By Sam Draut–
After losing five senior wide receivers from a year ago, Louisville has relied on four true-freshman receivers through the first three games this season.
Leading the pack of newcomers is Jaylen Smith, who leads the team in receiving yards with 171 yards and third in receptions with 12 catches.
The 6-foot-4 receiver from Pascagoula, Mississippi came to Louisville as the least touted recruit out of high school. Teammates Traveon Samuel, Devante Peete and Emonee Spence were all rated four stars by various recruiting websites while Smith went unranked by Rivals.
Despite being a true-freshman, Smith believes his youth doesn’t give him an excuse to have a gradual learning curve.
“You have to feel responsible,” Smith said. “I’m in the starting lineup. If coach has the trust to put me in, I have to respond to that by giving my one hundred percent effort and doing right on my assignments.”
After the 20-17 loss to Clemson, Smith was the first to outline his mistakes, saying he wanted two plays back that ended in dropped passes.
“Second and 10 in the second quarter. I dropped an eight-yard stop and drop and then late in second quarter, me and Kyle (Bolin) weren’t on the same page,” Smith said. “It wasn’t the perfect ball but I still could have made the catch so those were two plays I wish I could have back.”
Bolin looked to connect with Smith on a few deeps throws Thursday night and the two finally connected on the longest reception of the season in the second quarter against Clemson. The 55-yard reception set up and eventual 26 yard field goal by John Wallace.
Smith had a game high 77 receiving yards and three receptions on against Clemson.
Last week, he hauled in five receptions for 60 yards in the 34-31 loss to Houston while in his collegiate debut Smith had three receptions for 34 yards and 20 yards rushing.
Smith has played well in his first three games, but his team remains winless, dropping three games by a combined score of 13 points.
“I feel like we should be 3-0,” Smith said. “I feel like every game we have had a chance to take the lead or we have had a final drive or something. I feel like we are getting better, but at the same time, I want to win.”
Dropping the conference opener in a tightly contested matchup against Clemson was tough for a young team, but Smith believes the season is still salvageable.
“I feel like everybody is pretty much mentally at that level where they realize what’s going on,” Smith said. “They realize that we are still in a good position and that it’s just the first ACC game of the season. We have seven more.”
