4/15/2020 football Edit

Harrison High WR Jake Smith was eager to grab preferred walk-on opportunity

At 6-3, Jake Smith is a rangy target who is impactful in the red zone.

Tom Dienhart • BoilerUpload

GoldandBlack.com, Associate Editor

Purdue’s roster of 2020 walk-ons includes several receivers. But none has the size of Jake Smith.

The 6-3, 200-pound product of Harrison High School in West Lafayette, Ind., helped lead the Raiders to a 9-3 mark last season and lost to Fort Wayne Dwenger in the Class 5A regional title game.

Smith finished 2020 with 32 receptions for 452 yards (14.1 ypc) and nine touchdowns for a Harrison offense that was run-oriented behind a triple-option attack. The chance to walk-on at Purdue was too good to pass up.

“I started going to their camps a while ago,” said Smith. “And we had team camp the last couple years there.”

Purdue co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brian Brohm visited Smith at Harrison. The rest, as they say, is history, as Smith committed back in December to be a preferred walk-on.

“For me, really, it was either Purdue or bust,” said Smith, who had a chance to play at some smaller schools. “I was gonna go there no matter what, even if I didn't get offered to be a walk-on.”

Ask Smith what he needs to improve, and he doesn’t hesitate: speed.

“I think I definitely need to get faster and stronger,” said Smith, who suffered a broken shoulder as a junior. “It’s Big Ten football, you know, and just going from high school to that level, I just need to get way faster than I am right now.

“And I think my route-running can always get better, too. I need to be quicker and just overall stronger.”

Smith’s strengths?

“I'm a red zone threat,” he said. “I can go up and get the ball.”

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