Ohio State football: Bruce's grandson joins coaching staff
...
"Zach Smith has already coached with me for five seasons, and so I know what a quality coach he is," Meyer said in a statement. "He knows my system inside and out and he teaches the system the way I want it to be taught."
That's because Smith said Meyer has taught him virtually everything he knows about football.
"I would not have had a single job in this industry without him," Smith said. "He gave me an internship at Florida basically because he knew me my whole life and has a lot of respect for my grandfather. But I could have been (stuck as) an intern for 20 years. I had to really work to gain different responsibilities with him."
Smith left Florida to become wide receivers coach at Marshall University in 2010 before going to Temple to coach wide receivers and special teams this year.
"A lot of people grow up watching players in the NFL and say, 'I want to be like Jerry Rice or Eddie George,"' Smith said. "I grew up saying I wanted to be like Earle Bruce.
"I loved playing football, but really I wanted to be just like my grandfather. At an early age, that?s what I knew I wanted to do."
And now he will coach at the college he has always adored and where in nine seasons his grandfather compiled much of the resume that made him a Hall of Fame coach.
"It's something I wish my grandmother could have been here to see," Smith said. "She told me when Coach Meyer got hired that if I had the chance to join his staff, she would be at the first game. Obviously, she won't be in person, but she will be there (in spirit).
"I'm just glad I got the opportunity because I know she wanted it as much as anybody, and I know she's proud."
Cont'd...
