Jeremiah Smith’s incredible catch highlighted a great year for Chaminade’s receivers
It started with junior Chaminade wide receiver Jojo Trader after he transferred in from Miami Central.
Before long, every receiver on the Lions roster was participating in an impromptu “one-handed catch” competition in every practice.
And when you have an elite receiving corps like Chaminade does, it means some spectacular grabs like the one Jeremiah Smith made on Thursday night.
Smith reached back with his right hand as he was turning in mid-air and hauled in a fade pass from quarterback Cedrick Bailey with ease in the corner of the end zone.
This play stood out even among the numerous big plays Chaminade made during its 48-14 rout of Clearwater Central Catholic to win the Class 1M state title.
“We practice that all day in practice and try to see who could do it better,” Smith said. “We’re competitive and we go at it in practice and we push each other every day.
“We love to score and this offense is explosive. We have the best offense in the state, or the whole country.”
Smith caught six passes overall for 104 yards and this was one of his two touchdown receptions.
Smith finished the season with 57 catches for 1,064 yards and 20 touchdown receptions to lead Chaminade in all three categories.
“He’s an outstanding player and made an outstanding catch,” Bailey said. “Great route runner. Great hands. Great mentality. In school, he’s a great kid. He has everything he needs to make it.”
But Smith’s acrobatic catch symbolized the skill of a wide receiver group, which will go down as one of the most talented ever seen in South Florida.
Smith and Trader, who also caught a touchdown in the first quarter, have more than three dozen FBS offers with the bulk coming from Power 5 conference schools.
So does senior Edwin Joseph, who caught four passes for 65 yards.
And senior Duane Thomas Jr., who isn’t a five-star recruit, but has blazing speed, ran for a touchdown and could have had two had a 70-yard catch and run for a score not been nullified by a holding penalty.
Trader, Joseph and Thomas all finished the season with over 500 yards receiving and seven or more touchdown catches.
“We all feel comfortable trying catches like that. Sometimes we have a competition,” Joseph said. “Jojo started all that and we all just started doing it. None of us are selfish on this team. We all want the ball but we don’t complain when we don’t get it and we all take care of each other.”
