No catches yet for Miami’s Key’Shawn Smith, but he’s now the nation’s No. 1 kick returner
As Key’Shawn Smith motored down the sideline Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium, his long legs churning toward the end zone, little did he know that the 72-yard kickoff return against Bethune-Cookman would be the longest by a Miami Hurricane since Corn Elder’s 75-yarder on the miracle 8-lateral final play that gave Miami a victory over Duke in 2015.
Smith just wishes his return, minus all those wacky laterals, could have been a touchdown, too — even if he is the nation’s No. 1 kick returner after one week of college football. But the officials, who at first did, indeed, rule it a touchdown, reversed the third-quarter call after a review showed he went out of bounds at the 17-yard line.
“Before they called it back I most definitely thought it was a touchdown and I was really excited,” Smith told reporters with a smile Tuesday after practice for Saturday’s noon home game (ACC Network) against Southern Miss (0-1).
There will be plenty more opportunities — that is, if teams ever kick toward Smith again.
“I hope not,’’ the San Diego native said. “I hope they’re not scared to kick it to me.”
NCAA statistics show that Smith, a 6-0, 185-pound third-year sophomore receiver who said last year he was timed by UM’s GPS system at over 21 miles an hour, officially returned one kickoff last season for 22 yards against. On Saturday he returned three for 184 yards — best in the nation at 61.3 yards a return.
“We didn’t know what we were going to get back there,’’ UM coach Mario Cristobal said. “When you’re a kickoff returner, you either hit it or you don’t. If you don’t hit it and you stutter your feet, you’re asking for an awful experience. He certainly hit the gas, and when he did he almost scored on one of them and the other one set up [two touchdowns]. Right away it grabbed the momentum and allowed us to sustain the momentum with his first return.”
Smith’s returns
Kickoff return No. 1 in the first quarter, a 70-yarder aided by a bone-crunching block by Xavier Restrepo, set up Thaddius Franklin’s 4-yard touchdown five plays later to make it 7-3.
Kickoff return No. 2 in the second quarter, was 42 yards to the Miami 46-yard line and helped set up Tyler Van Dyke’s 16-yard touchdown pass to to Restrepo nine plays later.
Kickoff return No. 3 in the third quarter, the 72-yarder, actually brought UM to the B-CU 8-yard line after the Wildcats were flagged for an illegal block. But a fumbled snap two plays later was recovered by B-CU.
“Once you catch the ball you gotta run — you can’t stop your feet — because they’re coming full speed to take your head off,’’ Smith said. “So, you gotta get a head start before they do.
“He holds special teams accountable,’’ Smith said of Cristobal, “and we take it very serious here.’’
Smith, last year’s third leading receiver for the Hurricanes and top returner with 33 catches for 405 yards and three touchdowns in 2021, takes his pass-catching just as seriously. He’s still waiting for his first catch, but insisted Tuesday that the receptions will come.
“Coach Gattis has got a lot of stuff,’’ Smith said of offensive coordinator Josh Gattis. “We’ve practiced so many plays. I don’t think he wanted to open the playbook like that [against Bethune-Cookman]. We’re not really worried about that. We’re just worried about winning — 1-0 every week.
“I could always get better on my routes,’’ he added. “From a team standpoint we had a great game but we can alway get better.”
Gattis called it “just unfortunate” that Smith didn’t get his chance as a wideout.
“We took some shots early and obviously the ball didn’t go his way at times where we kind of felt we had advantageous looks... [but it] was successfully completed to other players,’’ Gattis said. “Sometimes that happens, and once you get a lead you’re not throwing certain plays. But one of the things we did and wanted to accomplish on Saturday was to get a rotation at wide receiver. We played seven different wide receivers and amongst those seven, six of them had a volume of 20 to 33 snaps.
“So, we kept the rotation going as we have done all camp, obviously building competition in that room but also building confidence that each and every one of our guys can go out on the field and help us win a game.”
Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke said Tuesday that he “obviously’’ wanted to connect with Smith. “Wish I could have pushed the ball down the field at least one time to him. But he’ll get his catches, 100 percent. I was really impressed with his kick returns.’’
Smith was asked if he’d like to return punts. He answered that of course he’d do anything coaches asked of him, but indicated with another smile that punt returns wouldn’t be a first choice.
“They got a free shot at you,’’ he said.
Chase Smith
Cristobal also raved about 6-2, 220-pound sophomore linebacker Chase Smith, whom he said was an “exceptional, exceptional special teams player in just about every phase’’ on Saturday. “Just explosive, dynamic, smart, tremendous effort. It’s earned him more opportunities on the field on defense as well.”
Smith also met the media Tuesday. “I definitely feel like you can’t take any plays off. How you perform on special teams is going to translate to how you play on the field, and in this case, your playing time. So, you’ve got to give effort in every single aspect of the game. You’ve got to go hard on special teams, for sure.’’
▪ Left offensive guard Jalen Rivers was named ACC offensive lineman of the week in his first game back after major knee surgery early last season.
This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 4:53 PM.
