Texas Tech football: Early 2020 signee superlatives

Teachers’ Pet: QB Donovan Smith

It isn’t tough to find the teachers’ pet in this class given that Frienship QB Donovan Smith is the son of running backs coach DeAndre Smith.  And though that label isn’t always a compliment, wouldn’t you want your QB to be the most like a coach on the field?

When Smith committed to Tech back in February, many of us did not think he was going to be the QB around which the class would be built.  Given that he had not ever been a starting QB in his high school career, we thought that he was just a good athlete who was getting an opportunity because his father is on Matt Wells’ staff.

But once he started leading Frienship, H.S. in Wolfforth on Friday nights, we began to see that he was more than just a nepotistic project.   He threw for 3,123 yards and 25 touchdowns while galloping for 489 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground.  Maybe more impressive is the fact that he threw only eight interceptions on the year in 328 pass attempts and he completed 64.9 percent of those throws.

The dynamic between a college football player and his father who is on his coaching staff is one that few of us will ever understand.  But there is an assumption that the sons of coaches often have a greater understanding of the game having been raised by someone who earns his living by teaching the game.

That’s no to say that Smith is guaranteed to be the next Graham Harrell or Pat Mahomes, both Tech legends who were as knowledgeable about their offensive concepts as their coaches, but he will have an inside track on picking up the scheme.  And the fact that he played receiver in Las Vegas before moving to West Texas also has to help his understanding of the passing game in general.

Within the last week, we saw a QB whose inability to fully grasp the offenses he was asked to operate potentially cost him a starting job decide to transfer in Jett Duffey.  Now, might we be replacing him with a QB that has advanced knowledge of the scheme?  Only time will tell for sure but if Smith doesn’t know the offense like second nature, it won’t be because he doesn’t have a mentor already in place.