When Donovan Smith arrived at Owings Mills as a sophomore, the Eagles football team was in the middle of a 53-game losing streak. The 6-foot-6, 260-pound lineman, who started playing football as an eighth grader in New York, helped the Eagles end that skid in 2009, and he began drawing the attention of college recruiters nationwide after attending the U.S. Army All-American combine in San Antonio a year ago. This week, Smith is back in San Antonio preparing for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, which will be played at noon Saturday at the Alamodome and broadcast live on NBC.
An All-Metro offensive lineman, Smith, 17, did not allow a sack in two years and also excelled at defensive end. After narrowing his college options to Penn State, North Carolina State and UCLA, he plans to announce his choice at the game Saturday. Smith, who lives with his uncle, George Smith, and his twin sister Ebony, a three-sport athlete at Owings Mills, has a 2.7 GPA. He plans to major in criminal justice for a potential career as a detective or in forensics, although his main goal is to play in the NFL.
Question: How did you get started playing football?
Answer: I started playing football in New York, just wanted to try something new. I tried out and I made the team. I was playing basketball. I was kind of a giant compared to everybody (laughs). My uncle was big on football. I used to watch him a lot. I got hooked on it. I said I want to be an NFL player.
Q: What brought you to Owings Mills?
A: My uncle wanted to keep me out of trouble because a lot of bad stuff was happening up there and he wanted to catch me before anything happened.
Q: How good was the team up there?
A: It was actually a good team. They won the Long Island championship. They were Suffolk County champions, so I came from a good program, Amityville Memorial High School.
Q: What was it like to get to Owings Mills and play on a team that couldn't win at that point?
A: It was very different, just the players' attitudes. The players in New York, they actually wanted to work hard and coming here, the players were playing around a lot and not taking it seriously. You had a few players who were into it, but it was just a bad vibe.
Q: Did that turn around?
A: Oh, yeah. It turned around a lot.
Q: When did it start to turn around?
A: It started to turn around my junior year. We had a couple good players who were actually dedicated to playing, and we came together. We won three games last year. It also was a boost this year for a lot of players. We had a couple who came out who didn't want to play before because of the Owings Mills trend or whatever, so they came out and dedicated themselves.
Q: How does a player from Owings Mills land on the national recruiting radar?
A: It all started when I got a letter from the U.S. Army All-American combine down in Texas. It was something new. I had gotten a game invite from Alabama, too, and that popped up out of the blue, so we went down there not really knowing what it was. I was down there for the Alabama- LSU game. I went to the Army combine and finished out top-10 there. Honestly, I didn't know anything I was doing. I sat back and watched a couple of other people go first and see what they're doing. I kind of just put it all together last-minute. I finished out top-10, and the first offer was [from] West Virginia, I think a week after that.
Q: Was the Alabama game your first big-time Division I game?
A: Yeah, it was. Actually my first football game. It was definitely a great experience seeing all the thousands together, and it got so loud in there I think I left with a headache. Just seeing the players up close, how big they were — it was a great experience.
Q: Did you learn anything from it as far as what you might want to do?
A: My uncle, he drilled it in my head, "This is not just going to come by you sitting down, so you have to work for it and get to where you want to be," which is to the NFL. I took that and from that day on, I've been working.
Q: When you were there last year watching the seniors in the Army All-American Game, did you think, "Next year I'll be playing in that?"
A: Honestly, no. Just with so many athletes that were there and I really didn't think so, but as time went on it became clear to me that I really had a shot to go.
Q: What are you looking forward to most about it?
A: Getting back with a couple players that I met down at Williamsburg (at Football University Top Gun camp in July) and having fun and definitely playing in the game on the national stage.
Q: Do you really enjoy meeting all these other guys from around the country?
A: Yeah. I definitely expand my social network when I go to these camps because you never know who is who and what will be what five years from now. One of them might be the next Hall of Famer going into the NFL, so I try as much as possible to stay in touch with a lot of them.
Q: Has San Antonio been important to the whole process?
A: It's been the key to it all. It's the national stage, and people pick the players for this game. Me being able to perform well there at the combine definitely opened up their eyes and allowed me the opportunity to play in this prestigious game Jan. 8. I can't wait. It's going to be so fun to be with other players of my talent if not better and be able to compete with them on the national stage.