The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/672211
44 ■ THE WOLFPACKER SMART MOVE Dennis Smith Adjusted To College Life While Rehabbing His ACL Injury "Next fall, he is going to have such a head start on where he would have been without it. In every area, it seems to be a tremendous win." ■ Head coach Mark Gottfried on Smith enrolling early BY JACEY ZEMBAL N C State freshman point guard Dennis Smith fig- ured he was about 80 percent recovered from his ACL surgery in mid-February, but understood the process was still going to be a long one during his redshirt year. Smith injured his knee while playing in the semifinals of adidas Nations showcase event Aug. 2 in the Los Angeles area. Five days later, he underwent surgery at Duke Medi- cal, and his dreams started to shift. Smith had hoped of winning another 1A independent schools state title at Fay- etteville (N.C.) Trinity Christian and playing in national postseason all-star games. Instead, Smith elected to finish off his recruiting process and verbally committed to NC State on Sept. 10. He soon began plotting his next move and opted to enroll at NCSU in January. "Around the start of the high school season [in late Oc- tober], I looked at it and realized I wasn't going to play at all during the year," Smith said, "So I wanted to make a move and get a jump any way I could." That move not only allowed him the ben- efit of rehabbing his injury under the super- vision of the Wolfpack's support staff and at NC State's facilities, but also gave him a chance to prepare for the jump to the college level. The 6-3, 189-pound Smith believes he gained at least nine pounds this winter and was hoping to improve his shooting during his rehabilitation. "I'd dead lift and work on my quads and hamstrings, and run on the treadmill under water," Smith said of his winter rehabilita- tion work. "That was every day. Around the time I started moving in, I was working on lateral movement. "I can tell my thighs are a lot stronger than what they used to be." Head coach Mark Gottfried said he'll ease