Everything comes up roses for top CFL prospect
Toronto native, Hawkeyes receiver Tevaun Smith tops league’s draft list
As a kid growing up in Toronto, Tevaun Smith didn’t even know Iowa was a state. Years later, he knows a lot about Iowa — and Iowa knows a lot about him.
Smith is a game-breaking wide receiver for the Iowa Hawkeyes and is preparing for the biggest moment of his collegiate career in the Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 1 against Stanford.
Smith doesn’t hide his Toronto roots. He has a cluster of maple leaves and the Toronto skyline tattooed on his right biceps.
“I’ve been in the U.S. for five years now,” Smith said by phone from Iowa. “I take pride in where I’m from. I love to show it off. I want to try to my hardest to be the Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett or Cory Joseph of football.”
This season, Smith was second on the team in receiving with 30 receptions for 546 yards and scored three touchdowns despite missing three games with a knee injury.
A big-game player, Smith scored the longest touchdown in Iowa’s season in the Big Ten Championship on Dec. 5 with an 85-yard bomb in a 16-13 loss to Michigan State. He finished with five catches for 110 yards.
His other breakout game was in a 62-16 blowout victory over North Texas when he caught four passes for 115 yards, including an 81-yarder for a TD.
In 2014, he was an honourable mention on the All-Big Ten team after leading his team in receiving yards (596). He ranked second in receptions (43) and shared the team lead with three scoring receptions. The CFL has taken notice. Smith is the No. 1 prospect in the CFL Scouting Bureau’s latest top-20 rankings of eligible prospects for the 2016 CFL Canadian draft.
For now, Smith’s goal is to make it in the NFL.
“My goal was to get my name out there,” Smith said. “The NFL is kind of my dream. I’m using that as a building block. If I play in the CFL, I want to be that big name.”
CFL agent Jason Staroszik says Smith makes what he does look easy.
“That’s because he runs clean routes and makes quick cuts to create separation between himself and the defensive back,” the agent said.
Smith’s parents, Maureen Smith and Denzel Forbes, are from Jamaica. There is athletic talent in the genes: they both ran track, while she played volleyball and he played soccer.
“The speed definitely came from me,” his mom jokes.
Growing up with two brothers and a sister, Smith was introduced to football by a good friend, Treyvon Ashman, at age 10.
They decided to join the Etobicoke Eagles together and it wasn’t long before Smith’s mom noticed “he started to get fast.”
At 17, he was timed at 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash.
Smith started Grade 9 at Central Tech, but he and Ashman transferred at the end of the year to North York’s Chaminade College School in the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
Chaminade’s head football coach, Patrick Diodati, said his Grade10 star made a big impression at the National Underclassman Combine in Detroit in 2010. Competing against kids in Grade 11 and 12, Smith stood out, collecting best receiver honours.
But U.S. schools weren’t convinced of Smith’s ability to compete at a high level. Diodati sent film to over 100 schools across the U.S., but not one scholarship offer came in.
Looking to get Smith better exposure and a good education in the U.S., he contacted Todd Marble, who was the head coach at Kent School, a private boarding school in Connecticut, and Marble was glad to have him.
“The attention grew when he was down there and coaches were able to get eyes on him,” Diodati said.
When he was at Kent, the University of Miami flew somebody out to take a look at him.
“Would they fly somebody all the way up here to look at a kid?” Diodati said. “I guess maybe. Maybe if he was an outstanding offensive lineman or defensive lineman. They may do that.”
At Kent, Smith played quarterback the last few games due to an injury and led Kent to a dramatic comeback win in the final seconds of the last regular season game to preserve an undefeated season.
“Even though he had no experience, he was our best athlete and adapted well and quickly to the position,” Marble said.
When the Hawkeyes recruiting caravan came to Connecticut, head coach Kirk Ferentz, who played football at the University of Connecticut, signed Smith.
Smith feels that going against teammate Desmond King in practice makes him a better receiver because King recently won the Jim Thorpe Award as the best defender in the country.
Now, Smith is hoping everything comes up Roses on Jan. 1.
“This is another stage,” he said. “There’s no greater stage except for the national championship.”
He knows the odds to crack the NFL are stacked against him.
There were only 13 Canadians on NFL rosters this season, including just one wide receiver — T.J. Jones with the Detroit Lions.
On his wall beside his bed, Smith reminds himself of the fact. He has written down all 13 Canadian names and left a blank space at the top beside the words “NFL draft 2016.”
That spot is reserved for his own name.
“That’s what I use for motivation.”