A twin-win situation for Sterling

Vista PEAK Prep’s Daniel and Derrick Smashum both signed their national letters of Intent to play at Sterling College in Kansas on Wednesday, the next step in a football journey for identical twins who believe they have a lot left to prove.

Daniel, a 5-foot-9, 180-pound slot receiver, saw his production over the past several seasons diminish due to injuries.

“My sophomore year, I had a (malignant) tumor in my shin and I had to get surgery on it, so I missed a couple weeks that year,” Daniel said. “Then my junior year, it kept bothering me, and I had surgery again last April so I missed the whole summer before my senior year.”

Meanwhile Derrick, a quarterback, lit up the school record book in three seasons as a starter, accumulating 7,298 total yards and throwing for 82 touchdowns.

In his junior year Derrick passed for 3,533 yards (15th all-time in single season CHSAA history) and 40 touchdowns (tied for eighth all-time) while establishing himself as the best player in the short history of the school, which had its first graduating class in 2014.

“Two years ago when I coached the offense, it was like a video game because it was so easy to call plays,” Vista PEAK Prep coach John Sullivan said. “With Derrick at quarterback, it didn’t matter what play you called — if you put the ball in his or his brother’s hands, they did great things for us.”

But at 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, Derrick was dogged by questions about his size, and the brothers’ overall recruitment by schools above the NAIA level was hindered by a lack of dedication in the classroom.

“They’re going to be diamonds for Sterling, that’s for sure,” Sullivan said. “They’ve always battled a little bit of size issues with the height, and academically they didn’t do everything they could have.”

The brothers owned that, and Derrick noted the books are a top priority when the brothers arrive in central Kansas.

“It’s big that I get there and start off on the right foot in the classroom,” Derrick said. “If I put the work in grades-wise and weight room-wise, everything should work out.”

The Smashums were the highlight of a six-person National Signing Day for the Bison, who will move up to Class 4A in football next year (and 5A in all other sports) for the Aurora school that’s rapidly expanding in both enrollment and building size.

“We’re starting to be pretty competitive in all sports across the board,” said Sullivan, who is also the athletic director. “We’re growing by about 250 kids a year, and from that first graduating class when we had zero signees to now, you can see how our athletics are really gaining momentum.”