, and while Cook isn’t participating in spring practice, Pittman said he’ll be more than ready in August.
The only health issue is a hamstring pull suffered by returning wideout An’Thon Harris.
Pittman still has former Peach County standouts Antonio Henton and Chris Slaughter on the to-be-determined list. There continues to be paperwork problems in getting Henton completely released from Georgia Southern, his destination after transferring from Ohio State.
Slaughter, who went to Hargrave Military Academy in 2006, redshirted at Auburn in 2007 and played in 2008 but sat out last year after leaving Auburn, is likely out of the picture until 2011.
But Pittman said sophomore wideout Terrell Walker of Warner Robins is having a good spring.
“He has the same speed as Lockette has,” Pittman said. “He’s coming around. He’s looking really good. He has that speed that’s unbelievable.”
Pittman said running back Brandon Anderson, also of Warner Robins, is having a good spring. The Wildcats are still a work in progress on the offensive line, which lost several key players.
“We’re waiting for some people to come in,” Pittman said. “But we think that we’re going to be OK. Up front is the question mark, but everything else is solid.”