Smith picks FSU
By
Greg Stoda
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 03, 2005
PAHOKEE — A mother's tears sometimes drown out the masses' cheers.
So it was Wednesday afternoon at Pahokee High School, where one woman's quiet sadness outside a small room was louder, and much more poignant, than anything happening inside.
The over-the-top choreography that has become part of national signing day — the culmination of the courtship of high school football stars by college programs — doesn't get much more distasteful than this.
Antone Smith is going to Florida State, and good for him and the Seminoles.
But bad on him for how he chose to make the announcement, which left Classie Smith all but inconsolable. She wanted her son, who was Florida's Mr. Football last season in leading the Blue Devils to a state title, to go to nearby Miami so she could easily attend all his home games.
No problem that Smith decided to go to Florida State, because a young man in his position has to do what he feels is best for himself above all else. His mother even acknowledged her own selfishness for wanting Smith to become a Hurricane.
The problem, though, had to do with her son's dramatic production in a big and theatrical tease.
Know when his mother found out he'd be going to Florida State? The same time everybody else did.
That's more than sad. That's callous and cruel.
"He never told me," she said after having composed herself. "I wish he had told me."
She deserved that much at the very least.
What she absolutely didn't deserve was to be reduced to the lead victim in her son's shell game.
Smith, who by most accounts is a good and decent kid, didn't hide the fact he enjoyed the attention throughout the recruiting process.
Again, nothing wrong there. Until, that is, he started pulling all the wicked strings Wednesday while seated at a table right there next to his mother with five invitations — one each from Florida State, Miami, Florida, Auburn and Rutgers — spread out in from of him.
"Any questions before I make a decision? Any questions? Any questions?" Smith asked.
Never mind that one of his friends said Smith knew Monday night after making a weekend visit to Florida State that he would pick the Seminoles.
Never mind, either, that it would be sheer folly for anyone to believe Smith waited until he had pen in hand to sign a binding document before making the absolute call on what supposedly had been an agonizing process.
This was a grand orchestration very much in keeping with the atmosphere of these moments.
"I won't let it blow my head up," Smith said.
Oh. It already hasn't?
Smith took obvious glee in turning over and pushing away the folders from Florida and Rutgers and Auburn, taking those schools out of the mix. He was building drama for everyone gathered in the room, and that was only the beginning.
It was down to Florida State, considered to be a long shot, and Miami, favored to land Smith all along.
"Champions, baby!" someone shouted.
"Which one has the best tradition of running backs?" yelled another voice.
And then something about all the money to be made as a pro.
Smith pushed away the Florida State pamphlet, listened to the celebration . . . and pulled it back. He pushed it away again, and pulled it back again. He studied the Miami papers, closed the folder and signed with the Seminoles to stunning effect as dozens of cellphones clicked open and into calls.
Moments later, his mother rushed from the room.
Leaning against a brick wall, her shoulders shaking with her sobs, she waved off friends: "Get away! Get away! I don't want any of this."
Her son's explanation was that Florida State is "where my heart was." Fine. But was there a need to break his mother's in satisfying his own?
The day has become too big. Enjoying the moment and basking in the glory of accomplishment and expectation aren't enough.
It's not much ado about nothing, of course, because high school players of Smith's caliber frequently become college and NFL stars. Anquan Boldin, a former Pahokee star and Mr. Football himself, went that route to Florida State and the Arizona Cardinals.
But shouldn't someone — a parent, a coach, an administrator, a confidant — guide an Antone Smith to understatement rather than aggrandizement?
"It was all up to me," Smith said. "It was my decision. I've been having people tell me what to do (and) what not to do, but it was my decision."
Maybe he heard demands rather than advice. And maybe too many voices angered or confused him. He deserves congratulations, no matter what, for making the difficult choice. But not for the presentation.
"I know it's his life," his mother said. "He'll be there three or four years. He needs to be where he wants to be."
She just wishes she had been told.
She just wishes her son — the one who scored 81 touchdowns and gained 6,431 yards — wouldn't have run over her on his way out.
