2025 Bowl Series: Blake Smith's Resurgence

But Blake Smith wasn’t getting on a plane. He was taking the scenic route home. The drive from Tempe, Arizona, to San Marcos is roughly 1,000 miles.

“I was there ‘til Monday night … drove three hours to Tucson, and the next day, woke up around like six and we drove from Tucson,” Smith said.

Fifteen hours gives you a long time to think about things... ‘When’s the pain going away? When am I going to recover? Really, what just happened? And how much longer is this drive going to take?’

Rewind a few days and it’s September 13, 2025, and it was really the first catch that did it.

The Bobcats were playing their third game of the season, the back half of a home and home with Arizona State in Mountain America Stadium and Smith remembers the play vividly. It was first and 10 at the ASU 48 and he saw quarterback Brad Jackson throw it.

“I went up and, I mean, I went up, caught the ball, came down,” Smith said. “I just saw one guy about to spear me. It was terrible. That feeling I had when I was laying down, that was second to none. I wouldn’t have wished that on my worst enemy. That was terrible.

Smith goes back to a first quarter catch for a first down on a drive that eventually ended in a field goal for the Bobcats. 

“[I] made a move and I got hit … and then it all kind of transpired from there,” he continued.

Smith was forced to make a tackle after a fumble in the second quarter and the pain continued. When he was finally forced to exit, it was a long, slow walk to the Bobcat sideline. He walked straight toward the family section. Everyone was sitting down, except his mom.

This was not the first time seeing her son injured. In fact, she’s as much of a seasoned veteran with that as Smith is in college football. 

He told her, “I’m all good.”

To be fair, Smith has probably said those words more than he can count throughout his football career. The jury’s probably still out as to whether or not she believes him.

Smith graduated high school early and enrolled at Texas A&M in the spring of 2020, ready to put a semester under his belt to prepare for the upcoming season. He caught 40 passes for 491 yards and 10 touchdowns playing for a storied Southlake Carroll football program. Things were all good.

COVID hit and so did hip surgery. Smith was plagued by a labral tear in his hip and used that down time to his advantage. Rehab was successful and he was ready to compete in fall camp. Until his next ‘I’m all good’ moment happened.

Smith tore his ACL during his true freshman season and, while rehabbing, all good struck again. Nothing he knew he couldn’t handle, though. A few setbacks and he was eventually ready for the 2022 season. A season which, if all went originally according to plan, would have been his junior season.

“[I was] kind of just trying to find my way back into things, kind of find my groove, my confidence and all that,” Smith said of his first collegiate season of action.

The 2022 season didn’t shake out the way the Aggies expected it. The team went 5-7, missing a Bowl game for the first time since 2008. The experience had been anything but boring for him, but Smith had gone through a lot personally while with the program, so it was time for a change. He entered the portal.

Smith headed north and ended up at Oklahoma where he reunited with tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley, the coach who recruited him to Texas A&M. Oklahoma had been a dream school of his. His sister went there. And it was time for him to do the same.

He was 21 when he got to Norman.

Smith graduated from Oklahoma after playing 10 games and helping the Sooners to a 10-3 record and an appearance in the Alamo Bowl. Yet, he was still waiting in the wings. 

So, as Smith says, “It was an easy choice.”

He ended up in San Marcos and things were all good again. Smith didn’t play his first season in San Marcos because of injury and then found himself in front of media on March 29, 2025, when he was asked about his recovery process.

“It’s a lot, honestly. It’s been about a year to this day, actually. It’s a lot of hard work. There’s days when you don’t want to get out of bed and get up and do it, but you’ve just got to. To be in this position, and me standing here right now, I had to put in the work”

There’s never been a ‘give up’ moment for Smith. He knows there’s someone who wants his position and he can’t give up on that.

“I kind of go back and forth on what my why is. It kind of just reverts back to my injuries. I want to keep proving myself, right? I feel like most people in my shoes wouldn't be here. I feel like with all the adversity I’ve been through, I feel like I'm a different person.

Smith spends his days working with his roommates – Lincoln Pare, Beau Sparks and Austin Turner – who welcomed him home with open arms after that September 13 injury.

“Those guys, I mean, I'll do anything for them and vice versa. So, we have a good relationship … We're really close. Whatever we need, we'll be there for each other's support.”

Any one of Smith’s injuries could have been the last for his career. At some point, everyone waves the white flag, but Smith is big on his faith and knows what adversity looks like and how to persevere through it. 

Here's to hoping things really are all good for Blake Smith at Texas State.