Rice Sophomore Willson finding his way on the gridirion

The answer was so obvious that simply asking the question was an egregious offense worthy of extensive chastisement and castigation.

Yes Rice sophomore tight end Luke Willson arrived on South Main as a two-sport athlete and fresh off a stint with the Canadian Junior National Baseball team.

He was an agile first baseman with prodigious power and a raw physical specimen with abundant potential on the gridiron. But his nationality provided the surest clue of which sport captured his imagination as a youngster, and as a native of LaSalle, Ontario, Willson thought long and hard about casting his lot as a left winger in Junior Hockey before making a final, lasting commitment to playing football.

In hindsight the choice Willson made seems as obviously correct as the errant nature of asking a Canadian which sport he adored as a youth. Last Saturday night in Denton Willson enjoyed something of a coming-out party, gashing the Mean Green for four receptions, 86 yards and a key touchdown in the Owls’ 32-31 non-conference win at Fouts Field.

“Coming from Canada I want to prove that I can play with these guys here,” Willson said. “In terms of that, it (his performance) was nice.”

When sophomore tight end Vance McDonald was lost to a shoulder dislocation, Willson adroitly filled the void left from the departure by plugging the gaping hole in the Owls’ aerial attack. It was Willson who helped the Owls’ scuffling offense come to life, co-authoring a second-half rally with junior tailback Tyler Smith, who continues to prove his worth despite the seeming ease with which he is often overlooked.

When Smith first arrived in 2007, he was motivated by the opportunity to step out of the shadow cast by his older brother Quinton, the Owls’ second-leading rusher with 2,505 career yards. Smith was on his way to establishing his own identity as a special teams maven before suffering a catastrophic knee injury against UTEP midway through the season.

It was the reconstructive knee surgery that Smith underwent in Nov. 2007 that stoked his fire heading into last season. Would Smith trust his knee, could he cut and show decisiveness at the point of attack, and should the coaching staff trust a diminutive tailback (5-8, 195) with an injury history while other tailback options were plentiful and prepared?

If there was a slight, whether real or perceived, Smith used it to fuel his push to 428 yards and one touchdown, earning the George R. Brown Award as the Owls’ top running back in 2009. The honor secured Smith a spot on the Owls’ cluttered depth chart coming into this season, one that featured Charles Ross coming off a standout freshman campaign, plus celebrated Michigan transfer and lightning quick Sam McGuffie.

“With the addition of Sam, he makes me work harder,” Smith said. “Every time I see him, how explosive he is and how fast he is, how quick he is … that motivates me to push it a little bit harder and give my second effort, to never stop and always go 100 percent each play.”

Smith has come to be defined by his unrelenting effort as much as his penchant for squeezing through cracks between the tackles. Smith is shifty and sturdy, and his knack for slipping through the grasp of interior linemen came in especially handy against the Mean Green.

North Texas had effectively stifled McGuffie on the ground, limiting him to 18 yards on 14 carries. Smith lugged the ball just once in the first half, but following the intermission he gained 87 yards on seven carries to reignite the rushing attack, which in turn opened the passing lanes.

“He averaged 7.7 yards a rush,” Rice coach David Bailiff said. “He did a lot of that on his own.”

It would seem proper to credit Smith for his tenacity, but he attributes his success to patience. He is dedicated in film study, a craft that enhances his intuitive ability to read holes and dart through with precision. That same patience enabled Smith to methodically earn plaudits for his own accomplishments, to walk a path as Tyler instead of Quinton’s brother.

“He always pushed me. I see his records on the board,” Smith said of Quinton. “It always motivates me to break records. I’ve always been in his footsteps, in his shadow. It’s time for me to get my name out there.”

Willson used the downtime that came with his redshirt season in 2008 to reevaluate his commitment to football. He realized that he needed to build muscle mass and enhance his strength, and the labor required to do so took time from his baseball career. Despite the lure of potential stardom on the diamond, Willson opted to focus exclusively on football. He fought through shoulder injuries and a slow, steady crawl up the depth chart to earn a spot in the Owls’ rotation at tight end last season.

By no means was the decision to retire his bat easy for Willson. But when he chose to keep playing football and no longer pursue hockey, he did so as to follow in his older brother’s footsteps. Having made that decision years before made it easier for Willson to reaffirm that pledge.

“I had considered going the minor league route,” Willson said. “It was one of those things where I wasn’t playing (football) at all and I was like, ‘I could be in the minor leagues trying to develop.’ You never know.

“I went home and talked to my parents and said I’m going to put all my focus into football. Even last week I was thinking before the game that I’ve been here for two years now and it’s been a lot of hard work. But this is what I do it for, and it was time that it paid off.”

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