Whether it was in the classroom or through the hallways, it was hard for Columbia football coaches to miss the frame of 6-foot-6, 200-pound Justin Smith.
It took a lot of convincing by friends and coaches, but Smith chose to put the pads on for the first time since seventh grade. Little did the junior know that the choice would result in him becoming a Division VI third-team All-Ohioan defensive lineman on Dec. 4.
“Do you everything that you can to make it known to him that he could fill a need for our football team,” Columbia Coach Jason Ward said. “He finally agreed to come out and he was better than we thought that he was going to be. When you pull a kid out of the hallway and you put him in the program, you don’t expect him to be an All-Ohio kid.”
He was hesitant at first, because he didn’t know if he would like the sport. He talked to his baseball coach and football assistant coach Dan Durante, he thought he would give it a try.
“(All of the coaches) are teachers at the high school. I would see them in the hallway. I had Coach Durante in health class. We was telling me about football and I said that I would try it out. I am glad I did,” Smith said.
Despite the physical presence, Smith still had to relearn the game, as well as technique on the defensive line. That had him playing junior varsity, until Nate Chapman went down to injury early in the year. He was the next man up.
“I haven’t played since middle school. Obviously, that was a long time ago. Putting on the pads felt good and it reminded me of back then,” he said.
The bright side was that he practiced with Tollett, who is the team’s all-time leading pass rusher. Ward also coaches the defensive line.
According to Smith, Tollett served as a mentor to him, as the two-time Division VI All-Ohioan took him under his wing.
“When I first started, (Tollett) taught me a lot. He is a big reason of what I did (this year),” Smith said. “He taught me moves and stuff. We ran similar 40-times, so our coaches would line us on the outside of the tackles. Gavin was a great role model.”
Once the information was absorbed, he was more beneficial for the team and a nightmare for opposing backfields.
“I have a little bit of a problem staying low. When I found out how to keep a good pad level. That’s all it was,” he said.
Smith led Columbia with 11 tackles for losses and recorded seven sacks. As much chaos he caused in the backfield, Smith and Tollett each had seven sacks, which was tied for most by a Columbia player that year.
“This was unexpected,” Ward said. “We kind of took a toe-in-the-water kind of approach with him. You could see right away with him that he was talented. Even though he was 6-6, he could play with leverage. He bulldozed his way into the starting lineup. … You don’t get those type of stories often.”
He was one of six Columbia players honored with teammates Marco Cirigliano, Jacob Sanders, Chase Voge, Ethan Meier, and Gavin Tollett. Smith was shocked to see that he was named All-Ohioan.
“Marco (Cirigliano) texted me during school and said that I got third-team All-Ohio. I was shocked,” he said. “With all of the district, county and (Lorain County League) awards already came out. I got some of those. I knew that I had a chance, but I didn’t really think that I was going to get All-Ohio.”
Smith plans to shift his dedication towards football, as he will be a cornerstone for next year’s team with Voge and Chapman coming back. He mentioned that he will be in the weight room, which was something that he did not take as seriously before his breakout season.
“Right now, I am in the weight room every day. Obviously Gavin (Tollett) is gone. I feel like I am going to work as hard as I can in the offseason to do what I did this year, but even better,” he said.
