For a person who always wondered what the big deal was about being a football player, the exit was fitting. Ute tight end Dennis Smith left town in the cold, dark hours of Monday morning, pulling a U-Haul toward California.
There were no bands playing, no photographers and no limousine service. It was not a gold-chains-and-leather-pants exit. Rather, it was your standard blue-jeans-and-sneakers departure, short on advance publicity but long on substance. Smith had, in tow, a bachelor's degree in speech communication, an application to law school, his baby son and his wife.Although Smith left the U. as the school's all-time top receiver in several categories - and one of the NCAA's most prolific tight ends ever - he seems to wonder what all that means. Who me? Records? Oh, that's nice . . . What's for lunch?
With four touchdown catches in his final game, Smith became the NCAA record-holding tight end in three categories. He set national marks for touchdown catches in a season (18), passes caught in a season (73), and tied the career mark for touchdown catches (24). He also set or tied WAC marks for touchdown receptions in a game by any kind of receiver (4) and most touchdown receptions in a season (18).
School records included career receptions (156), season touchdown receptions (18), career touchdown receptions (24) and touchdown catches in a game (4).
Smith's November, which included seven TD catches, earned him Deseret News Athlete of the Month honors.
Smith remains unimpressed with his numbers. "It really doesn't seem like a very glamorous thing," he says. "It's kind of like, `Oh, that's neat,' and then I go on."
Such a philosophy has been a trademark characteristic. He once described himself as being "not a very visible dude," and said he didn't understand the fuss made over football players. Although he came from a showbiz family of musicians and actors, Smith considers himself an ordinary, hard-working student who happened to get lucky and land a football scholarship. "Expect this?" says Smith rhetorically. "Are you kidding? I didn't really have any expectations. I just kinda went with it."
Smith always preferred to view football as a means of having fun - a sometimes difficult task in a program that has had two drug scandals and fired its football coach in the last year-and-a-half. However, he remained serenely above the turmoil the Utes seemed to generate.
When three Ute players were arrested on cocaine distribution charges late last summer, Smith took it philosophically. "I felt bad it happened, but to tell you the truth, after that I didn't think twice about it."
After the season's final game, he casually answered reporters' questions while a frustrated teammate stood 15 feet away, shouting obscenities at writers. Smith neither ignored the writers nor contended with the teammate. It wasn't his war.
Despite his casual attitude about awards and records, Smith said good-bye to the Western Athletic Conference in door-slamming style. Against BYU he was one of the few Ute bright spots, making 106 yards worth of catches, including one 44-yarder. In his final game, against Air Force, he had four touchdown catches and totaled 139 yards in receptions. The most spectacular occurrence was a 71-yard scoring play near the end of the third quarter that brought the Utes within striking distance.
Smith came to Utah as a lightly recruited tight end and left as an imposing offensive threat. One of Utah's more successful plays has been the "41-pop," in which Smith crosses into the backfield, takes a handoff from the quarterback, and goes off tackle - often for big gains. With good speed and excellent hands, Smith regularly catches the opposition napping. "They look at me and say, `This dude doesn't look like an athlete,' " Smith once said.
Another play on Smith's all-time hit parade is a "three-pump" in which he feigns a short 10-yard out pattern, then streaks downfield. The play worked three times for touchdowns against Air Force. "It's weird," says Smith. "I thought people would pick up on it."
Smith says that despite the records, he doesn't expect to be drafted by the NFL. The 41-pop is history. His plan now is to go to law school in San Diego. "For me," says Smith, "football is over. There's not a lot to look forward to in that area. Now it's another story. But the records are neat, though, and I'm proud of them."