Three-Time NCAA Qualifier Driven by National Podium
Dec 23 | Wrestling
By Tom Luicci
ScarletKnights.com
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - As good as Billy Smith's wrestling career has been at Rutgers, the fifth-year senior heavyweight knows there's still one significant accomplishment missing from it.
Scott Goodale, his head coach, feels the same way.
Forget, for a moment, his career victory total (83 and counting). Or the preseason national rankings of No. 8 (by Intermat) and No. 9 (by FloWrestling) he was assigned - rankings he has lived up to during a 9-3 start.
Smith, a three-time NCAA Championsips qualifier, wants two words added to his legacy with the Scarlet Knights: All-American.
"He's had a really good career and he's won so many big matches for us. He's just missing one thing - being an All-American," said Goodale. "That's kind of been his Achilles' heel, the national tournament.
"I think that missing piece is what drives all of these guys. But him for sure, because he was so highly touted coming out of high school and here he is now with his last shot to do it. You don't want to put that pressure on him. But it's the reality. He knows it's there. He's good enough to do it. He just needs to go do it."
Smith said the significance of earning All-America status as a career exclamation point was driven home even more during a conversation he had in March with teammate and fellow fifth-year senior Anthony Perrotti, a 2014 All-American.
"We were at nationals and I was talking with Anthony and we were going back and forth about our careers, busting on each other," Smith said. "I told him `I'm going to have 100 wins by the time I'm done at Rutgers.' He said he didn't care about that because he was an all-American.
"It really hit me then because there's some truth to that. People don't seem to be as interested in how many times you win as they are whether you're an all-American or not. I have one more shot and I'm going to get it done."
Every day, the 250-pound Smith says he is motivated to achieve that goal and fill in the one void on his career resume. It might be a touchy subject for some college wrestlers, especially someone as accomplished as Smith.
But the Wantage, N.J. native wants his quest for that elusive All-America status out there in the open driving him every moment of this season.
"Right now, it's everything to me," he said. "I've wrestled for two decades and I feel everything has built to this point where it needs to happen. Because of everything I've done in my wrestling career and every coach that has helped me get to this point, I feel I wouldn't just be letting myself down. I'd be letting everyone around me down. I'm not going to let that happen.
"I wouldn't say it's been frustrating. It's like (associate head coach) Donny Pritzlaff says: `Put your best self out there every day, every match.' If I can do that I'll be able to knock off one of these highly ranked guys (at the NCAA Tournament). Then one turns to two and two turns three and three turns into All-American."
Smith, who started wrestling when he was six, has experienced success at every level during his wrestling career. He was an undefeated New Jersey State Champion as a heavyweight in 2011 at High Point High School - after wrestling at 152, 171 and 215 during his scholastic career.
But he has never been pushed, nor has he pushed himself, as much as he has this season.
"Heavyweight is one of the best weight classes in the country -and he's right in the thick of it and he knows it," said Goodale.
Smith will look to pick up where he left off (an 8-2 decision over No. 13-ranked Collin Jensen during the Scarlet Knights' 17-16 victory over No. 4-ranked Nebraska on Dec. 12) when Rutgers returns to action at the storied Midlands Championships hosted by Northwestern on Dec. 29 and 30. Goodale's squad is off to a 10-2 start and is ranked No. 9 in the latest USA Today/ NCWA poll.
"Every day is almost a new challenge for me," Smith said. "There's never a day where it's easier, which is exactly how I want to be challenged my final year. The coaches are doing a good job making it harder and harder each day, so you can't get comfortable. That's a good thing.
"For me, I'm trying to prepare so I can peak at the right time. The Midlands Tournament will be the start of that peak. If I can have some success there I can really get the ball rolling toward a strong finish. That's the goal: Be at my best when it matters most."
