If you’re a high school football coach in the San Diego area, you know Rod Smith — and his work.
He coached West Virginia’s Pat White for one season and Michigan’s Denard Robinson for two. As Arizona’s quarterbacks coach, Smith turned Matt Scott into a pro prospect, B.J. Denker into a solid college player and Anu Solomon into a savvy veteran.
Soon, Smith, UA coach Rich Rodriguez and offensive coordinator Calvin Magee will pick a starter for 2016. Solomon is the known commodity, while sophomore Brandon Dawkins — who flashed talent against Arizona State last season — is on his heels.
The competition will surely increase in future years. Smith, who recruits San Diego, helped land 2017 prospect Braxton Burmeister out of La Jolla and has been involved with other top recruits.
Smith has become one of the best recruiters on Arizona’s coaching staff, and it’s not only because of his personality, but what he does with it.
He’s family.
“Recruiting it’s just like coaching our players,” Smith said. “I can be me. I can be myself. I don’t have to put on a show.”
Finding the next Cat
Burmeister was in a perilous position in March.
The star quarterback had been committed to play at Arizona since his sophomore season. Smith was the major reason why: The UA assistant was one of the first coaches to recruit the Country Day School star, and the first to offer him a scholarship.
Burmeister then developed into one of the top quarterbacks in the West. Burmeister wanted to decommit from the UA in order to take official visits.
He just had to find a way to tell Smith.
“He handled it awesomely,” Burmeister said. “During that phone call he told me they were going to keep recruiting me and they wanted me.”
Added Angela Burmeister, Braxton’s mother: “Rod was one of the first people that just fell in love with Brax, so I think in Rod’s mind it just wasn’t going to go away. He wasn’t going to stop.”
It paid off, too — Burmeister recommitted to the Wildcats in May and will join Arizona in January as a mid-year enrollee.
Smith said each situation, each family is different. Sometimes, he said, it’s worth fighting for a kid — even after he decommits.
“It changes from situation to situation,” Smith said, speaking generally about recruiting. “It’s about, how good is that kid? Where does he rank in terms of your wish list? Everybody has a ranking, an order, so everybody’s got guys they prefer. How high is that guy on your list?
“If he’s way up there, I tell them, ‘Hey man, you’re allowed to date somebody else; just don’t be marrying them.’”
From Forcier to Cormier
It’s not just the Burmeister family either. Ask any player Smith’s recruited, and high school coach he’s been in contact with, and it’s the same.
Smith’s been recruiting the San Diego area for more than a decade. While at Michigan, he helped the Wolverines land quarterback Tate Forcier from Scripps Ranch High School. Rick Jackson was Forcier’s coach, and later coached former UA running back Pierre Cormier at Madison High School. Cormier was a four-star commitment who committed to Smith, and the UA, in 2013.
“He always comes through and he’s very cordial, funny, easy-to-talk to kind of guy …” Jackson said. “He sits down with you, raps with you, talks football and family.
“We definitely haven’t always had that quality kid being recruited (by a) high-level D1 (school), but he made a point to come down and build that relationship, and that’s really what sets him apart.”
Cormier was forced to retire because of a blood clot before the 2014 season, but the UA honored his scholarship. Smith recently brought Cormier back into the fold as a student assistant.
Smith helped the Wildcats land starting offensive lineman Jacob Alsadek, who prepped at Torrey Pines High School north of San Diego.
Alsadek’s mother and Smith’s wife are still good friends.
“He was the first coach to come and see me, so that’s what I thought every coach was like,” Alsadek said. “Then there are schools that come in and they’re not the same, but I think that’s good because he stuck out to me, and that’s one of the reasons I came here.”
Even in Tucson, Cienega quarterback Jamarye Joiner has already felt what it’s like to be on Smith’s radar — and Joiner doesn’t even have an offer yet.
“He’s real family-oriented, he involves your whole family, he talks to you one-on-one and he doesn’t beat around the bush, he tells you exactly what he sees, and exactly what he wants,” Joiner said.
No promises
Smith doesn’t go out of his way to become part of a 17-year-old’s family. That would be fake.
The coach is, simply, himself.
That’s what separates Smith from assistants that he compared to car salesmen.
“Everybody is trying to vie for sometimes the same kid at quarterback, so it becomes a sales job. It becomes, ‘What angle can I use to appease this guy?’” he said. “Some people use that angle of promising them playing time. … We don’t ever promise them playing time. We don’t promise them, ‘you’ll be the starter if you come to Arizona.…’”
Some, like Cormier, Alsadek and Burmeister, connect with Smith’s message above all the recruiting noise. To them, he becomes more than a coach: He’s family.
“I take that to heart when people say that,” Smith said, “because that means they think of me as much as I think of them.”
