Romeo football star Troy Smith fought back tears after walking out of the tunnel at Michigan Stadium.
No, not because the receiver is a huge Wolverines fan excited about playing in the annual Battle at the Big House. He was fighting back tears because he was wearing an ice wrap around his left shoulder and had just learned his season was about to take a major hit.
During a routine defensive play in the first half, a teammate accidentally speared him in the shoulder. Later, Smith learned he had suffered a Grade 3 AC joint separation, a complete tear of both the acromioclavicular and coracoclavicular ligaments that disconnects the collarbone from the shoulder blade.
He’s expected to miss at least 4-6 weeks.
That’s brutal news for Smith and the Bulldogs,
who held on for a 17-10 win over Rochester Adams on Aug. 29 despite dominating early with Smith on the field.
Smith is coming off a breakout junior season in which he totaled 1,045 all-purpose yards and scored 10 TDs. Surely, he was going to be even more dangerous as a senior.
Now, Romeo has to figure out how to replace one of the most reliable all-around contributors in Michigan.
“When you have a two-way starter go out, that’s two new guys who have to step up,” coach Curt Rienas said. “Some of the penalties that we had at the end with too many guys in the huddle was us putting personnel groups together that had never even practiced together. So we were trying to get the right group of guys in at all different positions.”
Quarterback Tyler deCardenas championed Romeo’s next-man-up mantra about fighting through adversity after Smith was lost for the game.
And some Bulldogs stepped up when given extra work.
Take 6-foot-1, 240-pound running back Tayshawn Proctor, who gained 31 of his 34 yards after Smith went out. Landen Fetty had 48 yards and Parker Cohoon added 64 as they did their best to keep the chains moving in the backfield.
But there’s truly no replacing Smith.
He runs a 4.52-second 40-yard dash and is about as slippery as they come. He accounted for 97 yards on his first four touches, including taking his first carry 53 yards for a TD just 54 seconds into the game.
One possession later, his 33-yard catch from deCardenas set up Cohoon for a 5-yard score, giving the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead seven minutes into the action.
That lead likely would’ve kept growing had Smith not been sidelined.
“Obviously, he’s a big piece of our offense, but we always go next-man-up,” said deCardenas, a senior who threw for 75 yards and also had a 43-yard rush on a broken play that iced the victory late in the fourth quarter. “That’s the mindset when someone goes down. The guys have prepared all week so if someone got hurt, they’d come in. But it’s still a big loss [without Smith helping the offense].”
While Smith rehabilitates from the injury, he’ll shift into coaching mode, which is exactly what he was doing after trainers removed his ice wrap and replaced it with a sling to finish the second half.
Smith identified plays Adams was running and relayed information to the defense. During timeouts, a shirtless Smith was one of the first people on the field, coaching up his teammates.
Smith said he was born with that leadership. But he also admitted his drive to motivate his teammates came from wanting to beat Adams so badly, something Romeo finally did for the first time since 1974.
Smith alone had lost to Adams three times, including both last year’s season opener and the Division 1 regional.
He was also still sour about Adams, the eventual state runner-up, edging his baseball team by one run in the playoffs last spring.
“After they knocked us out of baseball regionals and football regionals, I just really wanted us to win today,” Smith said. “I’m not feeling the greatest, and I’m looking to bounce back, so I haven’t processed all this [missing 4-6 weeks] yet. I’m just happy about beating Adams for the first time in a long time.”
It certainly was a statement win, one that catapulted Romeo to No. 14 in the Detroit Free Press’ Super 25 rankings this past weekend.
But a similar effort will be needed for the Bulldogs to go 5-0 in the MAC Red for a second straight season.
They found a way to win while learning how to play without Smith on the fly. Now they’ll have a full week of practice to prepare for it when they host Port Huron Northern on Friday.
“He’s a three-year varsity player who was one of best players last year,” Rienas said. “Obviously, you see the speed that he has. He can take it to the house at any time. And he’s such a smart, smart player, too. For us to play a great team like that, that’s really well coached, when some of your guys go down like they did at times during the game, that’s a testament to everyone stepping up.”
Brandon Folsom covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Follow him on X at @folsomwrites.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Romeo football star Troy Smith suffers crushing blow in first game
