Two GW Graham teammates will be re-united this fall on the frozen turf of Edmonton’s Foote Field.
Emerson Smith made his university choice official Monday, signing a letter of intent for the University of Alberta.
Recruited as a defensive back, Smith will share the Golden Bear backfield with Treyvon Walsh.
Walsh graduated from GWG last year, red-shirted with Alberta this season and helped convince his former Grizzly teammate that Alberta was the place to be.
“Him being there played into it quite a bit because I really wanted to go somewhere where I knew someone and felt a little more comfortable,” Smith said.
Smith visited the Alberta campus two weeks before the Christmas break, and the two hung out.
“He talked about how much (head coach) Chris Morris, and all of his coaches care about the players,” Smith said.
Smith is likely to follow the same path Walsh did, red-shirting his first year.
Red-shirting means withdrawing from collegiate competition for a year to focus on skill development.
Doing so gives Walsh and Smith an extra year at the end of their college eligibility.
“Treyvon said he actually enjoyed red-shirting. It allowed him to develop a little bit more and get a better feel for college football,” Smith said. “I’d be fine with red-shirting. Wherever they feel they need me.”
Smith had choices.
A few solid programs showed interest, and he said the toughest part was phoning coaches to tell them he was going elsewhere.
“They were all great schools and I would have been happy to go to any of them, so it was one of the toughest choices I’ve ever had to make,” Smith said. “All of them would have provided a good education and great football. It was really hard saying no to the other schools.”
But he also got to make the one happy call to Morris.
“I really like him. He’s a great guy who cares about his players and looks after them,” Smith said. “He picked me up from the airport and made Alberta feel comfortable as soon as I got there.”
“He made me feel like I was already part of the team.”
Morris enjoyed a solid 14 year career as an offensive lineman in the Canadian Football League.
From 1992 through 2005 he played for the Edmonton Eskimos, winning three Grey Cup titles.
Morris told Smith he doesn’t recruit a lot of players. The ones he does bring in are the ones he believes will develop and contribute to the program’s success.
Morris took over at Alberta following the 2012 season, inheriting an 0-8 team.
The Golden Bears went 0-8 again in 2013, 3-5 in 2014 and 2-6 in 2015.
The team hasn’t won a conference title since 1981 and it’s 35 years and counting since Alberta’s last national championship.
“They went through a really rough patch there, but I think Chris is doing good things with the program and we’re going to do good things in the years to come,” Smith said. “I’d rather be part of building something than jump into a ready-made winner.”
“I think you get more a team mentality, an under-dog mentality than you would jumping into a Vanier Cup program.”
Off the field, Alberta is ranked a bit higher than some of Smith’s other options in education and proximity to home was another factor.
“Being closer to my family was important,” he noted. “Being an hour plane-ride away is nice as opposed to Carleton, where it’s expensive and I’d be flying all day.”
“The campus was beautiful too, probably the nicest I saw with lots of older brick buildings.”
“Really nice.”
There is a sense of relief and excitement now that the recruiting process is over.
“Once I told Chris I was going there and told the other coaches I wasn’t go to their schools, that’s when I really felt a sense of relief,” Smith said. “The recruiting process was a lot, obviously. It was stressful, but it was fun too.”
“You only get to do that once in your life, and I’d say it was a cool experience.”
— Ex-Grizzly receiver Jake Creasey offered his congratulations on Facebook.
Creasy plays at the University of Manitoba and said the following:
“Hope you like it in Alberta. I’ll be seeing you on the field, along with Treyvon Walsh. Well, I should say you’ll be seeing me running past you to score a TD. Can’t wait to play against you guys!”
Another Grizzly alum, Diego Pineda, will suit up for the Regina Rams.
Find Golden Bears football info at athletics.ualberta.ca/teams/bears-football and track CIS news at english.cis-sic.ca/sports/fball/index.