Countdown to L-L League football in 2008: In his own words

Countdown to L-L League football in 2008: In his own words - Kyle Smith interview

July 25th, 2008 1:58 pm · 1 comment

JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com

Don’t know why, but I really like this pic — Kyle Smith warming up // LNP photo If you know me, and if you’re a regular reader of this blog or of my stories in the New Era, then you know I’m a numbers geek.

I love statistics.

So let me drop some stats on you here, right off the bat:

A completion rate of 64 percent – that’s 155 completions in 242 attempts, by the way – for 2,595 yards and 27 touchdown passes against just six interceptions.

Punch those numbers into my handy-dandy calculator, and, using the trusty NCAA passing efficiency formula, you get 186.0 – which is really, really good.

That 186.0 rating was tops in the Lancaster-Lebanon League last season – as were the 2,595 passing yards and 27 TD tosses.

And would you believe that the quarterback who piled up those sparkling numbers was a (gulp) sophomore?

Kyle Smith had quite the debut season for Lancaster Catholic last fall. Thrust into the starting role as a sophomore the year after former standout Nick Downey moved on, Smith picked up where Downey left off – leading the Crusaders to a share of the Section 3 title and to a spot in the District 3 Double-A semifinals.

Catholic fell to Delone Catholic in that district game. And there was the loss at Northern Lebanon in Week 10, which cost the Crusaders an outright section title.

But Catholic cranked out 346 yards a game behind a spread attack piloted by that sophomore kid – who went on to earn Second-Team Double-A All-State honors for his accomplishments.

With some (tall) wideouts and some (strong, experienced) linemen (like this one) set to come back this season, all systems appear to be ‘go’ once again for Smith, who spent this summer working out at some terrific college camps.

I know he’s just a junior, but he’s the ‘it’ quarterback in the L-L League at the moment. Think Matt Nagy. Think Jeff Smoker. Think Jordan Steffy. Think Perry Patterson. Think Chad Henne. Think Pat Bostick.

Now think Kyle Smith. If continues on the path he’s going, he’s got a super shot to smash all of those guys’ records.

In this audio Podcast, hear Kyle talk about what it was like taking the keys to Catholic’s offense as a sophomore; what he’s been up to this summer at those terrific college camps; what it was like being compared to Chad Henne so early in his career; and how he thinks the Crusaders will do this season.