Ihmir Smith-Marsette is now finally practicing what his head coach has been preaching
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – It took a while, half of his college career to be exact, but Ihmir Smith-Marsette finally gets it.
The Iowa football team’s talented junior receiver and return specialist finally understands the importance of being a team leader and of staying focused on the right things that will pay dividends on and off the playing field.
It’s almost as if a switch was flipped or a light went on saying that it’s time to change because time is running out.
And for Smith-Marsette, the change started with a meeting with Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz heading into the summer conditioning period.
Ferentz meets with all of his players on an individual basis heading into the offseason, and his conversation with Smith-Marsette had a major impact.
The kid who used to spend lots of time on his cell phone, and who used to get easily distracted is now one of Iowa’s veteran leaders, along with fellow junior receiver Brandon Smith.
“We’re running a race and it’s time to grow up,” Smith-Marsette at Iowa’s weekly press conference on Tuesday. “And that just hit me hard. So I came into summer workouts with a different mindset, a different attitude. I just changed my whole thinking around.
“I knew that me and Brandon were the older guys in the room, so it was time to take that step forward and stop with the shenanigans. Just come in every day with that mindset to get better and pull the young guys along and try being a leader, and lead by example.”
Ferentz has always spoke highly of Smith-Marsette's ability, his competitiveness and his colorful personality, and that was the case again on Tuesday.
Ferentz just wants his speedy receiver from Newark, N.J., to be more mature and focused, and to pay more attention to the little things that go a long way into making a complete player and a valuable team leader.
“We've always liked him,” Ferentz said. “That hasn't been the issue. It just his work habits or practice habits and just paying attention to certain details. But this was a transition for everybody that comes here, most everybody. I'd say 98 percent of the guys that come in here have a lot of — either a lot of learning to do or some things to adjust, that type of deal, and there's a lot of reasons for that.
“Ihmir has always been a great guy. He's got a good football intellect, is really spirited and he's extremely likable and he works hard, all those kinds of things. So it's a matter of really directing his energies and focusing his energies a little bit better, and that's part of maturation. Every player goes through it.”
Smith-Marsette isn’t just saying the right things, but he is also practicing what he preaches, according to Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz.
Brian Ferentz said at a recent press conference that Smith-Marsette has been as impressive as any player on the team during preseason practice.
“I want to be the best that I can be day in and day out,” Smith-Marsette said. “I want to be one of the best players ever. That’s just my mindset.”
Smith-Marsette has shown flashes of brilliance as a player, including leading the Big Ten and ranking second nationally in kick returns last season with a 29.5 average on 24 returns.
But he also has struggled to stay focused, and acknowledged that on Tuesday.
Kirk Ferentz once joked about Smith-Marsette spending too much time on his cell phone, but it wasn’t really a joke.
It was meant as a message, and finally, the message has been received.
“Just looking back and reflecting, it was time to actually step it up,” Smith-Marsette said. “Reading everything that you all put out about the phone or this and that, I’m tired of that.
“So I just had to push it forward and change my day-to-day routine and put all the work in.”
Smith-Marsette also has changed his appearance with his dreadlocks now gone. He cut his hair in February for the first time since high school.
“I always told myself entering junior year I would cut my hair, I don’t know why,” Smith-Marsette said. “Part of me misses it. Part of me is like, hey, it’s gone. It’s just the look now, so I’ve just got the low cut.”
“In the moment it was sentimental, oh my God, I grew my hair out for like two years. It’s always going to be hard letting something go. You hold on to something for so long and then it’s time to let it go.”
Smith-Marsette called his new look a “grown-man look” and that fits, considering his new attitude and commitment to being a leader.
“Every kid has got to grow up,” Smith-Marsette said. “I just felt like I was stuck in the kid mindset, just wanting to be playing around all the time. I still have that and haven’t lost that factor in myself, but it was just also time to change how you come in every day and you’re just taking it more seriously and you’re hitting it harder.”
The 64-year old Kirk Ferentz is meticulous in his approach to football and he pays great attention to detail. He also expects his players to be mature and to be accountable.
Ferentz and the Iowa coaches have been encouraging Smith-Marsette to grow up and to accept more responsibility, but it wasn’t until recently that Smith-Marsette took it to heart.
“Coming from where I’m from, you listen but you’re not getting it all in,” Smith-Marsette said. “But after being here for a while you see it helping everybody else and you’re wondering why it’s not helping with you.
“Just being able to do that and listen to them and follow everything they’ve got to say, it really changes the type of person you are and how you approach things.”
Smith-Marsette is from the same hometown as former Iowa running back Akrum Wadley, who also struggled with his focus and maturity early on as a Hawkeye.
Wadley made a commitment as an upperclassmen to be a better team leader and to be more focused, and he would go to make the same kind of transformation that Smith-Marsette is trying to make now.
“I guess that’s just something that happened,” Smith-Marsette said. “It was time to grow up. We may be form the same city and all that, but I feel as though a lot of kids like me can make a difference.”