This Saturday Kavosiey Smoke will face a school he once considered attending, thanks to South Carolina's injured star quarterback.
Before rising through the college ranks, Kavosiey Smoke was a star running back at Wetumpka High School in Alabama. About an hour to the east, Jake Bentley was making headlines as four-star quarterback at Opelika High School. Playing in the same region, the two eventually crossed paths.
"I played against him his junior year, his last year in high school," Smoke recalls. "He's a good player. We lost by like two touchdowns something like that."
Smoke's team lost, but he grabbed Bentley's attention. The quarterback told his father, South Carolina tight ends coach Bobby Bentley, about the bruiser from Wetumpka.
"They started recruiting me. Then they offered me one day," Smoke said. "I started talking to them but I'm at Kentucky now."
South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp briefly recalled his interactions with Smoke.
"Both backs, Rose and Smoke are good players. We recruited Kavosiey here at South Carolina, got a lot of respect for him," Muschamp said.
They have a lot of respect for him now, but it sounds like the Gamecocks weren't willing to ultimately use a scholarship on Smoke when his decision day neared.
"To me it's just another game," said Smoke, "but knowing they were recruiting me, I'm going to go harder.
It's going to make me go harder; make them regret not taking me."
Muschamp may already have regretted that decision. Smoke has rushed for three touchdowns and 276 yards this season, more yards than South Carolina's top three senior running backs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI3qIWIHzpc
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