Smith comes into bowl on a roll
Considering Kaden Smith’s sensational play down the stretch this season, it’s almost hard to believe he went nine consecutive games without a touchdown catch.
The Stanford tight end had one in the opener against Rice but didn’t catch another until the Cal game nearly three months later. He then grabbed the go-ahead TD pass a week later in a win over Notre Dame.
The best was yet to come — two scintillating receptions from K.J. Costello for scores in the Cardinal’s unsuccessful comeback against USC in the Pac-12 title game.
The first was a leaping catch over All-Pac-12 linebacker Cameron Smith. The second was more difficult, the redshirt freshman said. “I was running a post, and K.J. put it in a great spot where only I could get it. I jumped backward to take it out of the air.”
An acrobatic catch by a 6foot-5, 250-pound player may amaze most onlookers, but it was old hat to the rest of Cardinal.
“We see him do stuff like that all the time, even last year when he redshirted,” Stanford running back Bryce Love said. “Making so many difficult catches — it’s good to see that growth, that development.”
The late-season surge helps explain why Smith was one of the top tight end recruits in the nation in 2016. He was considered the third best overall recruit from Texas by Prep Star.
This year he had Stanford’s second-longest pass reception, a 54-yarder from Keller Chryst against Utah. The only longer pass play was Chryst’s 56yarder to Cameron Scarlett against Rice.
Smith is fourth on the team in catches with 23 and third in yards with 414. His five touchdowns are second to JJ Arcega Whiteside’s six.
Smith said his season “started out a little slow. I was hoping for the opportunities. I kept saying, ‘I’m ready. I’m ready.’ I was waiting for my turn.”
Part of the problem was that there were so many other mouths to feed in the passing game — three other tight ends and a half-dozen receivers. There also was a quarterback transition. But mainly there was Love. When the tailback was really rolling, it made long drives — and passes to the tight end — seem almost quaint.
Making a couple of catches at Oregon State helped Smith get started, he said. He and the rest of the tall Cardinal receivers will look for jump balls against TCU’s defenders — most of whom are under 6 feet tall — in the Alamo Bowl on Thursday night in San Antonio.
It’s Stanford’s second straight bowl game in Texas, following the Sun Bowl in El Paso last season. It’s also homecoming week for Smith and his eight teammates from the Lone Star State. Only California, with 30, has more players on the roster.
Smith had 144 catches for 2,260 yards in his career at Marcus High in the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound.
“I haven’t been there since the beginning of the summer,” Smith said. “It’s great to go back and see friends and family out there.”
A longtime Cowboys fan, Smith wears the same number, 82, as Dallas’ 10-time Pro Bowl tight end, Jason Witten. Smith’s parents have a home in Florida near Witten’s, and the two tight ends have worked out together.
“I’m one of his biggest fans,” Smith said.
At his size, there’s no doubt about that.