Junior wide receiver Brandon Smith has spent much of his ASU football career on the sidelines, but his desire to compete has only risen in the process.
Smith has found ways to tussle with teammates even when he can’t match their stride on the field.
An ongoing video game battle with friend and teammate junior wide receiver Chris McGaha, has kept Smith sharp.
“He comes over every day and we play Mario Kart on the old-school Super Nintendo,” Smith said.
While the battle in the cyber world rages on, Smith said he is finally starting to feel healthy after battling injuries for the past two seasons.
“For the most part, my body feels fine,” Smith said. “I’m pretty much ready to go. Finally I can step in and play when coaches ask me to.”
Smith said it is the nature of the physical problems that have bothered him the most.
“It’s been very frustrating because it hasn’t been anything I’ve needed surgery on,” he said. “It’s just been [injuries] that do things like keep me from planting [my foot on the field].”
After redshirting in 2005, Smith played in 11 games during his freshman year in 2006.
He missed all of the 2007 season and is yet to see the field for ASU this year due to a variety of injuries.
“He’s been hurt all the time,” coach Dennis Erickson said. “It’s hard to tell [how Smith can perform] because he hasn’t been out there.”
Erickson said that while injuries have made Smith a difficult player to gauge, his speed is hard to miss.
Smith said he is looking forward to using that speed to create a deep ball threat for the Sun Devil offense.
“I’m really excited about being able to open the field up for these guys,” Smith said. “I’ve been sitting out watching these guys working so hard so I’m happy to get back so I can actually help this offense.”
Carpenter improving
Senior quarterback Rudy Carpenter (ankle) took the majority of the repetitions on Wednesday night as ASU practiced its red-zone offense.
Erickson said Carpenter’s strength has improved this week.
“[Tonight] was the first time I saw him get some steam on the ball like he got before he was hurt,” Erickson said. “That’ll even continue to get better [Thursday].”
Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu.
