Catching a Dream : Smith’s Route: Inglewood to Iowa to Pasadena

When Sean Smith went down with a shattered knee in the second game of El Camino College’s 1987 football schedule and missed the remainder of the Warriors’ undefeated season, a lot of four-year schools quit calling.

Smith had impressive figures in the two games he played at wide receiver, catching 17 passes for 225 yards in victories over Glendale and Saddleback. According to JC Grid-Wire statistics, he led California community colleges in receptions at that point.

But as El Camino continued to roll, with quarterback Dan Speltz setting records while passing to Dwight Pickens, it was out-of-sight, out-of-mind for Smith.

One university whose recruiters kept calling Iowa, and Smith, a 6-foot-1 senior who lives in Inglewood, is coming home to play in the Rose Bowl against Washington before his Leuzinger High and El Camino buddies.

“I had two goals--maybe you’d call them dreams--when I got out of El Camino,” Smith said while relaxing before a Hawkeye workout at Cal State Long Beach. “First, I wanted to go to a school where I had a good chance of playing right away. I only had two years’ eligibility left, and getting playing time was important.

“The other dream was to play on a team that might get to the Rose Bowl. I’d dreamed of playing there ever since I watched Charlie White, Ronnie Lott and Paul McDonald playing there for USC. Charlie White was my man.”

White was the player of the game in 1979, when the Trojans defeated Michigan, 17-10, and again in 1980, when they came from behind to beat Ohio State, 17-16.

“I figured my best chance was to go to a Big Ten school where they did a lot of passing. I didn’t want to go to USC because I didn’t think they threw enough, so it came down to Iowa and Illinois. I decided on Iowa because Quinn Early (all-Big Ten wide receiver in 1987) talked to me and said they had a pro-type offense where they threw a lot. And they had Dan McGwire, and I knew he’d pass a lot.”

Smith played all 11 games in his first Iowa season in 1988, starting the last three. Among his 17 receptions was a touchdown against North Carolina State in the Peach Bowl.

Prospects for his senior year in 1989 were good until (a) McGwire transferred to San Diego State, and (b) Smith failed academically and was ineligible.

“I was eligible by Big Ten and NCAA rules, but Iowa has its own standards, and I didn’t quite make it,” Smith said. “Coach (Hayden) Fry told me he’d keep my scholarship for me, to sit out a year and come back. He kept calling me, telling me not to transfer to a Division II school just so I could play.”

Smith came home to Inglewood, took construction jobs and worked out diligently.

“I played a lot of basketball, both here and when I went back to Iowa last spring,” he said. “I couldn’t work out with the team, but I kept busy. Last year, the coaches sent me tapes of our games, so I studied them and kept up with what was going on.”

What was going on was not good. Iowa, after eight consecutive bowl seasons, fell to 5-6 and stayed home for the holidays.

“Looking back, maybe having to sit out a year was a blessing in disguise,” Smith said. “Who knows what might have happened if I’d played last year? But I know this has been a great season for me--and for the team.

“The difference between what I saw (on tapes) last year and this year is like night and day. No one gave us any respect when the year started. We’ve been underdogs just about every time we’ve played, but we went out and beat up on Michigan, Illinois and Michigan State and proved ourselves.”

Smith, who wasn’t even on the two-deep roster after missing spring practice, regained his starting spot after four games when he caught four passes for 41 yards in the 12-7 upset of Michigan. He has been the starting wide receiver ever since.

His statistics--24 catches for 361 yards and two touchdowns--are not eye-catching, but Smith says they’re just fine for him.

“Our offense is very well-balanced. We have two great runners (Nick Bell and Tony Stewart), so we can run the ball pretty well against anybody. And we have a quarterback (Matt Rodgers) who is great at checking off at the line of scrimmage and calling an audible.

“If Matt sees the defense stacked against running, like we’ll probably see against Washington, he’ll switch to a pass. And he spreads his receivers around. We don’t have a No. 1 receiver; we have a bunch of them.”

Wingback Danan Hughes and tight end Michael Titley--also a junior college transfer, from Nassau JC in Garden City, N.Y.--lead the team with 28 receptions each. Wide receivers Smith, with 24, and Jim Filioon, with 19, are next, followed by tailback Bell, with 18, and fullback Paul Kujawa with 15.

“We’ll need all the receivers we can find to move on Washington,” Smith said. “We’re not as quick as they are so we’ll probably be the underdogs again, but that’s nothing new. I hope I can find a way to get open. Their defensive backfield looks like a track team.”

Iowa’s balance is shown in its season statistics. The Hawkeyes averaged 232 yards rushing and 194 passing.

Smith said he has enjoyed his two years in Iowa City, but not enough to persuade him to live there after he graduates.

“Are you crazy?” he said when asked if he planned to remain in Iowa. Then, a moment later, he smiled and added: “Well, on the other hand, I want to get into real estate, and there’s a lot of cornfields that could be developed back there.

“If you’ve never been back there, you can’t believe the difference in the pace from the traffic, bright lights and beaches in Southern California to the cornfields around Iowa City. But it’s nice to be able to walk down the street and have people hail at you in a friendly manner. You don’t find that much in Inglewood.”