When Jeff Smoker steps onto the Beaver Stadium field Saturday, he knows he’ll get a lot of attention.
He just isn’t sure if it’ll be good or bad.
“I’m curious to see what kind of reception I get,” Smoker said. “I know everyone I know is going but I know there are also a lot of Penn State people who wanted me to go to Penn State and I didn’t. So I’m not sure if I’m going to get boos and cheers, but at least some kind of reception.”
Friends and family of the freshman quarterback, many of whom are Nittany Lions fans, will be at the MSU-Penn State matchup watching Smoker, who grew up in Manheim, Pa., a mere hour and a half from Penn State.
For MSU head coach Bobby Williams, Saturday will give him a chance to see how his young quarterback fares in a hostile environment.
“Happy Valley is a tough place to play,” he said. “The crowd will be a factor. To see him go out on the road will be a true indication of what’s going to happen in the future.”
For Penn State coach Joe Paterno, the game will give him a glimpse of what could’ve been.
Being in Paterno’s proverbial backyard, it was natural that Smoker would be recruited to play for the Nittany Lions.
“We tried hard to get him,” he said. “We spoke with him, he’s been to our camp so we knew a lot about him.”
So how did Smoker end up in East Lansing?
A combination of bad luck for Paterno and bad timing for Smoker kept the prized recruit from landing in State College, Pa.
When it came to recruiting quarterbacks in 1998, Paterno solely focused on getting Chris Simms. Ultimately, Simms opted to play at Texas and Penn State failed to get a single quarterback recruit.
To avoid coming up empty-handed in 1999, Paterno said he wanted to get early commitments from his quarterback prospects that year. He recruited three players - Smoker, Zack Mills from Ijamsville, Md. and Zac Wasserman of Tarzana, Calif.
“The first two that said they would come would be the ones we would take,” Paterno said. “We made three offers and Jeff Smoker was one of them.”
Mills and Wasserman committed to Penn State in February 1999 during their junior year. Five months later, Smoker committed to MSU in July.
“They kind of made my decision for me,” Smoker said. “I never said I didn’t want to go there. Joe Paterno is a great coach - he’s a legend. There’s so much tradition in Penn State football and he built a lot of that.
“I’m not upset with them. Now they’re just another team we have to play against.”
Smoker said the commitments of Mills and Wasserman didn’t sit well with Penn State fans.
“Some people are upset at me, but most are upset at Penn State for getting quarterbacks from California and Maryland instead of (Pennsylvania),” he said. “Publicly, people were upset at Penn State because they didn’t wait.”
Paterno said both Penn State and MSU will benefit from the situation in the long run.
“I think Jeff, obviously, had a great opportunity at Michigan State and has taken advantage of it,” he said. “He has done an excellent job for them. I think the kids we have, when their turn comes, will do a good job.
“I just hope (Jeff) doesn’t have too good of a day against us.”
And for at least one Saturday this year, Smoker said his family will get to cheer him on from the stands of Beaver Stadium.
“This is the way my parents would’ve liked it in the first place,” he said.
