Keyshawn Smith was a late addition to the 2020 Miami football signing class. Smith signed in early January after the early December signing period and was an early enrollee.
Keyshawn Smith was an early enrollee with the Miami football program in early January. Smith was a surprise addition to the Hurricanes after being released from the National Letter of Intent he signed with Washington State during the December early signing period. Smith left the Cougars following the departure of Mike Leach.
Leach left Washington State to take the head coaching job at Mississippi State. Smith joins the Miami football team in a similar version of the air raid offense run by new Hurricanes offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee. Lashlee was previously the offensive coordinator at SMU under Sonny Dykes.
Leach worked for Dykes’ father Spike at Texas Tech. Smith comes to Miami after being the 706th ranked player overall, the 111th ranked wide receiver and 60th ranked player in California in the Class of 2020. Smith attended Lincoln High School in San Diego. Lincoln also produced Marcus Allen and Terrell Davis.
Smith will provide Miami with a speedy receiver who needs to add bulk to his 6’0, 170-pound frame. At the time of Smith signing with Miami, Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz discussed his addition to the Miami football roster as transcribed by Christopher Stock of Inside the U.
"“A very fast, dynamic football player catching the ball down field with run-and-catch possibilities…That was very unusual…That’s not a story you hear all of the time. I know Stephen Field (Miami tight ends coach) did a great job of kind of identifying Keyshawn and when he was released and became available, we were trying to find out if he had any interest.We had looked at with what we were doing on offensively the number we wanted to hit at receiver grew. We felt we needed a little more depth at wide receiver with our football team because of the number of snaps that we expect to play on offense so we felt like we had to add a guy. This just sort of came about at the right time.When we found out he was available and made some contact we found out, as a lot of people do, the ‘U’ brand is very strong. Keyshawn and his mom always sort of liked the ‘U,’ always sort of followed the ‘U’ so it was one of those things that once that initial connection was made.I believe the first day I was allowed out in January I flew to San Diego and got in the home and at least got a chance to talk about who we were and what we were about and make the family feel really good about letting Keyshawn come be a Miami Hurricane.”"
Smith is not expected to immediately be on the three-deep depth chart for Miami in 2020. The Hurricanes could use Smith’s speed this fall. The potential is to give Smith a chance to play in up to four games, see what he can contribute and potentially redshirt him in 2020. Smith is part of a deep 2020 Miami class at WR.
Michael Redding III was the sole consensus four-star WR Miami signed in 2020. Smith, Dazalin Worsham and Xavier Restrepo were consensus three-star signees. Jeremiah Payton was a 2019 four-star signee who redshirted last season and is expected to be a big contributor to the Hurricanes offense in 2020.