(Photo: Courtesy of Jamill Smith Sr.)
MUNCIE, Ind. — Jamill Smith Sr. remembers what it’s like to feel overlooked as a high school athlete, to go through the recruiting process without knowing how it works.
It’s the experience he had as a standout football player at Muncie Southside High School, where he set school records at quarterback and twice helped his team to a sectional final. It played into why his first year on the roster for Ball State University's football program in 2009, listed as a 5-8 wide receiver, he redshirted as a walk-on.
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But while that’s what Smith endured before he earned a scholarship ahead of the 2010 season, before he earned multiple All-Mid American Conference honors as a receiver and returner and went on to a professional career in the Canadian Football League, it’s not what he wants other area athletes to have to encounter.