The strongest part of Jeremy Smith’s identity is his unwavering effort in the face of adversity.
Smith’s love for basketball started to evolve in the fourth grade, and the dream to receive a scholarship to a four-year university began.
In high school, Jeremy spent his first three years coming off the bench. Smith was given the starting position as shooting guard during his senior year.
“After high school, I didn’t have any looks.” Smith said. “I was small and no one really wanted to give me a chance.”
Smith spent one semester at Mt. San Jacinto College hoping to play for their team after graduating Great Oak High School in 2014. He quickly found he was not going to get any playing time.
This prompted him to find another school that would give him the playing time he deserved.
A fire inside Smith would not be extinguished. “Do I want to be good at basketball, or do I want to be like everyone else?” Smith said.
The next two years he spent most of his time at parks and gymnasiums, honing his craft. “I’d be there from morning til’ night,” Smith said.
Friends would often ask each other where Smith was. The consistent reply was that he was on the basketball court.
Before playing on the team at Citrus College, Smith watched a game during the 2015-2016 season. After the game, Smith was taking shots on the court. By sinking 14 3-pointers in a row, Smith grabbed the attention of then head coach, Patrick Johnson.
Johnson encouraged Smith to attend Citrus College and try-out for the team. Brett Lauer took over from Johnson for the 2016-2017 season.
Expecting to work his way from the bench into a starting position, Smith was surprised when he became the team’s starting point guard for the 2016-2017 season.
Smith is a point guard who has had two great seasons for the Owls. His skills have contributed to back-to-back Western State Conference East Championships for Citrus men’s basketball.
Smith solidifies his place in the Citrus College history books this year by breaking the men’s basketball single-season assist record and most points scored in a single game with 41, breaking the old record of 39 points.
Smith finished his second season with the Owls averaging team leading numbers of 21.4 points per game and 5.4 assists per game.
“He made a lot of big plays throughout the year,” said Andrew Ammann, sophomore guard.
The season ended and Jeremy Smith has “put together one of the best seasons individually that anyone has had at Citrus College,” said Brett Lauer, Citrus College men’s basketball coach.
Smith has shown growth in his game and fulfilled his dream of competing at a while playing at Citrus College.
California Baptist University awarded Smith a scholarship for men’s basketball. He will continue pursuing a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology while attending CBU.
“With the work that he put in, he earned it,” Lauer said. “There’s nothing better than watching someone achieve their goal.”
“Never give up. It’s a lot easier to just give up and walk away than it is to keep fighting and keep going,” Smith said.
Corrections:
The headline was changed from “Jeremy Smith: division I dreams ” to Jeremy Smith: dream to reality”.
Text was changed from “receive a division 1 scholarship began.” to “receive a scholarship to a four-year university began.”
Andrew Amman’s name was corrected from “Amaan” to “Amman”.
Corrections made March 26, 2018.
