Dr. Phillips coach Wells inspires DB Smith to commit to Owls
Ja’Dai Smith has always looked up to his Dr. Phillips football coach Rodney Wells. So when Wells told Smith FAU would be the perfect place for him to play college football, the 2021 defensive back listened.
The 6-foot-3, 178-pound Smith committed to the Owls and the new coaching staff under Willie Taggart last week, and he was elated.
“My coach really inspired me the most to go to the school. He said it’s really going to be just like home, saying it was really another Dr. Phillips anyway, and he knows all the coaches and he’s good with them,” Smith said. “My mom and my brother also thought it was the right place, so that was it.
“Coach Wells was my biggest inspiration because he grew up with my parents and went to school with them [at Dr. Phillips]. He knew my struggle coming up and it was like he was already family.”
He’d love to follow the path that led Wells back to DP.
“It was just the way he came up and then he got his diploma [at Syracuse] and his master’s and then became a head coach and played college football. He really was the main person who inspired me — him and my mother [Claudine Smith]. … He came back and became a dean [of students] and then a head coach. The man is a legend.”
It was more than Wells, however. FAU put forward a solid recruiting pitch.
“I felt like FAU was basically the best fit for me and as I talked to the coaches a whole lot more, they just welcomed me into the family,” Smith said. “I just felt like that was the right place and the right spot for me to go.”
Smith started out at Dr. Phillips as a safety, but Wells moved him to cornerback this past season, so he can play either position at the next level. Last season at DP, Smith had no interceptions as opposing quarterbacks tended to stay away from his side of the field.
“Yeah, they aren’t gonna throw it to my side. I think four games, I had zero targets,” Smith said.
He did have nine pass breakups as well as 59 tackles, five tackles for loss and one sack.
“They want me to come in and play corner, but they also said they were going to work me at safety and nickel,” Smith said.
His main recruiters at FAU were safeties coach Lance Guidry and cornerbacks coach Stanford “Boosie” Samuels Jr.
“The main recruiters who were talking to me were coach Boosie and coach Guidry, and coach Guidry actually asked me about what the chances were for me to commit to [FAU]. I told them that I was going to commit July 1st, but then three days later, when I actually thought about it … I texted [Guidry] and said, ‘Coach, can I call you?’ ” Smith said. “I FaceTimed and told him, ‘Coach, I’m all in,’ and it was on from there.
“That’s what I was really trying to do, go into my senior season committed, because when football comes up, I can’t be worrying about all these colleges. I gotta focus on the team and what I got going on here. It’s a big relief knowing [I’ve] got a home come December.”
Smith had three offers up to the point that FAU entered the picture two months ago, but he had been having issues with his phone.
“I had three other schools in mind — Charlotte, Gardner-Webb or Rutgers — but when FAU came in and it came right down to it, it was like they were working with me a whole lot more and offering me a lot more,” Smith said.