NC State Commit Jacob Smith Shines On The Diamond And Gridiron

Pfafftown (NC) Reagan standout Jacob Smith‍ is one of the nation's top, young baseball prospects. He's committed to NC State but is now making noise on the gridiron.

How did sports become a thing in your life?
My dad played quarterback at the University of Georgia, and my mom was an athletic trainer at the University of Tennessee. That's how they met, through athletics.

Athletics has just been a huge part of my family. Growing up, my dad and I, how I really got into baseball was just playing wiffleball in the backyard with my dad. That kind of grew into playing baseball as I got older. I kind of started taking it seriously around 12, 13 years old.

On the football side of things, obviously the background. My dad played quarterback at the University of Georgia, so that led me to wanting to play quarterback. I started playing around 11 years old and haven't stopped playing since.

IPS: So how did you guys end up in Forsyth County?

Smith: My dad's residency was at Vanderbilt. I was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Then his job led us here and led us to move into Winston-Salem. 

IPS: How many offers have you received?

Smith: For baseball, I pulled the trigger after my first offer, so I didn't have any other offers after NC State. For football, so far I've just picked up East Carolina.

IPS: From the outside looking in, you would think someone in your position would probably dream of the SEC offer, but you went ahead when State gave you that offer. What was it about NC State? Did the SEC ever appeal to you, or did growing up in Winston-Salem have you looking at the ACC?  How did that shake out?

Smith: I talked to some schools like Ole Miss and the University of Georgia, but NC State felt like home. As soon as I started talking and going up to visit the Doak, what made me pull the trigger early with the Wolfpack was definitely Coach Chrysler and Coach Avent, Coach Hart, just my relationship I had with them -- just the way they appealed to me, and I just fell in love with campus, the new facilities that are getting built, and really my relationship with the coaching staff was what set it apart from every other school.

IPS: Do you have an idea what you want to study when you get to school?

Smith: Sports management. 

IPS: You talked about Chrysler and Hart. Those guys, everybody seems to say that they have a really good connectability with kids. Can you describe how vital is that in recruiting?

Smith: I talked to coach Chrysler every week, every Thursday, and he keeps up with me. It's kind of cliche saying this, but it's like just having a conversation with one of my dad's friends is what it feels like every Thursday that I call him; it feels like we get closer and closer every time I call him. 

It's gotten to the point where we really don't even talk about baseball that often. He'll ask me how I'm doing and how baseball is, but it's gotten to the point where the conversation on Thursday nights is more about life, so he's kind of a guy that I've been able to spill out my whole entire life too. He's just really, really made me feel comfortable and allowed our relationship to grow as we talk every week.

Also Coach Hart, if I call Coach Hart and say I'm not swinging well, he knows the exact response.

I love Coach Avent. Recruiting me, he was like ‘it's early, so if something were to ever happen, you're not gonna have a problem with anything.’ Coach Avent was really cool to my parents. I came up for practice before I committed and as we watched practice, he spent two hours with us up in the press box. I love him, and I hope that he stays long enough to where I get to be coached by him.

IPS: Why do you think so many kids in the 2024 and 2025 classes have already committed to NC State? 

Smith: I'm a big strong thinker, and if you know what's right for you, then why not?

I think that with our recruiting classes coming in with a really strong 2024 class, a strong 2025 class, and a really, really strong 2026 class that's getting built, I think we're gonna look really good here in a couple years. I just think for kids, especially in baseball, the recruiting process happens a lot faster, but I believe that committing early is not a bad thing. And if you know what's right for you, then why not?

IPS: What are some things you want to improve upon, some goals you have in the meantime to bridge to the time when you do get to NC State?

Smith: They recruited me as a two-way player, to come pitch and play shortstop, so my goal is to keep working at pursuing that. 

Right now off the bump, I'm like 87, 89 miles-per-hour, so my goal before I step on campus is to be like 93 to 95, top off at 96, and be a big arm from the right side, right away as an impact freshman. 

On the batting side, just keep on working on that side and get to the lineup early, but just keep on working and get to where, when I get to NC State I can be an impact player as a freshman.

IPS: How familiar are you with the lineage at shortstop for NC State?

Smith: It's a big thing being an NC State shortstop, the footsteps you got to follow with people like Trea Turner, and this past year, Josh Hood, who was a stud and he just got drafted. Obviously it's a big deal.

