Friday’s game
What: Preble Shawnee (2-1) at Madison (1-2), 7 p.m.
Where: Brandenburg Field, 5797 W. Alexandria Road, Madison Twp.
Last meeting: Preble Shawnee won 43-33 in 2014
Preble Shawnee High School’s all-time leading receiver hasn’t been a pass catcher all that long.
Trey Smith was a running back in his youth football days, but when he got to high school, new Arrows coach Matt Hopkins took one look at him and said, “Receiver.”
“It was just his build at first,” Hopkins said. “The backfield was pretty full, and we were like, ‘This kid’s got to see the field somewhere.’ We had another real nice slot in Christian Letner, and I thought they complemented each other real well, so we put him in the slot.”
Concussions took a large chunk out of Smith’s freshman campaign, but that’s where his journey began.
Now a senior wide receiver, the 6-foot-3, 175-pound Smith has 2,355 receiving yards. No. 2 on Shawnee’s career list is Letner with 1,063.
“I didn’t think I’d do this well,” Smith admitted. “I knew I wouldn’t be a running back in high school. I’m too skinny and tall. I’m fast with big hands, long arms and big strides, so it made sense when they told me I would be a receiver.”
Smith and Hopkins both praised wide receivers coach Zach Beare for helping the new receiver develop.
“Coach Beare did a heck of a job just fine-tuning and developing Trey into the player he is,” Hopkins said.
Smith has 26 catches for 462 yards and four touchdowns this season for the Arrows (2-1), who will begin Southwestern Buckeye League Buckeye Division play Friday night at Madison.
If he stays healthy — and that’s not a given with Smith — he should easily break his single-season school record of 854 yards set in 2013.
“Trey’s a special player,” Hopkins said. “When he gets the ball, it almost seems like he’s in the movie ‘The Matrix’ because everything slows down and he can see people coming and he just stops and they go rushing by.
“He looks like a skinny stick out there, but his legs are really well defined, and he squats a ton. He just can’t put any weight on. He’s very, very elusive with deceptive speed and great hands. He just finds a way to not be denied the ball, and that’s what great receivers do.”
Smith has long been on the same wavelength as senior quarterback Joby Williams, who’s 47 of 83 for 673 yards and eight TDs in 2015. They’ve been playing together since the second grade.
Smith has grown accustomed to being double-teamed. But it hasn’t stopped him.
“I feel like I run good routes,” Smith said. “Deep balls are my favorite. I like getting around people, using my long strides to my advantage. I tell Joby if it’s there, throw it up and I’ll go get it.”
He’s dealt with injuries throughout his Arrow career. Concussions started that trend. Hamstring and knee problems have followed.
That’s one of the reasons why Smith only plays offense.
“As much as we could use Joby and Trey defensively, for the betterment of the eam, those guys can only go one way,” Hopkins said. “Without those two cogs, we don’t go.”
Smith likes the leadership his class is providing for Shawnee, which has never qualified for the postseason. The Arrows have gone from 0-10 to 3-7 to 5-5 in Hopkins’ first three years, and they’re setting the bar high in 2015.
“We believe we can make the (Division V) playoffs, but we have to prove it,” Smith said. “We’ve got to make people believe.”
This is expected to be his last football season. Hopkins has no doubt that he could play at the next level — the Arrows coach said the University of Missouri is showing consistent interest — but Smith wants to focus on his academics.
He’s planning to attend Sinclair Community College for two years, then commute to Miami University.
“I guess I could change my mind about playing, but I want to be a history teacher, so I want to focus on that in college,” Smith said. “I always tell my parents that’s the rest of my life. I want to be able to excel at it.”
A lifelong Camden resident, Smith said he’d like to teach at Shawnee someday.
“That would be nice,” he said. “I’m a homebody. I don’t want to leave here. I want to give back to what I grew up with.”
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