What Might Have Been : USC Will Be Tantalized by Ohio State’s Smith, a Recruit Who Got Away

A player who could have been the next great USC tailback will be in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, but he won’t be there to play for the Trojans. Robert Smith spurned USC last winter to play for Ohio State.

The Trojans would have had a better chance to sign him, Smith suggested, if they packed up and moved the campus to the shores of Lake Erie.

“If USC was in Ohio, I’d probably be at USC,” said Smith, a native of the Cleveland suburb of Euclid. “It’s just that I didn’t think that USC was so much better that it could draw me 2,000 miles. If it weren’t for the distance, I’d be out there.”

USC’s inability to land Smith, who rushed for 5,038 yards and scored 68 touchdowns in three seasons at Euclid High, was one of its most disappointing recruiting losses in more than three seasons under Coach Larry Smith.

Twice chosen Mr. Football in Ohio and a former state sprint champion, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Smith was considered one of the top two high school running backs in the nation last season along with Ricky Powers of Akron, who also was recruited by USC before he chose Michigan.

“From what we saw of (Smith) on film, the guy was everything you’d ever want in an I-formation tailback,” said Kevin Wolthausen, the USC assistant coach who tried to lure Smith to Los Angeles. “He was big, extremely fast. He’s one of those guys who, if he really were to concentrate on it, could be an Olympic-type track athlete. Physically, he’s got it all.

“It’s a cliche, but he’s a franchise-type guy. He was a guy we felt could play here as a freshman. We’ve got a great tailback playing here right now, but he would have played as a freshman.”

At Ohio State, beginning this week, Smith is starting. He moved to the top of the depth chart after only two games:

--In the Buckeyes’ opener Sept. 8 at Columbus, Smith accounted for 188 yards--86 rushing, 41 receiving and 61 on two kickoff returns--and led a second-half comeback that resulted in a 17-10 victory over Texas Tech.

“He was probably as important to us winning the game as anybody,” Coach John Cooper said.

Said Smith, who aspires to a career in medicine and considers football only a means to an end: “Success is temporary, and failure is never final.”

--At Boston College Sept. 15, again in a reserve role, Smith carried 17 times for 102 yards in a 31-10 victory.

As Ohio State began two weeks of preparation for the USC game, Smith’s two-game totals included 188 yards rushing in 34 attempts, an average of 5.5 yards.

Already, the inevitable comparisons have been made to Archie Griffin, a former Buckeye tailback and the only two-time winner of the Heisman Trophy.

“From Ohio State fans, I don’t think that’s unexpected at all,” Smith said. “They’re always looking for a winning team and always looking for the players that make up those types of teams. And Archie Griffin represents that better than any other player in Ohio State history.”

Even Griffin, an assistant athletic director at his alma mater, has been brought into it. “I’m totally impressed,” Griffin told reporters after the Buckeyes’ opener. “He’s what I like to describe as a slasher. He’s slippery. And don’t believe he wasn’t the inspiration out there. . . . I wasn’t as together as he is when I came in. I have never seen anybody handle the pressure and publicity the way Robert Smith has handled it at that age. He carries himself very well.”

Smith said that comparisons between the two are premature. “But grin and bear it,” he said. “I’d be stupid to complain about it.”

Smith speaks almost matter-of-factly of his talent. He is not modest, but neither is he boastful. “I knew I was a player,” he said. “I knew they didn’t bring me here because I was nice to recruiters.”

Smith made recruiting trips to Ohio State and Miami of Florida, and visited UCLA and USC on the same weekend last December.

Asked whether he would have selected Ohio State if the Buckeyes hadn’t replaced the artificial turf in Ohio Stadium with natural grass at a cost of $1 million last spring, he said: “Definitely not.”

In his first appearance at Ohio State, in an intrasquad scrimmage last month, Smith thrilled a crowd of 20,000 by returning the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown.

“You look at him on film and he’s really something special,” Larry Smith said. “He’s the first back I’ve seen in a long time who’s built like, looks like and runs like Eric Dickerson. He’s a long strider. He’s like a 6-foot-3 gazelle. He can really turn it on. He accelerates like you wouldn’t believe.”

Said Robert Smith: “I don’t see myself having done anything really special yet. We haven’t really played a very formidable opponent until we face USC. I don’t think I’ve done anything out of the ordinary. I’ve just been running to daylight, and guys have been opening things up for me.”

The biggest difference between high school and college, he said, is the speed of the players. “In high school, there’s a lot of running around corners, especially when you’re a sprinter. On this level, you have to be more of a student of the game and understand where your blockers are coming from.”

Smith seems eager to learn, and not merely about football.

When it was suggested to him recently that it would be great if he could take the Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl in four consecutive years, Smith said: “It would be an interesting byproduct for the real reason I am here, and that is to become a doctor.”

Larry Smith envisions a bright future for him as a tailback. “He’ll be an All-American,” he said.

But not for USC.