The Daily Hoosier
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • Curt Cignetti starts IU football job radiating confidence
    • 2024 quarterback Timothy Carpenter decommits from IU
    • IU soccer’s season ends at Notre Dame after penalty kicks
    • JMU starting QB in the portal, IU offers top JMU recruit
    • Report: IU offensive line coach Bob Bostad expected to be retained by Curt Cignetti
    • Cignetti jumps into Purdue rivalry with both feet
    • IU men’s soccer faces Notre Dame Saturday with College Cup on the line
    • IU basketball: Maryland at Indiana — The Report Card
    • Sign Up
    • About/Support
    • Jobs
    • Tickets
      • IUBB Tickets (Stubhub)
      • IUFB Tickets (Stubhub)
    • Shop
      • Official IU Store
      • IU Adidas Store
      • Amazon: Support TDH
      • IU Memorabilia
      • IU Press (Books)
      • The Daily Hoosier T-Shirt
    • Radio/Podcasts
    • Pro IU
      • IUBB NBA
      • IUFB NFL
      • IUBASE MLB
    • Forum
      • Disqus Forum
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    The Daily HoosierThe Daily Hoosier
    Sunday, December 3
    • IU Basketball
      • Latest IU Basketball News
      • IU Basketball 2023-24 Schedule
      • IU Basketball 23-24 Roster/Staff
      • Scholarship Chart
      • Future Schedules
      • 2023-24 Big Ten Standings
      • 2023-24 IU Basketball Stats
      • Rankings & Bracketology
      • IU Basketball Media Guide
    • IU Football
      • Latest IU Football News
      • Head coach candidates
      • Offseason roster tracker
      • IU Football: The 2023 Schedule
      • Roster
      • 2023 IUFB Stats
      • 2023 B1G Standings
      • Future Opponents through 2031
      • IUFB 2023 Media Guide
    • IU Recruiting
      • IU Basketball Recruiting News
      • IU Football Recruiting News
      • IUBB 2024-2026 Prospects
      • Recruit Interviews
      • Recruit Highlights
      • CBB Team Rankings
      • IU Football Recruiting Commits
    • IU Women’s Basketball
      • IU Women’s Basketball News
      • 23-24 Schedule
      • Big Ten Standings
    • IU Men’s Soccer
      • 2023 Schedule
      • Indiana Men’s Soccer: Program History
    • More Hoosiers
      • Fan and Business NIL options
      • IU Baseball
        • Baseball Schedule (links to iuhoosiers.com)
        • 2021 Stats (links to iuhoosiers.com)
        • Big Ten Standings
      • IU Swim & Dive
      • IU Olympic Results
    • Hoosier History
      • March Madness Classics
      • Basketball History
      • Football History
      • IUFB Best Seasons
      • IUFB All-Time Top 10 Players
    The Daily Hoosier

    IU football freshman WR Jaquez Smith using DK Metcalf’s work ethic as a guide

    Dustin DopirakBy Dustin DopirakJuly 10, 2021 IU Football No Comments
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Jaquez Smith says he considers himself a miniature version of D.K. Metcalf. It’s a bit of an odd comparison to make, because the defining characteristic of the Seattle Seahawks wide receiver is his size. He’s listed at 6-foot-4, 229 pounds but he looks like something out of a comic book, and he can somehow run a 10.4 second 100-meter dash.

    Smith is plenty fast and he showed big playmaking ability at Westlake High School in Georgia, but at 6-1, 200 pounds, he doesn’t draw comparisons to the All-Pro Metcalf.

    However, what Smith admires most about Metcalf is not the talent he’s been blessed with, but the skills he’s developed through his work ethic. That, Smith said, is something he believes he and Metcalf have in common.

    “DK is a working horse and I feel like I’m a working horse as well,” Smith said Thursday in a Zoom press conference with Indiana beat reporters. “Especially staying after practice, catching like 150 balls a day. Just sustaining that drive, just continuing to get better every single day.”

    Smith, a four-star recruit and the eighth-highest rated Indiana recruit since the beginning of the scouting service era in 2000, knows he has a significant amount of hype to live up to and he knows that means working on the finer points of his game. He can’t expect to simply out-run and out-jump defenders at the Big Ten level. He needs to operate with precision, and that’s what he’s tried to do since he arrived on campus in Bloomington in June.

    “At this point, it’s just staying on the route running,” Smith said. “I think that’s the main thing. Make sure I’m dropping my hips. Make sure I’m catching the ball and everything with my hands and eyes and make sure I’m finishing up hill.”

    He’s also trying to make sure that by the time camp comes around in August that he already has a firm grasp of Indiana’s offensive playbook. He said he sets aside at least two hours a day to study it.

    “The main thing is focusing on everybody’s position, not just staying on my position, staying on everybody else’s,” Smith said. “Make sure I know where to line up, how to line up, and just getting ready. It’s not difficult, but at the same time you have to learn it a lot faster because I came in the summer time and I didn’t have all the time these other guys (who arrived in the spring) have. … If you don’t know the playbook, you can’t play. That’s the main thing I stay on.”

    And he is working on developing his body. He might not ever get to look like Metcalf, but he can maximize the gifts he does have.

    “I’m just hitting different muscles I never have before in my lower body more than anything,” Smith said. “I’m a big upper body guy and I’ve worked flexibility more than anything. The weight room is the best thing in this facility. That’s what I can say.”


    Find us on Facebook:  thedailyhoosier

    You can follow us on Twitter:  @daily_hoosier

    The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”

    Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no additional cost to you.

    Share this:

    • Tweet

    Related

    indiana hoosiers Jaquez Smith
    Dustin Dopirak

    Keep Reading

    Curt Cignetti starts IU football job radiating confidence

    JMU starting QB in the portal, IU offers top JMU recruit

    Report: IU offensive line coach Bob Bostad expected to be retained by Curt Cignetti

    Latest Hoosier News
    • Curt Cignetti starts IU football job radiating confidence
    • 2024 quarterback Timothy Carpenter decommits from IU
    • IU soccer’s season ends at Notre Dame after penalty kicks
    • JMU starting QB in the portal, IU offers top JMU recruit
    • Report: IU offensive line coach Bob Bostad expected to be retained by Curt Cignetti
    • Cignetti jumps into Purdue rivalry with both feet
    • IU men’s soccer faces Notre Dame Saturday with College Cup on the line
    Sign Up



    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    © 2023 The Daily Hoosier, LLC.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Ad Blocker Enabled!
    Ad Blocker Enabled!
    Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please support us by disabling your Ad Blocker.