LOI Day Surprise! Smith picks Idaho

Earlier this recruiting season Desert Pines senior CHARLES SMITH, a 6-6, 240-pound defensive end, made a verbal commitment to the University of Idaho. On January 20th he changed his commitment from Idaho to San Diego State. He later took a recruiting trip to Colorado State, gave all of his options some SERIOUS thought, and ultimately chose the University of Idaho over numerous offers.

In a continued effort to rebuild the Vandal defensive front, one of the key pieces of the puzzle identitied in the recruiting search was Charles Smith, a 6-6, 240-pound defensive end out of Desert Pines High School in Vegas. A former teammate of current Vandal Michael Cosgrove, an Idaho signee who redshirted last fall and is expected to battle for playing time on the Defensive Line in 2008, the pursuit of Smith was significant from several schools. Colorado State, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah State, and Wyoming were among his many offers.

In the end he made his choice, and that choice would be the University of Idaho.

Senior honors for Smith were extensive this fall, and included being named a First Team All-Sunrise Region Class 4A selection at defensive end, and a Second Team tightend selection. He was also named a First Team All-Northeast Division selection at both DE and TE. To top it off he was named a Review Journal Nevada Class 4A Second Team All-State selection at Defensive End. He came into his senior season ranked the No. 13 prospect in the state of Nevada.

As would be expected, statistically Smith was solid. As a junior he recorded 63 tackles and 9 sacks. He followed that performance up this year with 52 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, and 8 sacks.

As with ALL of the signees in this class, he will be a crucial part of the rebuilding process at Idaho, and will likely get a solid shot at early playing time.


From his bio released this afternoon in an Official Press Release from the University of Idaho Sports Information office:

Charles Smith Jr.
Defensive end, 6-5, 238
Desert Pines High School, Las Vegas, Nev.
First-team all-Sunrise Region Class 4A defensive end …Second-team all-Sunrise Region Class 4A tight end … also first-team all-Northeast Division at defensive end and tight end … Review Journal Nevada Class 4A second-team all-state defensive end … as a senior, had 52 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss and eight sacks … as a junior, was second-team all-Southern Nevada after accounting for 63 total tackles and nine sacks … also played volleyball.