This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Junior cornerback Dominique Hatfield had clung to Tyrone Smith like gum to Smith's cleat, but when the 6-foot-4 freshman wideout raised one hand above Hatfield's outstretched two, all Hatfield could do was watch.
One hand was enough. One foot was in bounds. Touchdown.
Hatfield is usually one of the gabbiest players on the field, but he simply extended his hand to Smith, who shook it.
You can't cover that.
During a spring in which Utah has been thin on experienced wideouts, Smith hasn't always had a flawless practice, but he's marveled at times.
Edison High math teacher Juanita Hester-Haynes saw those abilities while working on the chain crew at the Fresno school's football games. Many did. But she may have been the first to spot his potential in the classroom.
Smith said another teacher had told him he had a "million to one" shot of qualifying to play at a Division I school, and he'd believed him.
As a freshman and a sophomore, he figured, "You know what? I'm not going to play football in college, so I might as well have fun."
Hester-Haynes said many kids get distracted on Fresno's West Side, where it can be easy to get lost in the wrong crowd. She told Smith to finish his assignments even if they were late, and invited him to catch up during lunch.
"He just needed that extra 'oomph' to be confident in himself, to know that it's OK not to know things and to ask to get extra help," she said.
Smith said he applied that approach to his other classes, and "from there, my grades went up."
It was too late for many schools, though. He had interest from Fresno State and Eastern Washington, but most Pac-12 schools shied away due to the severity of his earlier academic problems.
It also didn't help that Smith's high school numbers were fairly pedestrian. At receiver, he totaled 761 yards on 34 catches in two seasons. Website 247 Sports rated him as the nation's 384th-best wide receiver.
Utah took note of Smith while scoping out some of his teammates. Coaches liked his size and that he could also play safety or corner. They could find a spot for him.
In the meantime, he continued to apply his favorite teacher's advice. Before Hester-Haynes left temporarily to become an instructional coach at a nearby middle school, Smith showed her his report card, she said. He'd gotten a 3.5.
She later fulfilled a promise by attending the 2014 graduation of Smith and his classmates, snapping photos furiously.
But Smith still had to qualify. Utah considers him a grayshirt because he sat out last season and his eligibility clock didn't begin until he enrolled in February.
He spent last fall studying for standardized tests and worked out daily this winter with incoming freshman safety Austin Lee at John Madsen Performance. He qualified late last season, and he bulked up from about 170 to 190 pounds.
"Weights were something that he never really got taught how to do," said Madsen, a former Utah and Oakland Raiders tight end. "... Now it's hard to get Tyrone out of the weight room. He learned to love what it was doing for his body and his athleticism."
Coaches first thought Smith would play corner, but after he "snuck in" to run routes during conditioning, cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah gave him the green light to start out on offense.
Receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield may be forever grateful.
"What I like about him is that he's a guy that can go long, but he's also a guy that can get open in the intermediate/short routes," Stubblefield said. "I think his upside is unbelievable."
Smith credits senior Tyler Cooperwood — as well as Utah's academic support staff — for helping keep him up to speed. In the classroom, he said, his best efforts are still enough. On the field, college life is a little tougher.
"In high school, you could just catch the ball, and you could just run or do whatever. Now, it's like, 'Man, everybody's so close.' When you catch the ball, there are people right there."
Hester-Haynes still keeps the recruiting letters that colleges sent "T.J.," as she calls him, but she was surprised to hear she's still in his thoughts.
Should Utah fans ever run into her, they might take a lesson from Hatfield.
A handshake is in order.
Twitter: @matthew_piper —
Tyrone Smith
Measurements • 6-foot-4, 197
In high school • Made 20 catches for 437 yards as a senior at Edison High, in Fresno, Calif., and caught 14 passes for 324 yards in 2012. Also saw time at safety, played basketball and ran track.