Goodbye DaMarcus Smith

He’s gone.

The year the Spurs went 20-62 and earned the right to draft Tim Duncan, the leading scorer was Dominique Wilkins. Yes, the Human Highlight Film himself. Very few people remember this.

Hopefully in 15 years when North Texas is a perennial conference title contender and we look back and try to remember the last time the team was awful, we can try to remember the leading passer in 2015. He was dynamic, exciting, and frustrating. From his missing spring practice because of grades, to his cannon arm, he was always a story.

In the end his limitations were likely too much to overcome. He was inaccurate and not well-versed in reading defenses. As I wrote when I reviewed the roster ahead of signing day:

QBs

Sure, we have guys on the roster. Sure, there are a couple of underclassman who excite the random message boarder. Still the three QBs who competed for the starting job under impressed in at least one aspect of their game.

I’d expect Seth Littrell to dig deep in his binder and find a JUCO guy he missed on, maybe grab a graduate transfer he believes in, and pick up a HS guy if he can with the time remaining.

He brings in his guys with an eye for starting them, and coaches up what he has on the roster hoping that — at worst — he has one capable starter among them to push the main guy in practice and to serve as a backup in case injury strikes.

At present there are a lot examples of bad mechanics all throughout the depth chart. That isn’t so concerning, given that there have even been Heisman candidates with wonky releases. The most concerning issues are play recognition and accuracy. The QBs we didn’t see this season are complete unknowns but obviously didn’t move the needle enough to even deserve a shot in this horrible season.

Alec Morris is the likely starter, with the competition open for the backup spot and the opportunity for someone to impress. I have much more faith in this coaching staff to develop QBs than I did in Mike Canales, and this break with one of Chico’s hand picked recruits and starter is indicative of the philosophical and actual parting with the previous regime. It is probably for the program’s best, though not likely for DaMarcus, who doesn’t have many options left to further his footballing career.

I’ll miss D Smith, though. He sure made this last awful season entertaining. That throw to Kidsy against WKU was special.