FB | 'I just want a look': Taj Smith, 24, decided it was time to leave school for a chance at the NFL

By: Zach Schonbrun

Posted: 4/8/08

Beth Israel Medical Center will always be there, but right now Taj Smith isn't focused on any backup plans.

He's hunched over, catching his breath inside a dimly lit Manley Field House on a weekday afternoon, before the other Syracuse teams spill in and congest the former SU wide receiver's workout space.

Thousands of miles away, prospects mold NFL-ready physiques in cushy Arizona or Florida retreats with professional staffs, five-star facilities, Plex programs and hyperbaric chambers. Others flash bowl-game credentials, championship rings and household names as advertisements for a promise at the next level.

Smith grabs his jump rope and begins on another set, with nobody helping, nobody watching and no chambers. There are about a dozen others ambling through their own routines in the gym. But they hardly notice when Smith sprints another full lap around the track, his black Dri-Fit NFL Combine T-shirt trying to keep up with the rest of him.

The NFL Draft looms large on the horizon three weeks away, and Smith's been working out, daily, in hopes he may hear his name as one of the 223 players selected by an NFL team.

It's been more than three months since he announced he was leaving Syracuse early to jump to professional football. Due to graduate in May, Smith has spent five years in college (he transferred to Syracuse from Bakersfield (Calif.) Junior College in 2006), and despite having one more year of eligibility left, he decided he was ready to turn the page.

"I've been in school for five years, and I'm pretty much exhausted by the whole situation," Smith said. "I'm finishing up in May so I wanted to take the chance and go after my dream and see how far I can go with it."

Since that decision, there's been criticism and disapproval from SU fans, all of which Smith has heard. And all of which Smith has used to motivate him through his routines in Manley Field House, in hopes of answering the same question his detractors have posed: Why?

Why, after a solid - if not dubious - 2007 season, in which Smith finished second on the team with 822 receiving yards and second in the Big East at 18.7 yards per catch. Why, when at times he looked like a dominant playmaker, and other times like a lost and unfocused freshman, dropping passes and sinking into defenses.

Why, since Syracuse's 6-18 record the past two seasons drew snickers from Smith's own peers at the NFL Combine in February and couldn't possibly help a wide receiver trying to get noticed amongst the nation's elite.

For Smith, though, the opportunity to move forward outweighs the forces holding him back. At 24 years old (he turns 25 in September.), the junior college transfer in reality, had a fairly easy decision to make in joining seniors Jameel McClain, Joe Fields and Dowayne Davis as NFL hopefuls.

"I always felt I was just as good as anybody on any given day," Smith said. "Just the opportunity that (other NFL prospects) had was different than mine."

But Smith didn't hastily jump into a rash pronouncement. He secured his future with a degree (he will graduate as a child and family studies major in May) and a career (he plans to be a family counselor at the Children's Hospital at Beth Israel Medical Center in his hometown of Newark, N.J.) if the whole football thing doesn't work out.

Though at this point, Beth Israel may have to wait. Smith said he made the right decision, and lately his performances suggest the same.

He posted a 4.39 in the 40-yard dash at Syracuse's Pro Day in March and finished seventh among wide receivers in the vertical leap at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis in February. At 6-foot, 187 pounds, he has physical tools that are certainly pro-ready, and most scouting services have him listed as a late-round pick in the April 26-27 NFL Draft.

If that's the case, he will be the first SU receiver drafted since Johnnie Morant in 2004.

"First of all, he has work habits that he will not be outworked by anybody," SU head coach Greg Robinson said. "I believe that. He's worked as hard as anybody I've been around. He's got great work habits; that's important. Two, he can run. And three, he can catch the ball and get deep and do those things."

In fact, it was Robinson that first came to Smith in December and told him he might want to think about taking the next step.

"I thought it was definitely worth his while to find out where his status was," Robinson said. "He's been five years to college. I think it's important that he find out where he's at."

As Smith made sprint after sprint around the Manley Field House track, it was clear to see he's physically in peak condition. Will Hicks, SU's strength and conditioning coordinator, works with him in the weight room daily in order to bulk up.

"We just had to give him a little more meat on his bones so he would look the part a little bit," Hicks said. "That's half the battle - they view everything you do. How you look, how you run, how you jump, how you lift, how you do everything."

Aside from Hicks's regular help and a few weeks spent at a facility near his hometown in Newark, N.J., before the Combine, all of Smith's workouts have been entirely self-imposed. The calisthenics routine he devised himself. The daily effort is regulated by his will only.

He need only look down at the black NFL Combine T-shirt, now ripped and tattered along his rib cage, to remind him why he's pushing himself.

"A lot of people say I ain't going to make it and saying I ain't as good as people in the league," Smith said. "And, you know, they ain't out here doing what I'm doing every day, putting forth the effort. … And I feel I do have a chip on my shoulder."

Indianapolis, Smith said, was an interesting experience. He was anxious and nervous before the running drills. And talking with coaches he had seen on TV his whole life was a thrill.

But the mental tests, aside from the well-known Wonderlic (on which he scored an above-average 37 out of 50), were like nothing he'd imagined.

"They ask you crazy questions," Smith said. "Like you take a Giants test, they've got 680 questions of yes and no answers but pretty much the same questions just worded differently."

Another was a geometric exam.

"They give you four circles, and there's something wrong with one of them and you've got to find out which one," Smith said. "I mean, it was crazy."

When he got back to New Jersey after the six-day episode, after the 4 a.m. wake-up calls for drug tests and ongoing interview sessions, Smith said he slept for an entire day. Aside from the vertical leap test, the Combine hadn't gone as Smith hoped. His 4.59 in the 40 was surprisingly slow, and he blamed the time on being sick.

But he did notice the other receivers also testing their skills all week. Unlike in past years, the draft doesn't have a real dominant pass-catcher, and Smith said his skills were very comparable to others with bigger names.

"When I did the drills, as far as catching the balls, and seeing other players, I knew that I could be with them and doing everything," Smith said. "To me, I looked pretty good, better than some of them that were out there. That made me feel good."

What will make Smith feel better about his decision to flee Syracuse early would be if he gets selected in the draft two weeks from now. Smith, along with Davis, Fields and McClain, are trying to prove that despite SU's record the past few seasons, there can be individual accomplishments stemming from the program.

Let the other prospects flash their bowl stats, win-loss records and passes to exclusive training facilities. All Smith wants is an opportunity to prove others wrong and prove to himself he was right.

"I just want a look," Smith said. "If I get a look, I'm going to give it my all."

zsschonb@syr.edu