IPS: How often do you go to NC State’s games? 

Smith: Obviously I'll go to the Wake Forest game because that's 10 minutes down the road from me, but last year I hit up like three or four home series. I think I was at the Wake series at State. 

I try to get up to campus as much as I can, because I love spending time there. I went up (recently) for a football junior day and got to check out the football side of things, but also swung by the baseball field after and saw that the new turf is getting put in and the new scoreboard. I'm really excited about that.

IPS: How excited are you? Obviously, NC State's a program that just came off a World Series appearance a couple of years ago, and now they're growing in the context of they're renovating and reinvesting in themselves. You are one of the ones that's trusted to try to lift it to another level. How meaningful is it, how neat is it to be coming to NC State at this period of time?

It's really cool. As a college athlete and a baseball player, you're spending all your time in facilities, so you want every day to walk in the nicest facilities you can. 

When they proposed that early after I committed and I found out, I was ecstatic. I'm getting to walk into a $50 million facility when I walk in as a freshman, and what better can you ask for -- a facility that nice an hour and 30 minutes away from home? I'm excited to get there.

IPS: What are your impressions of the NC State fans? 

Smith: The first time I went to a game last year was my first time at a game. It was the Wake game. There was a home Friday night game against Wake, and they got rowdy out there. It was fun. I'm excited to play in front of the crowd of the Doak, especially with the stadium getting bigger and better.

IPS: When you make a commitment to NC State, the Wolfpack fans find you on social media. How's that response been? 

Smith: It was awesome, man. The day I committed, I opened Twitter the next morning and then I was scrolling through the quote tweets and it's a bunch of NC State grads and fans congratulating me and saying, ‘Go Pack, ' so it felt like I joined a family as soon as I posted my commitment. The same thing with Instagram. It was congratulations from all the Pack fans, so I really like getting the feeling that they really are excited for you coming there. It already feels like home.

IPS: How excited are you for the 2024 to 2025 to 2026 groups?

Smith: I'm so pumped. I've gotten a really good relationship with all the commits. We all have a Snapchat group chat, so we talk multiple times a week. We're all excited to get up, see what we can make happen as a part of a team that we've been looking forward to for the next three years.

IPS: Now we're gonna fast forward. It's the first game. You put that uniform on, you have got the Wolfpack hat, the Wolfpack uniform on and you take the field at Doak. Describe how meaningful that is going to be? 

Smith: I think it'll be a dream come true the day I put on the uniform for the first game, and step through those lines and hear your name get called. If it's me to be in the starting lineup, then that's the goal. That'll be a dream come true. As a kid, I've always dreamed of playing as a freshman in college baseball. As soon as that happens, the feeling is going to be unreal. 

IPS: That is only a part of your Wolfpack dream, correct? 

Smith: My goal is to play two sports at NC State, so if that happens, then I'll be excited to put on the Pack uniform on Saturday night, Saturday nights, and during the week 

I've talked to Doeren a little bit, but my closest relationship on that side of things is the quarterback coach Kurt Roper. He and I talk every week. This past year I've gotten a lot closer with him and I'm looking forward to going through the recruiting process with Coach Roper and Coach Doeren on the football side of things.

IPS: How well can you think you can manage the time balance of playing both sports at NC State?

Yes, sir. 100%. I think there's been a lot of guys that have tried to do it and it's just what holds them back is just how to figure everything out with tutoring and that side of things with school, with handling being at spring practice, with baseball season. So I think it'll obviously be a challenge, but I'm up for challenges.  In the end with my work ethic, I think I'll be able to pull it off.

IPS: Could you be an ACC champion in both sports at NC State?

Smith: I believe so. 

IPS: The quarterback lineage at NC State is similar to shortstops for the baseball program. How much do you know about that?

Smith: Like I said, playing shortstop at NC State is a big thing, but playing quarterback at NC State's, an even bigger thing with Russell Wilson and Devin Leary, and Philip Rivers. It's a big thing to put on the NC State uniform at quarterback. If I can do that one day, that would be a really cool feeling to walk out there at Carter Finley and be able to put that jersey on.

IPS: What is your message to NC State fans?

Smith: I would say get ready, because in the next three to four years, the Pack is coming.