Smith’s perseverance pays off
What began as just another day turns special for the junior running back and his family
Thursday began just like any other day for Chandler Smith.
He woke up early. Had breakfast. Spent time talking with teammates and coaches.
“Everything was normal,”
Smith said.
Later in the day, Smith joined the rest of the University of Houston football team in the weight room. Again, nothing out of the ordinary with the Cougars going through preseason camp.
Then Darl Bauer, UH’s director of strength and performance, urged Smith to get closer to the front.
“I’m like, ‘OK, I’m trying to be more of a leader. Maybe he just wants me up toward the front,’ ” Smith said.
Moments later, head coach Dana Holgorsen made a surprise announcement: After three years on the team as a walk-on running back, Smith was being put on scholarship.
Smith was immediately mobbed by teammates.
“My heart dropped,” Smith said. “I didn’t even know what to feel or what to think. It was a feeling of ‘wow.’ This is really happening. All my hard work has paid off.” He called his mother.
“I was crying,” he said.
He was unable to reach his father, setting a plan in motion to deliver the news in person. In a 45second video posted on Twitter, Smith and his father are at home talking football.
Just like a running back looking for room to run, Smith found his opening.
“I could be getting the first kickoff (in the Sept. 1 opener at Oklahoma),” he told his father. “Something else dad, they told me they put me on full scholarship.”
“What?” Richard Smith responded as he jumped from the sofa and embraced his son. “It’s God. Congratulations! Hard work. God is good.”
“Just to see his reaction, I just broke down in tears because I know this is something we have been talking about for a long time,” Smith said. “To finally get it and see the benefits of your hard work felt really good.”
It’s been that way his entire life, Smith said, having to prove doubters wrong. If it was not the “eye test” as a 5-foot-8, 195-pound running back, it was those that simply said he did not have what it takes to play college football.
“Telling myself I’m going to be a Division I athlete there were so many people telling me what I couldn’t do,” Smith said. “Teachers, coaches telling me what I couldn’t do. Having that leap of faith and faith in God that I could do anything I put my mind to, for it to finally happen is why we do this and play this game.”
A reminder sits in his dorm room: a parachute and ankle weights he asked for Christmas when he was a teenager at Twin Creeks Middle School. It was at the school, Smith said, that coach Lennis Brice offered words that still ring true today.
“I was frustrated. Why were there people faster than me, bigger than me and they don’t work for it?” he said. “It really upset me. He told me, ‘Chandler, if you just work hard every single day harder than anybody else, I promise eventually you’ll start surpassing those people.’”
Brice was one of the first to send a congratulatory text Thursday.
Smith’s response: “You ignited that fire in me.”
UH is counting on Smith being more than just a heartwarming story this season. Throughout the first week in camp, players were asked about the progress in the backfield. While more established players like Patrick Carr, Mulbah Car and Texas transfer Kyle Porter get most of the attention, the talk came back to one person: Smith.
“He’s that switch-up guy, that changeup,” running backs coach Justin Johnson said. “He’s consistent. You know what you are going to get every day from him. He’s a ball of energy. I don’t think you can find one person on this team, player or coaching staff, that does not like Chandler. He brightens up our running backs room and the team in general. When you talk about a teammate and a kid you love to coach, he’s that type of kid.”
Smith, who played his final high school season at Oak Ridge, redshirted in 2016 and did not see action in 2017. Last season, Smith played in eight games, mostly on special teams and in the backfield the final month when injuries took a toll. He had a breakout game with 80 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Texas Southern.
“I didn’t think I was going to play last year, but I had to always be ready,” Smith said. “Then when my number was called you have to step up to the plate.”
When UH made a coaching change in the offseason, Smith said it was an opportunity for a “clean slate.”
“The coaches didn’t know any of us,” he said. “Everybody was on the same level playing field.”
One player not surprised at Smith’s accomplishment — defensive back Grant Stuard. The two have been friends since age 12, playing together at Twin Creeks and Oak Ridge before unexpectedly becoming teammates again at UH.
“Awesome experience seeing a guy like that being able to work his way up and be the epitome of hard work, and what it means to come here and do something every day knowing that something is not going to be handed to you,” Stuard said. “It was inspirational.”
Smith vows that earning a scholarship won’t change him. He’s come too far. And still has plenty to prove.
“All the coaches are teasing me that I’m going to start slacking,” he said. “I told them this is like adding kerosene to a fire. More than just a scholarship, just knowing the coaches are investing in me and my ability they feel I can help the team. I just want to help the team be successful.”