Palmetto lost its QB, so Miami WR commit Brashard Smith filled in to lead a playoff win
Brashard Smith had no choice but to try to will Miami Palmetto — almost singlehandedly — into the Region 4-8A quarterfinals Saturday.
Kevin Smith went down with a knee injury in the first quarter and Palmetto’s only backup plan at quarterback was to use its two-star running backs as wildcat quarterbacks for the rest of the game.
Smith, who is a tailback and wide receiver for the Panthers, spent most of the game out of shotgun, faking a handoff to whichever running back stood next to him and then running forward to try to find some sort of hole. With the clock ticking away in the second quarter, Smith’s keeper led him into a wall of defenders on the right side of the field, so he made an about-face and wheeled across the formation to hit the edge. With 25.5 seconds left in the half, Smith bolted 22 yards into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown in a 10-0 win at Traz Powell Stadium.
“It was just a lot clogged up,” Smith said Saturday. “I realized wasn’t grabbed yet, so I just ran around and I never got touched.”
Smith, a three-star athlete in the 247Sports.com composite rankings, finished the game with 21 carries for 121 yards, excluding three kneeldowns at the end of the victory in Miami. Even without its star quarterback for all but three offensive plays, Palmetto knocked off Orlando Dr. Phillips in a play-in meeting between 8A contenders because of how Smith took offense into his own hands.
Smith, who is orally committed to the Miami Hurricanes as a wideout, had seven carries go for 9 yards or more, even with the Dr. Phillips defense basically knowing what he was going to try to do on any given play. On the second play of the second half, Smith started up the middle, then bounced his run to the outside and ran down the right sideline for a 20-yard gain to help push Palmetto into field-goal range.
“Brashard is the best player, on offense, we’ve ever had and it shows,” Palmetto coach Mike Manasco said Saturday. “Best player in Dade County and he can throw.”
The creative, make-something-out-of-nothing runs to the outside made for his two biggest plays of the game. Palmetto’s all-wildcat offense only worked, however, because of Smith’s willingness to run between the tackles.
When he was a freshman, Smith was mostly a halfback for Palmetto before he started playing more and more receiver as he got older. His speed and downfield playmaking ability helped turn him into an Under Armour All-American, but Smith and his coaches insist the 5-9, 190-pound senior is more than just a speedster. On Saturday, he put an entirely different part of his skill set on display.
“We preach in our program effort, attitude and toughness,” Manasco said, “and that’s what it was tonight.
Said Palmetto defensive tackle Leonard Taylor, who’s also committed to the Hurricanes: “He’s going to sleep good after this game.”
The varied skill set makes Smith a player unlike any Miami has, even as the wide receivers have played better the last three games.
While his speed is unmatched in the receivers corps, Smith could also bring an infusion of toughness befitting wide receivers coach Rob Likens’ mantra: “Don’t be soft.”
The Hurricanes have now won three straight games by a single score. Players like Smith sustaining such a winning culture possible, and Miami’s back-to-back comeback wins this month against the North Carolina State Wolfpack and Virginia Tech Hokies stand out to the local prospect.
“I’m loving the offense, how they’re playing,” Smith said. “Especially today, how they came back and won the game — I love that.”
