WR Braden Smith Fully Recovered from Knee Injury, Ready to Lead for Louisville
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - College football season is roughly two weeks away, and as many fans know by now, Louisville is heading into it with a retooled wide receiver room.
With Tyler Harrell, Jordan Watkins and Justin Marshall all hitting the transfer portal, the Cardinals lost three of their four most productive receivers from last season. Transfers Tyler Hudson and Dee Wiggins have drawn rave reviews from teammates and coaches throughout fall camp, and top returner Ahmari Huggins-Bruce showcased a lot of longterm potential during his true freshman season last year.
That being said, Louisville has another receiver that they will lean on a lot over the course of the 2022 season, and he can't wait to make his return to the gridiron.
Heading into the 2021 season, Braden Smith was viewed as the Cardinals' likely No. 1 wideout. The program found themselves with a much young wide receiver room, and Smith showed in spurts during the 2020 season how deadly he could be in the slot and as a deep threat.
Unfortunately, he only got play in four games before his season was cut short. Just before halftime of Louisville's Sept. 25 matchup at Florida State, the 5-foot-10, 185-pound wide receiver suffered a gruesome season-ending injury in which he tore multiple ligaments in his left knee. He finished the season with just 11 receptions for 68 yards and a touchdown.
But after two major surgeries and an intensive rehabilitation process, Smith was cleared to resume football activities in early June. As Louisville goes through their preseason fall camp in preparation for their upcoming season, Smith says he feels 100 percent pain free, both physically and mentally.
"It feels great, man," Smith said. "Going through an injury like that, it definitely takes a toll on your mental health. While you're going through that process, it's hard to stay positive, and hard to see the long run during that process.
"I'm just so thankful for the training staff. They devised a plan for me from the jump, and they just told me 'stick to the process, and you'll be back out there.' I'm so thankful for them, and so thankful for the coaches support. We've just still stuck to the script through the whole process, and I'm able to reap some of the rewards of that now."
It wasn't easy to get back to where he was. On top of the process of healing and rehabbing multiple ligaments in his left knee, which isn't even guaranteed to a full recovery to begin with, as Smith noted, getting over the hurdle from a mental health standpoint proved to be just as tough. However, he persevered, a learned a lot about himself in the process.
"You never know how tough you can be until that's your only option," he said. "Going through that recovery process, there's just really an unknown for a long period of time. You don't know if you're going to be able to be back and be the same. You don't know when you're going to be back, or anything like that. It just forces you to stay positive, and forces you to remain mentally tough through the process, and trust the process, and keep doing the things necessary to get back."
Smith found the strength to get his football career back on track, and that has started to materialize for Louisville out on the practice fields. Once camp got underway, and he realized he was free of his limitations, he never looked back.
"When camp started, that was really the first time that I was full go with no limitations, no maintenance or anything," he said. "A few weeks ago when camp started was really the first time that I was out there, and really the first time that I was able to bolster some confidence in that. 'Okay, it's good, it's stable, it's fine.' I think from then on, having that initial confidence has allowed me to progressively keep growing throughout camp."
The Flowood, Miss. native is part of quartet of receivers - himself, Hudson, Wiggins and Huggins-Bruce - who will see the most reps over the course of the regular season. However, Louisville does have a pair of incoming freshman - Chris Bell and Chance Morrow - who have long term potential for the program. As fall camp has progressed, Smith has taken initiative to not only be a leader for them, but for the transfers and wide receiver room as a whole.
"Having a lot of young guys coming this year, and me being one of the older guys, I definitely tried to step into more of a leadership role than I have in the past," he said. "Show the ropes to those guys, and maybe give them some words of encouragement when they get discouraged.
"They're new, so it's all different for them. I think that's what I've definitely tried to do this camp, is just be that person for those guys. That's in their ears encouraging them, and letting them know that, "hey, man, you stick to the script, keep doing what you're doing."
Throughout fall camp, the wide receivers have continuously made head-turning plays. Smith says Hudson makes catches that are "ESPN worthy," that Bell and Morrow are "are big bodied freshmen who look the part on the field," and Wiggins has also caught the eye of the coaching staff, too.
"It's been excellent. ... I think it's just been good to see those guys compete every day, whether it's in the meeting room and weight room on the field," Smith said.
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