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n o r t h w e s t e r n f o o t b a l l • D I G I T A L P R O G R A M • N O R T H W E S T E R N v s . U M A S S
BUT THEN THERE WAS ANOTHER PLAY that serves well enough as a symbol of how much Smith
must still learn, which is an expected side of going through a process and maturing on-the-job.
This one came in the belly of the third quarter; came with the 'Cats up two and facing a third-and-
seven on their own 27; came with Smith staring down his intended receiver and throwing into double
coverage; came with Boilermaker safety Cam Allen jumping the route and making the pick that set
his team up with a first on the 'Cat 32. Five plays later it would score to take its first lead of the day.
Is he working on not staring down receivers?
"Yes," Smith said. "That's something I mentioned. I made a few beginner's mistakes. That'll come
with the picture clearing up."
"That's a problem," said Fitzgerald, referring to both the stare down and the toss into double coverage.
"You can't do that. I think that comes with experience and confidence in your own ability. There's
a lot of things we're working on that aren't quite clicking yet at that position. That's pretty obvious.
But a lot of times younger quarterbacks, that's their tendency, to stare things down. You can't do
that because you give away things. There's other things too that we're giving away that we're talking
about."
What other things would those be?
"I'll let secondaries across the Big Ten figure that out," Fitzgerald said with a chuckle. "I'm not
sharing that, man."
STILL. For the first time in some time the depth chart for the 'Cats game Saturday with Massachusetts
did not list their starting quarterback as Smith "OR" Hunter Johnson. "He's our starter," Fitzgerald
said of Smith.
