Michigan’s new quarterback is “incredibly talented” and has a “linebacker mentality”

Richie Rode thought he had a difficult decision to make.

He accepted the job as head coach of the Bishop Verot football team in Fort Myers, Florida, before the 2021 season, bringing with him his all-state quarterback from Cypress Lake High across town.

But a talented freshman named Carter Smith also wanted to start his high school career in Verot and had his eye on the position in the starting lineup.

The two battled each other in 7-on-7 scrimmages over the summer, and before the season began, the other quarterback, JD Sherrod, now at Kent State, transferred to a school in Tennessee.

Smith, who committed to Michigan last November, took over the starting position and hasn’t looked back. The 6-foot-3 four-star prospect from the Class of 2025 will be entering his final season and already holds the Lee County record with 117 career touchdowns.

He also holds the district records for most passes and total yards in a season and was named the 2023 Gatorade Florida Football Player of the Year, leading the team to a record of 11-2.

Rode said Smith, who is ranked as the No. 160 prospect and No. 13 quarterback nationally according to the 247Sports Composite, is just scratching the surface of his potential.

“It’s been a fabulous career so far,” Rode told MLive. “It’s obviously a testament to his God-given talent, but he maximizes it by taking advantage of coaching. He cares about the details. A lot of God-given players get away with not paying attention to the details. They’re just so unbelievably good. But when the playing field evens out, sometimes you get left behind. That’s not him. All the things he thought he wasn’t so good at last year, he’s worked on this offseason. He’s just relentless. He’s got an incredibly strong mindset and he’s just incredibly talented and has done so many great things.”

Smith and Rode’s son grew up playing Pop Warner football together, and the two families have grown close over the years. Rode had high hopes for Smith when he entered high school, and it didn’t take long for him to find out what type of player he had at quarterback.

In Week 2 of his freshman season against rival Fort Myers Dunbar, Smith pulled the ball on a read option on the first play of the game and found a gap. Instead of stepping out of bounds and avoiding contact to gain about 5 yards, he lowered his shoulder and ran over Dunbar safety Shawn Russ, a three-star recruit who was committed to Florida at the time.

“That’s his competitive spirit,” Rode said. “He wanted to send a message, and he was the one sending it. He plays like a running back and has that linebacker mentality. He’s just an incredible athlete and has that football physicality.”

Bishop Verot runs a wide-ranging, up-tempo offense that uses a lot of run and pass options, which puts a lot of demands on the quarterback. Rode said he pushes Smith harder each season, and he continues to deliver.

The team finished 16-8 in Smith’s first two seasons before going 11-2 last year, with Smith passing for 2,223 yards and 29 touchdowns and rushing for 715 yards and 19 scores. In so many blowout victories, Smith missed the equivalent of five games because he was taken out of the game early to give the backup a few stints.

A quarterback as big, strong and fast as Smith is a nightmare for opponents. Rode said he is athletic enough to play receiver or safety at the college level if he wanted to.

“His playing style is very similar to JJ McCarthy’s, and that’s saying something,” Rode said. “I’m not saying he’s guaranteed to be a top-10 player, but there are some similarities.”

“He’s really thrown himself into the weight room over the last two years. Never misses a workout and has incredible strength. He’s got really big strides and really stealthy speed.”

Like all quarterbacks, Smith is not immune to mistakes. Verot was on the safe side before his quarterfinal matchup with Sarasota Booker, winning 10 games by at least 27 points during the year.

The Vikings were expected to advance, but Smith and many of his teammates had a poor game and lost 38-32.

“We were upset in a game where we had seven turnovers,” Rode said. “It was one of those weird, scary nights. The good thing is it’s easy to get complacent after a win, and the taste in our guys’ and Carter’s mouths from last year is how upset and embarrassed we were. We got beat by a team that was seeded 7th, and we were supposed to dominate at home and be regional champions. It was disheartening.”

As devastating as the loss was at the time, Smith’s father, Dan Smith, said he believes his son will benefit from the loss in the long run.

“If he’s anything like me, it’s going to spur him on to be the best he can be,” Dan said. “Obviously it sucks to get sent home and lose for the seniors, but in the back of my mind I think this is the best thing for the whole team and especially for him. He had a couple of interceptions that didn’t go in his favor. I was happy for him to go through that and come back this year full of energy and commitment and not let it happen again.”

Unlike most elite recruits at his position, Smith did not train with a personal quarterback coach until after his freshman season.

Dan played eight seasons as a minor league pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, and Carter shared a similar passion for baseball. As a rookie, Carter threw 91 mph on the mound and was ranked by Perfect Game as the best shortstop in the country for his age group.

But to play baseball at the highest level in Florida, he faced a year-round commitment – a sacrifice Carter was unwilling to make as he aspired to become a Division I college quarterback.

Carter retired from baseball after his freshman season and his football recruitment picked up speed.

Florida A&M offered him first, then Florida Atlantic. The larger universities followed, and when he announced his decision, he chose Michigan despite 20 other offers, including Florida, Florida State, Miami and Penn State.

Dan said Michigan joined the team after quarterback coach Kirk Campbell watched him throw during his sophomore season.

The family visited Ann Arbor last year for the Purdue game and that’s when Dan knew his son was going to be a Wolverine.

“I sat down with Carter and said, ‘We’ve been to several schools; if you really want to go to Michigan, it’s cold up there,'” Dan said. “He said it didn’t bother him at all. We went to the Purdue game, and the people and the atmosphere, even the people in the shops in town, were so genuine, so nice. He fell in love with it immediately. When (a recruiting staffer) took him to the 50 just before kickoff, I said, ‘That’s it, he’s coming to Michigan.'”

Carter was the second candidate to choose Michigan in the 2025 cycle, back when Jim Harbaugh was still head coach. The program underwent significant changes from January to March, when Sherrone Moore took over as head coach and a large number of assistants left for the NFL.

The Smiths were unimpressed.

“I knew (Harbaugh) was probably going to leave, especially if he won the national championship, but I never really brought that up with Carter,” Dan said. “The only conversation we had was — we assumed Coach Moore was going to take the head coaching job, and Coach Campbell stayed, we’re all in. It worked out just like that, so the idea of ​​looking anywhere else never came up.”

That didn’t stop other schools from asking if Carter was wavering, however. A day after it was announced that Harbaugh was joining the Los Angeles Chargers, Florida State head coach Mike Norvell visited Verot to talk to Carter.

Other coaches have inquired, but Carter remains committed to the Wolverines. Dan raved about their official visit to Ann Arbor last month as Michigan continues to build a strong class around Carter.

The Wolverines have moved into the top 10 national rankings with 16 verbal commitments, and Smith remains a headliner. Rode and Dan are excited for Carter to begin his career at Michigan, but the top-200 prospect’s main goal is to complete unfinished business.

Bishop has a challenging schedule in 2024, as it features top state teams such as St. Thomas Aquinas, Tampa Jesuit, Miami Palmetto and West Boca Raton. Carter will have a chance to break and extend more records this season, but Rode said his sole focus is on becoming the first team from Lee County to win a state title.

“Just incredible leadership, especially by example,” Rode said of Carter. “Does the right thing, is a good kid in the classroom. Shows up to every practice and does what he’s supposed to do. He makes him easy to coach. And when the other players see how he carries himself, how hard he works and how he trains, everything else falls into place very easily.”