Anniversary hits Smith
Raider senior had bigger goals than defending state title
PAWTUCKET — Shortly after the clock turned to midnight and began ticking into Monday, June 1, Jaylen Smith suddenly realized the significance of the date.
The Shea High soonto-be “virtual graduate” was up past his usual bedtime, but something kept gnawing at him, keeping him awake. That happened to be the remembrance that, exactly a year earlier, at Brown Stadium, he had captured the 100-meter dash gold medal at the R.I. Interscholastic
Outdoor Track & Field Championships, courtesy of a scorching time of 10.72.
What helped with the anniversary memory was that Smith would not get the opportunity to defend his title, thanks to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting cancellation of all Ocean State sports schedules earlier this spring.
During a phone interview Monday, he admitted being crushed there will be no such competition, that his high school career had ended with
“I wanted to qualify for nationals (the New Balance National Outdoor Championships, slated for North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, now slated for mid-July).”
— Shea senior Jaylen Smith
a third-place finish in the 55 meters (6.58) at the state indoor event in mid-February.
“It was right about 12:05 (a.m.) when it came to me, ‘Wow! It’s been a whole year!’ My goals were to, first, defend my state title in the 100 meters, but I wanted to go so much bigger than that,” offered the congenial, Raider,who also was a phenomenal, four-year running back for coach Dino Campopiano’s Raiders’ football team.
“I wanted to win the New Englands as well, but – more than anything – I wanted to qualify for nationals (the New Balance Interscholastic National Outdoor Championships, slated for North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, now slated for mid-July).”
“My junior year, I either took fifth or sixth in the 100 at New Englands, and I was extremely disappointed with that; I went, like, 11.0,” he added. “When I went 10.72 at states, I missed the qualifying (standard) for nationals by two-hundredths of a second.
“Now I’ll never get the chance to go.”
When, however, reminded of the fact that he will, in fact, graduate from SHS as the defending state 100-meter champ, as there was outdoor campaign, he seemed to perk up a bit.
“I never thought of that – I’ll be a two-year, defending 100 dash champ; that’s kind of cool,” he said. “I always felt this was the year I had to prove myself. I never expected to win the 100 as a junior; I mean, I wanted to, but I didn’t see it. When I did, I was surprised, but wasn’t at the same time.
“I always knew I had the confidence in myself, but – at the same time – I had run faster than I thought I had in me. Even after the race, I was surprised by the time, until I did it again at the (University of Rhode Island) football camp about five days later.”
He also laughed when he admitted, “Maybe that’s one of the reasons I ran so slow at New Englands; I was burned out!”
Then he had referred to the fact that he had already signed a National Letter of Intent to attend URI and play football, not to mention study kinesiology as a major.
“It made me sad I wouldn’t have a track season,” he stated. “I really think I could have had run a 10.5 this year, actually, it would’ve been this week (June 6), but now I’ll never know.”
Noted head track coach Rich Kucal: “I think everybody was crushed by it. I had Jaylen and some of his fellow seniors really looking forward to the season. A few of them had special goals to reach, and Jaylen led the way. His, were to win the 100 at states and regionals, and also qualify for nationals. He missed by just .02 last year.
“Even with all the COVID-19 stuff going on, he had trained for it, and he was ready,” he continued. “The thing about him is that he had an eye on the present, but also on playing football at URI. He knew he had to start getting ready for that. He had been given workouts from URI football coaches, so I only gave him a handful of workouts to do on his own (when live school interaction was postponed in favor of ‘distance learning’ on Friday, March 13).”
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Smith watched the governor’s early-afternoon press conference over a month later, on Thursday, April 23, and his heart sank.
“As soon as she said school was out for the year, I had a feeling there wouldn’t be anything,” he said, the pain obvious in his voice. “I was really disappointed when we first left school, but I knew I had to remain positive, that I had to keep training in case we had some kind of modified season.
“I was doing some downhill sprints and a lot of calisthenics, exercise like pushups, situps, and also a couple of early-morning jogs (a week). I’d wake up at 5 a.m. and just run. Unfortunately, though, all the gyms were closed, so I had to stop lifting. Still, my plan for me was to try to gain as much muscle and speed as I could.”
That’s his new focus, the thing that helps steer him away from the hurt he says is still there inside him.
“I need to get faster and stronger, because I consider my size my flaw,” he noted. “As an athlete, I need to know and try to improve my weaknesses. I know I need to be bigger while maintaining my speed. I mean, high school football and college football, it’s like night and day.
“Some of those players are huge, and a back like me, we have to absorb some vicious hits, that’s the biggest reason,” he continued. “That’s why I’m still working out, still training, doing calisthenics and a lot of uphill runs; that’s helping me cope with the loss of the season. I’m concentrating on the future, and that’s playing URI football.
“I’ve been to some workouts (in Kingston), and I’m a little surprised – I’ve honestly been sort of calm out there, and I think it’s because I know deep down I’m there for a purpose. I feel like I’m playing for all the inner-city kids who always wanted but never did get the opportunity to play Division I football. I’m playing especially for the public-school kids; we don’t seem to get noticed as much as the private schools.
“I believe it’s our responsibility as student-athletes is to help others try to walk through that door, help give them a chance to play on the college level.”
He’s also staying busy slinging pizzas at a local eatery. If he’s not there, he said beginning this past Tuesday he’d work out at his best friend Zion Gomes’ uncle’s gym. That’s one thing he said he missed during the quarantine: Lifting, but made up for it in other ways.
As for his college career, Smith knows what he wants and how to go about attaining it.
“My hope right now is to be an NFL running back, but how many actually make it?” he said matter-of-factly. “My goal is to someday be a physical therapist; that’s why I’m studying kinesiology. I want to learn everything there is to know about the body, what makes it move, what makes it go, what makes it hurt.”
Part of that stems from an injury he dealt with late in the regular season his senior year, one that closed with Smith rushing for over 2,000 yards and 21 touchdowns (at cornerback, he also pulled four interceptions, a pick-six.
“I got banged up bad in our game against North Kingstown in, like early November,” he said. “I played through it, but my final few games, I had to play hurt. At Hendricken in my last regular-season game, I tried to do things I couldn’t do because of the injury. I couldn’t reach my natural speed, so I had to improvise. The funny thing was, I was still faster than most of the guys.
“I think what’s helped me most is from freshman to senior year, I’ve become a totally different person,” he added. “Now I know how to stay healthy, mentally and physically. I try to think about all the right things, and that should help me all the more in college.”