Whether the Music City Bowl with Missouri scheduled for Iowa happens next Wednesday (due to COVID-19 problems on the Iowa program), a Hawkeye has already played its final game in black and gold. Ihmir Smith-Marsette announced on Thursday that he was declaring himself for the NFL Draft and ending his career in college football.
Blessings # 6for6 pic.twitter.com/JiDae3ivdn
– ISM 6 (@_ihmirr_) December 24, 2020
Whether Smith-Marsette would have been able to play in the Music City Bowl is unclear – he injured his ankle in the final game of the Iowa regular season, a 28-7 victory over Wisconsin two weeks ago.
Smith-Marsette ends his career in Iowa as part of a senior class that was 33-14 overall and 21-14 in the Big Ten competition, including wins over all Big Ten teams (except Michigan, though any Red shirt the elderly can add this feather to the cap) in their time in the program. They went 12-0 against Iowa State, Minnesota and Nebraska and 3-0 in bowl games (with the chance – maybe! – to make it 4-0 next week), with the USC being demolished 49-24 in the spotlight. last year at the Holiday Bowl.
That bowling game also became perhaps the culmination of Smith-Marsette’s career in Iowa. He scored three touchdowns … in the first half. Make sure: he scored three touchdowns … in the second quarter. And he scored each touchdown in a different way. The first was a six-yard run on a jet sweep.
The second was a 98-yard initial return explosion.
And the third was a 12-yard grab and run shot for the final zone.
Those plays were Smith-Marsette in a nutshell: speed, the ability to change direction fluently at any time, and the ability to play big games absolutely explosive. When Smith-Marsette had the ball, you didn’t want to blink, so you wouldn’t miss something spectacular.
Smith-Marsette made his mark for the first time in Iowa only in the second game of his Iowa career, catching two touchdowns against Iowa State in a wild 44-41 OT thriller, including the game winner in overtime.
But he did emerge in Iowa as an explosive and powerful returner, one of the best in the program’s history. After constantly threatening to interrupt a return to a touchdown during his first two seasons on campus, he was eliminated in the last game of the Iowa regular season of 2019 against Nebraska.
And then, of course, he managed to do it again the next game against USC. Unfortunately, ISM suffered the fate of many great kickoff returners, which is that the teams simply stopped kicking him, deciding to kick the ball through the end zone, kick it to a different side of the field, or even push it la – anything but putting the ball in your hands on a kick return – was a more desirable result.
Fortunately, Smith-Marsette had other ways to impact the game and Iowa’s offensive coaches, to their credit, have found other ways to get the ball in their hands over the past two seasons. He was the team’s second in receptions in each of these seasons (for Nico Ragaini last year and Sam LaPorta this year), but narrowly – for two receptions a year. He caught the ball in deep balls, he caught the ball in intermediate routes, he caught the ball in short screen passes that gave him the ability to use his speed to make the defenders miss and catch YAC. And it was increasingly used as part of the racing game, both as bait to confuse defenses and as a real racing option, often in jet sweeps or reversals, where its speed + wrong direction often meant disaster for people. defenses.
| YEAR | RECORDING | REC YD | REC TD | CAR | RUSH YD | RUSH TD | KR | KR YD | KR TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 |
18 |
187 |
two |
7 |
41 |
0 |
4 |
134 |
0 |
| 2018 |
23 |
361 |
3 |
9 |
71 |
0 |
24 |
707 |
0 |
| 2019 |
44 |
722 |
5 |
11 |
108 |
3 |
17 |
503 |
two |
| 2020 |
25 |
345 |
4 |
7 |
54 |
1 |
8 |
176 |
0 |
| TOTAL | 110 | 1615 | 14 | 34 | 274 | 4 | 53 | 1520 | two |
Smith-Marsette ends his career in Iowa with 3,409 total yards (197 hits, an average of 17.3 yards per touch) and 20 touchdowns – not bad numbers for a receiver and ace in an Iowa-like attack. But Smith-Marsette’s lasting legacy will not be his statistics. His legacy in Iowa will be the highlights he produced and the lasting memories he created. I mean, just look at these highlights:
He was like that. A lot of. Fun.
Even his last move on an Iowa uniform was an incredibly memorable highlight:
Bifurcated landing or not, is an incredible way to get out.
In the more than 20 years that Kirk Ferentz was in charge of the Iowa program, there have only been a handful of players with the caliber of a dynamic game creator that ISM was, who have had their level of explosion. Few players in Iowa in those two decades have been so much fun to watch. He was always a joy to watch, a black and gold blur insulting and teasing opponents, while electrifying and entertaining Iowa fans.
It was a pleasure to see him dressed in black and gold for the past four years and we wish him nothing but the best in his NFL career. Thanks for the memories, Ihmir, and hit them with afterburn on the next level.