Sports

Deerfield track star commits to Georgia

• Lee County transfer John Smith — now a star senior at Deerfield-Windsor and three-time state champ in track & field — verbally commits to the University of Georgia on Tuesday.

Danny Aller

ALBANY — Three state championships, numerous state and school records to go along with a never-ending drive to be the best?

Yeah ... that was good enough for Georgia to open up the scholarship floodgates to Deerfield-Windsor’s John Smith.

The Bulldogs will welcome the Knights superstar track & field athlete to their team next season as Smith verbally committed to UGA late Sunday night, then confirmed his decision to The Herald on Tuesday. The senior will officially ink his letter-of-intent next week.

“It was kind of a tough decision,” said Smith, who also had serious interest from Tennessee and Clemson, and thought he was close to getting an offer from Auburn — the only school aside from Georgia he took an official visit to. “What sealed the deal was that Georgia put their offer on the table and Auburn waited around. And the way scholarship money can come and go sometimes, I took what I could get — and I’m happy with my decision.”

Smith, a senior who transferred from Lee County to Deerfield before the start of this school year, won two GISA state titles (pole vault, 100 meters) this past weekend at the state meet to add to the GHSA Class AAAA state pole vaulting title he captured as a junior after not even placing as a sophomore.

Of course, that was before he met Fitzgerald track & field guru Charlie Polhamus, the two-time world pole vaulting champion who has since turned Smith into what many feel could one day be an Olympic contender.

“It feels pretty good to see John acheive what he has,” Polhamus said. “He’s the real deal and he’ll do a hell of a job for Georgia.”

The Bulldogs, coached by Wayne Norton, currently are ranked No. 25 in the nation, according to the most recent rankings available on the NCAA’s athletic Web site.

And while Smith has proven he can excel in the pole vault — he broke the GISA state record of 14-4 and shattered the school record of 13-6 set one year earlier by ex-DWS star William Moree — it doesn’t appear that UGA will also need his services in the running events, despite the fact Smith won the 100-meter dash at last weekend’s state meet, and finished second in the 200 behind Ewin Holyfield, son of former heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield.

“Right now, I’m just signing for pole vaulting, not running,” said Smith, who also was a bruiser for the Knights’ football team last season, racking up 1,704 rushing yards, 2,183 all purpose, 21 total touchdowns, averaging 9.9 yards a rush.

But that doesn’t mean he won’t still have the gridiron on his mind.

“Who knows what could happen? Maybe I’ll feel froggy once I get up there,” Smith said with a laugh. “I might try it. But it’s tough to do two sports, because it takes away from (academics).”

And it’s the classroom where DWS coach Craig Rhodes thinks Smith can excel just as much as he does on the field.

“He’s just such a smart kid, a hard worker and just a great character through and through,” Rhodes said. “And I think that’s another thing that attracted Georgia to him because the more athletes you can find with good values and character these days, the more attractive they are.

“He’s excited and I couldn’t be more proud.”

While Smith can attribute much of his success to how own hard work coupled with the keen eye of Polhamus, it was Rhodes that discovered the budding Lee County prep star a few years ago and convinced him to try the sport. Rhodes, who was a coach for Lee County at the time before eventually taking over at Deerfield, welcomed Smith with open arms when he decided to transfer last year.

And the relationship resulted in Smith helping lead the Knights to a Region

3-AAA title, three individual state titles and nearly a team state championship (DWS finished third).

“And he’s only going to get better at Georgia,” Rhodes said.

So go, in fact, Smith has already openly talked about a run at the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials.

But, of course, first things first, and that’s taking advantage of all that the Bulldogs track & field program has to offer.

“When I went for my visit, I loved the facilities, the campus, everything. Plus, the pole-vaulting coach already started pointing out things that I could fix to make me better,” said Smith, who is undecided on a major but is leaning toward some form of engineering. “Plus, they’re redoing the track in a couple of years and (upgrading the facility), just in time to host the SEC Championships. And that’s exciting.”

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