WESTERVILLE, Ohio — L’Christian Smith is a high school sophomore who already has scholarship offers to play football from the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and many more. But it was a recent opportunity that came about which intrigued the talented 2018 prospect from Wayne High School in Huber Heights, Ohio, and forced him to do some thinking.
Kentucky recently offered Smith the chance to play both football and basketball in college.
“I think it kind of intrigued him because he’s like a lot of high school guys who are really good at both,” Wayne football coach Jay Minton told Eleven Warriors.
The Wildcats’ offer to Smith was a football scholarship with the opportunity to join the basketball team after the football season ends. It’s a football-first type of deal with a “walk-on” position on the basketball team after that.
This is intriguing for a player like Smith, who is a two-sport star at Wayne despite being only a sophomore. He’s a 6-foot-6, 210-pound wide receiver/tight end prospect on the football field with several BCS-level offers already, but also an interesting wing prospect on the hardwood where he stars for the Warriors and also plays AAU for the 17u Indy Hoosiers on the Under Armour circuit.
The offer from Kentucky was the first that would allow him to play both sports in college should he desire. And while Smith is aware that it could be a simple recruiting tactic from the Wildcats just to get him to their football program, he is certainly intrigued by the idea of having the chance to play both football and basketball in college.
Other programs around the country could follow suit and give him that same opportunity even though Smith isn’t entirely sure yet what he wants to do at the next level. He is just a sophomore, after all.
“I’ve thought about [playing both], but there’s pros and cons to it,” Smith said last weekend at The Opening’s regional camp in Columbus. “I love both sports and I would love to play, but that’s a lot of wear and tear on my body especially if I’m trying to go to the next level.
“It’s a lot of thinking and I’m not trying to rush it since I’m only a sophomore.”
Like many others, Minton believes Smith’s ceiling is ultimately higher in football as he has only scratched the surface of what he can become since he was always basketball-first until recently. And the more he sees how many schools are interested in him playing football, the more he realizes football may be his calling.
“I really wasn’t serious about football, I was a basketball guy, so I really didn’t go to that many camps my freshman year,” Smith said. “I decided to start coming to more camps because I’m getting more offers now so I just decided to go showcase my talents.”
Wayne is one of the top high school programs in the state of Ohio and it has sent multiple players to high-level college programs over the last few years. Recently, Ohio State inked Braxton Miller out of Wayne in 2011 and Robert Landers in 2015.
Smith said he has spoken to those two about the recruiting process.
“I’ve been talking to Braxton and BB Landers. They just told me to enjoy the process, take it slow and don’t try to rush,” he said. “Coaches are all in my ear and stuff like, ‘We really want you, we really want you.’ Even when I take the visits, I think about how I just want to commit right now but I’ve just got to think about all my options and stuff like that.”
The Buckeyes offered Smith a football scholarship on March 21. Smith said he talks often with the Ohio State staff, though there hasn’t been discussion of him potentially playing both sports just yet. Kentucky is the only school to do that so far.
“They want me to just keep playing the way I’m playing,” Smith said of Ohio State. “I had a great season last year, I’m not gonna lie to you, so they were impressed about that and the things that I did you don’t see normal sophomores doing. Just keep playing, keep developing.”
Smith isn’t really close to a decision yet about what he will do for college or where he will go for that matter, but the offer from Kentucky certainly sparked some interest and let him know that playing both sports at the next level, although extremely difficult, may be a possibility.
It is going to be an interesting recruitment for Smith on a number of different levels.
“I think [playing two sports] is so hard for anybody,” Minton said. “I’m just telling you now, though, this is a cat that if he really starts dedicating his body and everything he has to playing the game of football and he stays healthy — and obviously that was the thing with Braxton, he’s gotta stay healthy — but if he stays healthy and all that, I’m telling you he’s going to have the opportunity to go really far and make some money playing this sport, take care of his family and fulfill a lot of dreams that he has. He’s going to be that good.”
“Honestly, I’m just going to follow my heart,” Smith added. “I don’t really know what I’m going to be thinking when I’m a senior. I’m just taking it all in and enjoying the process.”
