After helping guide Glacier to a come-from-behind 41-35 victory over Bozeman last Friday, Shay Smithwick-Hann is doing his best to attract the interest of college scouts. Though Smithwick-Hann currently has no interested schools listed on his ESPN recruiting tracking profile, the fact that he is listed on the site at all is telling. People shouldn’t read too much into his relatively low score of 40 either, as the season is young.
Thus far, Smithwick-Hann’s passing numbers are quiet compared to last year, when he finished second in the state behind Flathead’s Brock Osweiler in both touchdowns (22) and passing yards (233 per game). But coach Grady Bennett has been using him on the ground more, as evidenced by his 103 rushing yards and three touchdowns against Bozeman. At 6-4 and 215 pounds with a nice long ball, the Glacier senior has the tools to play somewhere in college. As for where, we’ll have to wait and see.
But I do find it interesting that ESPN lists him on the recruiting tracker even though he didn’t garner a lot of attention as a junior. Even more interesting is that ESPN listed him as a “potential record breaker,” which is a list that highlights one star player from each state. For Montana, Smithwick-Hann was that one.
Below is a YouTube compilation of Smithwick-Hann from last year. By the end of this fall, expect his highlight reel to be far more impressive, which is, of course, what scouts will be looking for. You can also find Smithwick-Hann’s highlights from this year’s games by searching for his name on YouTube.