Oklahoma State has 'a potential star' QB in Maealiuaki Smith
Mar. 27—Every team wants the next Tom Brady. Oklahoma State true freshman quarterback Maealiuaki Smith isn't that, but the comparisons are inevitable.
Smith played high school football at Junipero Serra in San Mateo, California. He is the school's first Power Five quarterback since Brady in 1995 and first player ever to graduate early.
OSU coach Mike Gundy couldn't talk about him during his early signing day press conference in December because Serra's ceremony was two hours later. The News Press asked Gundy before the first spring practice on Tuesday why his staff recruited Smith.
"Versatile, moves well, mature, is going to have good size," Gundy said. "We're a ways away, but I like the toolset and what the potential could bring."
Smith was the starter at Inderkum High School in Sacramento as a freshman and transferred to Serra as a sophomore. He was the backup to a three-year varsity starter.
"He struggled through not starting, which I think is really healthy in today's world, where a bunch of quarterbacks are spoon-fed and handed things," Serra coach Patrick Walsh said. "He had to work."
Serra didn't lose a Northern California game in Smith's junior and senior years. It lost two state championships to Mater Dei and St. John Boscoe, which Walsh called junior NFL teams.
"They don't really count for me, frankly," he said. "It doesn't sound right coming out of my mouth that way, but when the business plans of certain high schools are polar opposite, you get blowouts in state championship games that way."
ESPN listed Smith as the No. 22 quarterback in the Class of 2024, and On3 had him as the No. 36 player in California.
He chose Oklahoma State over reported offers from 19 other Power Five programs, including one from Florida State before his first high school snap. Walsh said another college scout watched Smith make two throws, offered him a scholarship and left.
"I've never seen a kid throw a football like this," he said. "There's an effortless motion to his throwing that makes it seem like he was born to throw a football. It's a beautiful thing.
"Combine that with the college football program — the strength and conditioning, nutrition, the culture — you have a potential star here on your hands."
The last one, Walsh said, will be most important in Smith's development.
The Smith family and Walsh visited Stillwater in June and met with offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn and quarterbacks coach Tim Rattay. Walsh said Smith loved the visit.
"Getting out of the Bay Area and into a whole new environment and being enveloped in the cowboy culture is going to be perfect for Maealiuaki," Walsh said. "We say we're built on brotherhood here at Serra, and football relationships are at the center of what we do here. I felt some very similar vibes when it came to Coach Gundy and his crew."
It has been several years since an OSU quarterback had a unanimous approval rating. Mason Rudolph was probably the last one.
Alan Bowman is the presumed starter for his seventh year of college football. The job in 2025, for now, is wide open.
If Smith wins it, Walsh expects OSU fans to quickly latch on.
"He's got all of the talent in the world, particularly when it comes to making every single throw on the field," he said. "He's extremely tough in the pocket. He's taken some massive hits. He stands in there, he delivers the ball and I just think he gets better as things get tougher. And I think that's a perfect fit for the Oklahoma State crowd."
