QB DaMarcus Smith's injury has allowed him improve and get a qualifying ACT score

Originally Published: October 26, 2009

Blessing in disguise

QB DaMarcus Smith's injury has allowed him improve and get a qualifying ACT score

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By Bill Kurelic
NoleInsider.com
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When you sustain a season ending injury as a junior it can become very difficult to draw attention from college football coaches. For DaMarcus Smith (Louisville, Ky./Seneca) it hasn't been.

"Colleges are still coming at me pretty strong and since September 1st it seems like things are booming with interesting," stated Smith.

Smith is a top 150 watch list member for the 2011 class for ESPN's college recruiting and the 6'1 180 pound dual-threat quarterback is working on getting healthy and seeing as many schools as possible.

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"Right now my injury is a blessing in disguise in a sense," said Smith. "I get a chance to get really healthy, check out a good amount of schools, and work on keeping my grades up and getting a qualifying score on my ACT test. So it's a shame I tore my ACL but at the same time everything happens for a reason and I think this could be a blessing down the road."

One school Smith has visited already and plans to visit more down the road is Tennessee.

"I went to the Tennessee football camp this past summer as an invite and I loved it up there," said Smith. "I liked the school and the football facilities and everything with it. Tennessee is a big time school and I am looking to go to a big time school. I got a lot of love from the coaching staff last summer and have been asked to make it out to a game and also come back next summer. I am will see if I can make it for a game but I will for sure be back next summer for the camp."

While recovering from his ACL injury Smith has seen his interest from schools pick up.

"I hear from a huge amount of schools on an almost daily basis," said Smith. "I get stuff every day from LSU, Oregon, Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, Georgia, Cal, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisville, and a few others. Right now I have offers from UK, UL, and Illinois. A few schools are close to offering and I think it could happen soon."

While only being a junior, DaMarcus Smith has already started looking into schools in seeing what criteria they need to have.

"I want to go to a big time school," said Smith. "What I mean by that is I want to be able to go somewhere where we compete every week for a title, be on TV a lot, have a top notch coaching staff, that sort of thing. I want to go somewhere where I know I will be taken care of on the field, but also off it as well. I want to be able to get help with my studies if I need it and so that will also play a key role for me."

While not being able to play as a junior might hurt some recruits chances Smith has been blessed with an impressive sophomore season. He threw for over 3,200 yards last season to go along with 32 touchdowns. He also added 450 yards rushing and three touchdowns as well.

A look around at some of the best ESPN affiliate team sites have to offer today. Some of the following links may require a premium subscription to the ESPN affiliate site.

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Florida State Seminoles (www.noleinsider.com )

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LSU Tigers (www.eyeonthetigers.com)