Top 2014 offensive linemen is an athletic anomaly.
Braden Smith, Olathe South
Photo by Sam Soliday
It's no secret that
Braden Smith is a physical specimen.
When MaxPreps
profiled him in the fall, it became clear that he was not a typical sophomore.
At age 15, the 6-foot-6, 280-pounder has a 7-foot wing span, bench-presses over 400 pounds, and has roughly 8 percent body fat. He's one of the
top offensive linemen in the class of 2014.
With a state title-winning sophomore season on the football field behind him, Smith is now focusing on track and field, where he's one of the state's top sophomore throwers.
Additionally, he's done some combine-style testing that has yielded some eye-popping results...as well as his first offer.
According to his father, Dave, Smith recently registered a vertical jump of 36.5" and a broad jump of 9'6".
To put those numbers in perspective, the top vertical jump among offensive linemen at this year's NFL Combine was 35.5", while the leading broad jump was an identical 9'6".
Granted, if Smith develops into a position where he has an opportunity to test at the NFL combine (which many think he will), he'll likely be much heavier than 280 pounds and thus, less likely to notch such incredible numbers.
However, Smith's track background gives him a unique skill set. He's been doing flexibility training since he was a child and his work in the shot put has helped greatly with his explosiveness for football.
Missouri pulled the trigger with an offer to Smith, while Oklahoma and others could offer soon.
