The face is right out of a WB drama, as is the story. The star quarterback, somewhat shy and a little mysterious, good-hearted but prone to poor judgment, finds himself at a major university where the student population is roughly four times bigger than his hometown. Once there, he falls in with a bad crowd.
In the show, the kid hits rock bottom, recognizes he needs help, gets it from the kind and compassionate new coach, pays his dues, fights his way back and goes on to win respect for himself and acclaim for his team.
Too good to be true, it would seem, except this is Jeff Smoker’s life–as of this moment.
As if he needed more pressure.
The truth is, the face belies an innocence lost a long time ago when a serious concussion his sophomore year at Manheim (Pa.) Central High School kept Smoker out of the lineup for four games. His absence prompted boos and heckling from fans who thought the star player should be on the field.
“Coming out of high school into college, the fish bowl got smaller, but it was pretty small in high school,” said Smoker, who leads No. 9 Michigan State (7-1, 4-0 Big Ten). “You just have to learn to deal with it. That’s life for a college football player and especially for a quarterback.”
His expression wears that same resignation. Polite but restless, cooperative but generally avoiding eye contact, Smoker knows his story can’t be wrapped in a nice, tidy ribbon.
“It’s definitely an ongoing type of thing, a daily struggle,” he said.
Smoker admitted to drug and alcohol dependency last fall and asked then-Michigan State coach Bobby Williams for help. He was suspended indefinitely, missed the final five games of the season and entered a treatment center.
New coach John L. Smith, hired roughly two months after Smoker came forward, reinstated him nine months later but didn’t name him the starter until 12 days before the season opener. Saturday’s game against 11th-ranked Michigan (7-2, 4-1) is the first of three crucial games for the Spartans (at Ohio State and at Wisconsin follow) that will determine whether the feel-good story continues with a major bowl bid.
It also will determine in large part whether Smoker’s comeback is the stuff of legend and, more importantly, the stuff of a future pro.
NFL teams are somewhat skeptical about risking anything higher than a fourth-round pick on him.
“He’s playing good and he’s overcoming some demons, but the final page has yet to be written,” one NFL scout said. “It’s still too early.”
After an impressive freshman year in which Smoker started six games, he threw for 2,203 yards and 18 touchdowns as a sophomore. Things then came apart.
Before his junior season, Smoker and wide receiver Charles Rogers were featured on the cover of the Spartans media guide and both players’ images were represented on a colossal mural outside Spartan Stadium.
But through seven games, the Spartans were 3-4. Though Smoker’s stats were decent enough as he threw for 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, his suspension set off a wave of rumors, including unsubstantiated Internet reports he had distributed drugs and that he was the target of a federal probe.
“If that happened to me,” senior linebacker Mike Labinjo said of the gossip, “I probably would have transferred or gone back home. It just shows the kind of toughness he had to go through something like that. First of all, just to come forward and say, `I have a substance-abuse problem and I need some help,’ that’s not an easy thing to do in the middle of the season.”
Smoker admitted the talk was “definitely hurtful.”
“But now I can accept it,” he said. “And if people still want to attack me, that’s fine.”
Smoker’s high school coach, Mike Williams, said it is precisely that attitude that still haunts him about his former star.
“We all held Jeff in very high esteem and he could never let his guard down,” Williams said. “Perhaps all these pressures were hidden because he always put on a front that nothing was bothering him. That’s what he wanted us to think, so we let ourselves believe that nothing was wrong.
“Coach [Bobby] Williams called me last year [before the suspension] and asked me to talk to Jeff, to see what I could get out of him, and he said, `Nothing’s wrong, Coach. I’m practicing hard, studying opponents,’ and it wasn’t true. He would not allow himself to admit his weaknesses.”
Smoker has refused to use pressure as an excuse for his problems but said the preseason hype last year had negative ramifications.
“It was cool,” he said, “but I think it separates the team a little bit, maybe made some guys jealous and put some stress on the team that didn’t have to be and yeah, maybe on me too.”
When Smith was hired, he immediately reduced Smoker’s status to nonentity as far as the team was concerned. But he gave him a set of strict requirements and behavioral guidelines to meet for reinstatement.
Smith could have refused to allow Smoker to return as he did others who did not buy into his program.
“But that’s the easy way,” he said, “and like I told him, `That’s the easy way for you too. I can call so-and-so down the road and transfer you in tomorrow and you can walk in there and they’ll think you’re their savior and welcome you with open arms. Or you can stand up and show the people around here what you’re really made of, and that you’re a man. But I’m telling you it’s not going to be easy.'”
Smoker admitted his career flashed before his eyes more than once.
“I didn’t really know what was going on or what I was going to do,” he said. “But once [Smith] got here and I got focused and we set up some guidelines, I was confident I’d be back.”
Asked why he didn’t leave after the rumors started, Smoker said: “I love the game and I like it here at Michigan State. I made a decision to come here and I’m not one to pack my bags and leave or run and hide from problems or people. It wasn’t easy, but I stuck it out and it has been rewarding.”
So far this season, Smoker leads the Big Ten in passing (258.8 yards per game) and ranks second in passing efficiency (140.5 rating), completing 70 percent of his throws for 1,138 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions. He has attempted 169 passes without an interception.
“I don’t think there’s a hotter quarterback in the country,” Minnesota coach Glen Mason said after the Spartans’ 44-38 victory over the Golden Gophers two weeks ago.
Smoker said he is a better player because of what he has gone through.
“I have more passion and love for the game,” he said. “I’ve been playing since I was 8 and you kind of take things for granted after a while–your health and opportunity–so I kind of have a whole new outlook and now I try to take advantage of every snap I get.”
Teammates, including senior guard Paul Harker, said Smoker has regained the team’s trust.
“I think guys have a tremendous amount of respect for Jeff now, seeing what he went through so publicly last season, knowing all the things he had to do to get back on the team in the off-season–the extra running, the extra work, the community service and all of that–and never complaining about it,” Harker said. “He just took it on himself, saying this is what I did, I deserve this and if I want to be a part of this team, this is what I have to get done.”
But clearly, Smoker still has something to prove. One NFL team’s report calls him a “master of disguise,” innocent and wholesome, but a player who needs strict structure, who is not a natural student of the game, who doesn’t work hard enough in class or on the field and who is more a follower than a leader.
Rumors or facts? Probably a little bit of both.
He continues to play the game that has defined him and entrapped him. If his season continues on its current pace, neither a Heisman Trophy nor comeback player of the year award would be out of the question.
“Either one would be great,” he said. “The only thing about comeback player of the year is that you have to come back from something, so it kind of reminds me what I came from, and that’s not always so nice.”
He said his life is different now but not drastically.
“I just don’t do some of the things I used to do and hang out with some of the people I used to hang out with,” Smoker said. “I’m kind of settled down a little bit and can enjoy life just for life’s sake. I don’t have to be doing something all the time.”
Trust is a tough concept, Smith said. But Smoker was worth working with, he said, because he believed the player had a good heart.
“There used to be a day in this profession, I thought, when you could save everybody,” Smith said. “But that’s not the case anymore.
“You’re here to make a difference, we all are, and for now Jeff has made a difference to himself and his life. That’s the biggest thing.”
