Staying healthy enough to play up to his full potential has been one of the biggest challenges Tyreke Smith has faced over the course of his Ohio State career.
While Smith played in all 14 of Ohio State’s games as a true freshman in 2018, he battled through a groin injury for the entire season. He missed three of the Buckeyes’ first five games as a sophomore after undergoing offseason surgery before the 2019 season. As a junior in 2020, Smith was healthy for most of the season – enabling him to become a consistent starter at defensive end – but was unable to play on the biggest stage when he tested positive for COVID-19 before the national championship game against Alabama.
Going into this season, Smith – who has never had more than three sacks in a season at Ohio State – had his sights set on emerging as the premier pass-rusher he’s been expected to be since he arrived in Columbus as a high four-star recruit. He incurred another setback in Ohio State’s third game of the season against Tulsa, however, when he suffered another injury that kept him out for the next three games.
After an offseason in which Smith felt faster and stronger than ever before, that was a tough pill to swallow for the senior defensive end.
“It sucked,” Smith said of being out. “But health is most important. You gotta make sure you’re all the way healthy before you step on the field. A lot of the coaches always tell me, you don’t want to put out bad film, so that’s a big thing. If I’m not 100%, I’m not gonna be helping the team the way I want to.”
Through it all, though, Smith says he’s stayed faithful that his career will ultimately play out the way it’s supposed to.
“My mom’s always just telling me to be humble but stay hungry and always remain faithful and just lean on God, because God always has a plan,” Smith said. “Whether I like it or not, I always just trust in his plan, and every time I step on the field, I’m going to use my God-given abilities and I’m gonna go as hard as I can within the scheme, within what I’m supposed to do.”
Smith was able to get back on the field last weekend against Indiana, and while he only had one tackle in 20 snaps of action, he made it count as he took down Indiana quarterback Donaven McCulley for his first sack of the year.
That said, he wants to make more big plays on a more consistent basis.
“It meant a lot, but it’s just the beginning,” Smith said of getting his first sack of the year. “We can get way better than we are. We’re just scratching the surface. So I just keep that mentality in the front of my head and always just try to look for something better. I did get a sack, but there was a lot more rushes that I could have did better on and I could have made more of an impact.”
While Smith was out, Ohio State developed plenty of depth at defensive end. Javontae Jean-Baptiste and J.T. Tuimoloau both started games opposite Zach Harrison in Smith’s place, while Jack Sawyer has also become a regular in the rotation. After starting the first three games of the year, Smith came off the bench in Bloomington.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Smith is back in the starting lineup this week against Penn State – the school he nearly committed to before signing with Ohio State – but he knows he’ll have plenty of chances to play in Larry Johnson’s rotation regardless of whether he starts. Either way, Smith says he just wants to do whatever he can to help the Buckeyes win.
“I think it’s just no fall-off when I’m coming in whether I’m starting or whether I’m coming off the bench,” Smith said Tuesday. “I’m gonna give everything I got for the team. I’m gonna give every ounce of what I have in me.”
In a season that could be his final season as a Buckeye unless he chooses to use the additional year of eligibility the NCAA granted all players last year due to COVID-19, Smith would certainly like to have a big second half of the year. While Smith certainly has the physical traits to play in the NFL, he still has only six career sacks, so more individual production in the homestretch of the season could go a long way toward elevating Smith’s stock if he chooses to enter the 2022 NFL draft.
After getting his first sack of the year against Indiana, Smith is optimistic he’ll be able to make more as the season continues.
“The sacks do mean something, but we’re going out there and we’re hitting our moves and we’re doing our moves trying to make a difference in the game. When we’re not getting there, you put all that work in the whole week and then you go out there and you’re a millisecond too slow to get the sack, that kind of means something,” Smith said. “But I think we’re doing pretty good this year. We’re picking up our rushing, picking up our slack and the pressures are definitely turning into sacks now. So we just gotta keep putting in the pressure, keep stacking them and keep getting better. And we got the best O-line in the country here to go against. So I feel like there’s no reason we shouldn’t go out there and turn those pressures into sacks.”
Tyreke Smith has frequently gotten pressure on opposing quarterbacks when he's been on the field even though he has just one sack this year.
Johnson said last month that he loves the way Smith plays “because he plays really hard,” so Johnson expects that to pay off for Smith, who Pro Football Focus has credited with 16 pressures – the second-most on Ohio State’s defense behind only Tyleik Williams – in just four games.
Ryan Day expects Smith to be extra committed as he looks to close his senior year strong.
“This is gonna be a big stretch for him,” Day said last week. “This is important for him. I know he wants to finish his career the right way and play really well for us and produce at a high level, and he’s highly motivated, always has been.”
Fellow Ohio State defensive lineman Haskell Garrett said he’s seen Smith work as hard as he ever has as he’s worked his way back onto the field after his latest injury.
“He’s been eager to get back on the field, and he’s been really a student of the game,” Garrett said. “Not saying that he wasn’t before, but he’s just really been in the meeting rooms, trying to work on how he can get better from the film.”
Smith believes there is “another level” that he can still take his game to, and he’s doing what he can to reach that level. That said, Smith says his focus isn’t on trying to pad his stats individually but on trying to help the team win, which he says is what he wants most at the end of the day.
“My mindset is just doing what I can for the team and make us go one step forward with a dub,” Smith said. “I just go out there and try and give it my 110%. So when I leave the game, I feel like I did what I could. As long as we’re getting wins and the team’s doing good and the defense is doing good and we’re still playing and doing good and the chemistry’s going good, then I’m fine with it. I’m cool with it.
“All these days of practice that we’re going out here working out, we’re training, lifting, doing all these things, sacrificing time to be here, there’s just no better feeling than when people are winning and you see people winning, you see people doing good, you see results happening. So that’s what’s making me happy.”
