Oregon State Feature
Former walk-on at the helm of the Beavers’ attack
Redshirt freshman
Jonathan Smith leads
Oregon State into war
By Joel Hood
Oregon Daily Emerald
It probably seems strange, but
Jonathan Smith says he remem
bers very little from his record-set
ting 469-yard passing perfor
mance against Washington a
month ago.
What he thinks about more often
is his dismal performance against
California the following weekend
at Parker Stadium, where Oregon
State’s redshirt freshman quarter
back completed only 17 of 58 pass
es, threw three interceptions and
fumbled the ball three times.
“I really remember standing on
the sidelines in the fourth quarter
after we had blown that big lead
and listening to the crowd saying
things like ‘Maybe he really isn’t
that good,’ ‘What are we going to
do now?”’ Smith says.
How quickly things can change
in college football.
Smith, who began the season No.
on me Heavers
depth chart,
knows that little,
if anything, was
expected of him
when the season
began. That all
changed in the
second quarter ot tnat Uct. 24 game
against Washington when starting
quarterback Terrance Bryant was
forced to the sidelines with an in
jury.
Smith’s arrival seemed to spark
the Beaver offense against Wash
ington. But in a little less than two
weeks he has gone from Oregon
State’s savior to its goat.
But what were Beaver fans sup
posed to think?
In less than three quarters, on a
slow and soggy Seattle afternoon,
Smith was able to eclipse former
Beaver Erik Wilhelm’s school
record of 461 yards passing in a
single game.
In doing so, Smith brought the
Beavers back from a 21-7 halftime
deficit to within 35-34 in the last
minute. It was quite possibly the
greatest comeback in school history.
It was simply one of the greatest
single-game performances ever at
Oregon State.
Smith, a former walk-on who
was relegated to scout team ser
vice his freshman season, was
suddenly all anyone was talking
about.
Two days after the Washington
game, Smith was hanging out with
three friends in a downtown Cor
vallis coffee shop when he was ap
proached by close to a dozen
Beaver fans and alumni who said
they just wanted to meet the next
great Oregon State quarterback.
It was a bizarre scene for Smith,
who admits he never expected to
see much playing time this season
when the Beavers signed Bryant.
Bryant, a junior-college All-Amer
ican at City College of San Francis
co last season, was expected to be
the Beavers’ “quarterback of the
future.”
“It's was pretty wild,” Smith
says about that coffee shop en
counter three weeks ago. “That
had never really happened to me
before. It’s nice. But later I learned
how quickly things can change.”
The following week, the 5-foot
10,177-pound Smith had the foot
ball equivalent of a Hollywood
disaster flick.
wnile he passed tor 252 yards,
his six turnovers helped the Bears
complete an improbable second
half comeback and a dramatic 20
19 win in front of 23,594 heartbro
ken Beaver fans. The loss dropped
Oregon State to 4-5 overall and 1-5
in the Pacific-10 Conference and
all but ended any possibility of
postseason play.
After the game, Smith spoke
with Oregon State’s second-year
head coach Mike Riley. Riley rein
stalled confidence in his young
quarterback by naming him the
starter in the Beavers’ biggest game
of the season the following week
against No. 3 UCLA.
“It did a lot for my confidence,”
says Smith, who passed for 323
yards and just one interception in
a near upset of the Pac-10 champi
on Bruins.
Smith directed three scoring
drives of more than 65 yards, in
cluding a drive with less than two
minutes to play that knotted the
game at 34-34.
After three roller coaster games
in a row, Smith says he has more
experience under his belt than
most freshman quarterbacks who
'/ be ((M%< m State) Hanmwter
Oregon State quarterback Jonathan Smith set a Beaver record with 469 yards passing
against Washington after replacing injured starter Terrance Bryant in the first half.
piay me entire season.
“A big part of it is just having
your teammates have confidence
in you,” Smith says. “I think that’s
one of the biggest obstacles fresh
man have to overcome.”
In five appearances this season,
including the last three as a starter,
Smith has thrown for 1,124 yards
and four touchdowns. He is now
less than 250 yards behind Bryant,
who started Oregon State’s first
eight games.
After beginning this season in
virtual obscurity, Smith is now
catching the eyes of coaches
around the Pac-10.
“He just lit the world on fire
against Washington,” Oregon head
coach Mike Bellotti said. “He
throws the ball with great repeti
tive accuracy, he sees the field very
well, he has a great comfort zone in
the pocket and understands where
the hot receivers are.”
Smith says a great deal of that
comfort comes from just being al
lowed to play every week and the
confidence that the coach wants to
see you in there whether your hot
or your struggling.
“A lot of it just comes your
preparation during the week,”
Smith says. “I wasn’t able to even
practice with the first team until the
week before our Arizona game
(Q.1.17], It makes a huge difference
for a quarterback, going into a week
of practice knowing that you’re go
ing to be the guy on Saturday. ”
And it is working for the Oregon
State offense. The Beavers have
had 47 plays this season of 25 or
more yards, more than any Oregon
State team in recent memory.
Smith has been responsible for 27
of those 47 plays.
It’s enough to make a young
quarterback sit back, relax and re
flect on a job well done — if only
he could focus on the bright spots
of the season.
r
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