After a disappointing freshman year, Josh Smith seemed to make great strides in 2014.
The wide receiver caught 10 passes and tallied 135 yards including one touchdown through the first three games of his sophomore season, before injuring his ankle in Tennessee’s Sept. 13 loss at Oklahoma.
Smith was game-to-game for much of the season, before finally undergoing surgery for a high ankle sprain in November, officially ending his season.
“I wanted to get back so bad,” Smith said after Tuesday’s practice. “I always had my mindset of ‘I’m coming back next week.’ I’m gonna get rehab and I’m gonna come back this week … It wasn’t getting any better so I was a little discouraged since I started out so strong.”
When the Knoxville, Tennessee, native was finally able to get back on the practice field this spring, his return didn’t quite go as planned.
With the ankle injury, his conditioning was behind many of his teammates, leading to a slow start to spring practice.
“Josh had a pretty rough beginning just because he was pretty out of shape,” wide receivers coach Zach Azzani said on Thursday. “He was still getting over that injury to the ankle. He was still pretty out of shape, so technique was lacking. I don’t want to say the effort was lacking, but it looked like it was because he was out of shape.”
While Azzani said Smith’s ankle is still not back to 100 percent, his conditioning has improved as the spring has gone on.
Head coach Butch Jones was heard praising Smith over his microphone at Tuesday’s practice after what the rising redshirt sophomore referred to as “one of his best days of spring.”
“It felt good because I haven’t heard that in awhile,” Smith said of the complement. “I’ve conditioned a lot to finally get that respect back.”
Smith has been working at the outside receiver position for most spring practice, but said he prides himself on knowing every receiver spot, and being able to step in where he is needed.
One benefit for Smith this year is the high number of reps he’s gotten every practice. With only six healthy receivers going through spring, Azzani said Smith is getting every other rep each day.
The increased reps along with his improved conditioning has his coaching staff excited about what they have seen on the field over the past week of practice.
“He came out and he attacked things,” Jones said. “Obviously, he is in better football condition, I think that is a byproduct of practice. He played with confidence, caught the football and he was able to advance the football. Just played aggressively. Played like he played at the beginning of last season. So that was great to see.”
While his performance has increased toward the end of spring practice, Azzani pointed out that Smith’s health must continue to improve over summer workouts and into fall camp to perform at the level he is expected to.
“Josh has a lot of technique issues that he needs to work on,” Azzani said. “When he gets out of shape it all goes down hill. He needs to stay in shape so he can work that technique.”
Coming off a major injury can be just as devastating mentally as it is physically, as the fear of getting hurt again sometimes cause players to hesitate when faced with contact.
Smith admitted he has gone through some of that during his recovery but emphasized that the worst is behind him.
“I’m really just out here having fun and playing football,” Smith said. “I try not to think about it, because once you think about it I think you get hurt. I think last year I was kinda thinking about it, and it kinda led to an injury. I’m trying not to think about it.”
