True Freshman Maealiuaki Smith Shines In First Career Start

STILLWATER – The general sentiment going into Senior Day against Texas Tech was senior Alan Bowman would get the start in his final home game. That didn’t happen as true freshman Maealiuaki Smith got his first career start.

Despite being a true freshman, and only having a few snaps under his belt, Smith shined against the Red Raiders. He finished the game going 26-of-36 for 326 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, with the interception coming on the Pokes’ final play of the game. 

“First off, it was just a good opportunity for me for the first game starting” Maealiuaki Smith told Robert Allen after the game. “I felt good after the bye week and had this week to prepare, so I’ve been feeling good with the offense. Then I’ve been taking rep as a [second-string] quarterback since the BYU game, so I’ve been pretty smooth and feeling good.”

He even had a rushing touchdown, which was the first score of his career, which came nearly midway through the third quarter.

Mike Gundy was asked about Smith several times throughout the availability, but two questions really stuck out: why wasn’t he starting sooner and whether or not he thought Smith was going to be the starter next week.

We’ll start with why Smith hasn’t played significant snaps earlier, which was combined with Gundy’s thoughts on Smith’s performance tonight.

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Smith back to pass vs. Texas Tech

“Well, he's only been practicing with us for a month and so there could be questions about that, but he started the year on the fourth team. Whether we know, if you could or not, you'll never know. That's something that just is not going to ever come through just based on the way it is. You're not going to take a true freshman and start giving him reps with the ones or twos when he walks right in from high school. Without watching the video, I thought he competed and sat in the pocket, if the pocket started to collapse, he stayed in, made throws downfield and he missed some throws. We saw that, right? We had it three or four times. We had guys that were running pretty open, and he missed the throws. But overall, I thought his poise was really good, and I thought he ran the ball effectively.”

Smith made several throws against Tech where he stood in the pocket, even with pressure, and delivered a beautiful ball. He was poised in the pocket the entire game, didn’t seem to really get flustered throughout the game, and even recorded a rushing touchdown on a read play, his first score of the season.

“It was a read play, either I pitch it to Gordon or get it out wide, so I get to take the ball, and I’ve got my puller, and it was a good look,” Smith told Robert Allen after the game. “I had to give [the defender] a little stiff arm to get into the end zone, but yeah it was good, and it felt good too.”

From the very beginning of the game when he trotted out onto the field, Smith gave the crowd juice and then his play seemingly gave the team some juice. Which leads into coach Gundy’s comments on whether or not he believed Smith would be the starter next week.

People talk about that a lot, and I think there's some truth to that after watching today,” Gundy said of Smith giving the offense a boost with his play. “You know, when (Rodney Fields) came in --- (Trent Howland) is running hard, and when (Fields) came into run some from Ollie, he gave us juice. Made some plays. But I can't imagine that [Smith] wouldn't be the starter next Friday."

Smith was taking scout team reps for the Pokes a month ago, which means he wasn’t even running the Oklahoma State playbook. It’s unfortunate both Flores and Rangel are missing the rest of the year with injuries, but it thrust Smith into a role most true freshmen aren’t prepared for, and in one month went from scout team to starter and threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns on an impressive 26-of-36 passing, including one rushing score. It’s hard to think he won’t be the starter.

“Going out there with those guys gives me a lot of confidence knowing that I’ve got some big receivers that can make big plays and get yards after the catch. Then I’ve got running backs in Ollie and the other guys that can move the ball. Then a good o-line up front gives me confidence, the run game and pass game and just having time to throw to the receiver.”