DeAndre Smelter had to concede. It was almost like a movie.
Late in Georgia Tech’s game against Pittsburgh on Nov. 2, coach Paul Johnson had called a timeout with the game on the line. Smelter, Georgia Tech’s ascendant wide receiver, had a costly drop on the previous series. With Tech facing third-and-17 on its 46-yard line, Johnson wanted to know if Smelter could run a post-corner route and come down with the catch.
“I told him, ‘Yes, sir, yeah. I can do it,’” Smelter said.
After the timeout, quarterback Vad Lee dropped back and flung the ball to Smelter, who outleapt two Pittsburgh defensive backs for a 42-yard reception to help secure what would become a 21-10 Yellow Jackets victory. Bobby Dodd Stadium erupted.
Said offensive lineman Will Jackson, “That’s shades of Calvin Johnson, I suppose.”
Said Smelter, “It felt really good.”
There has been a lot of good feeling for Smelter, the most unlikely contributor to the 6-3 Jackets’ success this season. Prior to this season, he had played three mostly disappointing seasons for the Tech baseball team as a pitcher. He had last played football in high school in 2009. He leads the Jackets with 19 catches and 312 receiving yards, many of them game-changing.
Tech, which plays No. 8 Clemson on Thursday night, will almost certainly need another productive game from him to upset the Tigers and keep alive its slim hopes of winning the ACC Coastal Division.
For Smelter, whose pitching career has been hampered by an injury to the labrum in his right (throwing) shoulder, it has been a gratifying year, starting with Johnson’s agreeing last spring to put him on scholarship for the year.
“I definitely thank Coach Johnson for giving me an opportunity, because six months ago, I was so frustrated with baseball and everything, I didn’t know what to do,” Smelter said. “I wasn’t really enjoying my time because I couldn’t really contribute. That’s why I came to the school. So having a second chance and being able to really come out and compete and help my team win, it means a lot to me.”
It may cause Tech fans to shudder to think where the Jackets would be without Smelter. He had two touchdown receptions against Duke. A critical third-down reception against Virginia kept the offense on the field for a touchdown that helped put the game away.
With Jamal Golden out for the season with a shoulder injury, he has also become the principal punt returner and is averaging 15.4 yards per return while demonstrating the sure hands necessary for that role. When Smelter made the catch against Pitt, the score was 14-10 in Tech’s favor. The reception put Tech in position for its game-clinching score.
“If we don’t make that play, you don’t know where that game’s going to go,” wide receivers coach Buzz Preston said.
It is remarkable that until this summer, when he began working out with the football team, Tech’s go-to receiver hadn’t played organized football since 2009. His football activity was largely confined to pick-up games in the outfield of Russ Chandler Stadium with his baseball teammates. He’ll return to the diamond in the spring — he said his shoulder feels fine — and then have another football season to improve. Johnson said Smelter’s technical game can develop, as can his understanding of the position.
Smelter’s performance this season led Johnson last week to say that Smelter could extend Tech’s lineage of NFL wide receivers, following Calvin Johnson, Demaryius Thomas and Stephen Hill.
Said Smelter, “They probably don’t even know who I am.”
If they don’t, they probably will soon.
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