Dowling Catholic football's Jaxon Smolik commits to Penn State to end rocky recruiting journey

Whirlwind doesn’t even begin to describe the past few months of Dowling Catholic quarterback Jaxon Smolik’s recruitment.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior finished a tough junior season – among the most important seasons for recruits, especially quarterbacks – without a single Division I offer.

In the offseason, Smolik caught the attention of two teams, Northern Iowa and Indiana State. But they weren’t the FBS (aka Division I) programs he hoped to pull in offers from and, again, his recruitment went stagnant for months.

Then the summer camp circuit started.

And from the end of June – a game-changing month for the No. 8 in-state recruit – to the middle of August, Smolik became one of the most sought-after 2023 recruits in the country.

More: Ranking Iowa's top 50 football recruiting prospects in the 2023 class

From starting spot to sidelined

To understand Smolik’s remarkable recruiting journey, you have to go back to last summer, when he was preparing for his junior season.

As a sophomore, Smolik split time behind center with senior quarterback Jake Steingreaber. The 2021 season was supposed to be his time to shine.

“I was really excited,” Smolik said. “I was gonna be the starter that year, and I got to lead a team. But that first game was a huge setback.”

Emphasis on setback. It was the first game of his junior season, Dowling versus Southeast Polk.

“First drive of the game, third down,” Smolik recalled. “I dropped back and something happened with our receivers. I took off to go up the middle and I get hit from my right side and landed on my left shoulder and heard a crack.”

Smolik thought he might be hurt, but not enough to stop playing, so he continued on in the game. But another hit later in the game took him out completely – for more than half the season.

In his first game as Dowling’s undisputed starter, Smolik had broken his collarbone.

Typical recovery for a fully broken collarbone after surgery? About nine to 10 weeks, Smolik was told.

He returned to practice in six.

Smolik played in Dowling’s last four games last year. Despite missing most of his junior season, he threw for 959 yards and nine touchdowns. And even though he was able to return sooner than expected, it was a difficult time for one of Iowa’s top recruits.

More: Ranking Iowa's top 25 high school football recruiting prospects in the 2024 class

“I still got to cheer on my teammates and be around the team,” Smolik said. “But it was really depressing, just a tough time for me.”

Making the most of the offseason

Smolik knew he didn’t have the same amount of game film as other top recruits at the end of their junior seasons.

So he didn’t exactly take the offseason, well, off.

About a week after the end of his high school season, Smolik headed to a gameday visit at Dartmouth College. Stops at Indiana, Iowa State, Iowa and St. Thomas followed. He played his third season of 7-on-7 football and participated in the Elite 11 Regional in Nashville.

Smolik’s performance at that regional event would pay off later, but first he jumped head first into the camp circuit. After attending two camps in one weekend, Smolik went from two offers to five, adding Western Illinois, Southeast Missouri State and Valparaiso.

Tulane extended Smolik his first offer from an FBS program after his performance at its camp in early June. He committed to the Green Wave about two weeks later.

More: Introducing the Iowa High School Football Top 100 for the 2022 season

And then the unexpected happened.

Five-star quarterback and Tennessee commit Nicholaus Iamaleava withdrew from the Elite 11 Finals at the last minute. Smolik was the first alternate, or that’s what he was told when organizers from the finals called him.

“I had no clue I was on their radar,” Smolik said. “I heard some (people) say I did pretty well at regionals but I didn’t know I did well enough to make the Elite 11 Finals because I don’t have a big name. I don’t have the stars; I only have three stars now and that’s not as big as the guys there.”

He caught a 6 a.m. flight the morning after that phone call. Smolik was set to compete against some of the best quarterback prospects in the country. He was one of only three-star recruits – Smolik did not have a 247Sports Composite rating at the time of Elite 11 Finals – invited to the event.

Among the big names joining Smolik at the finals were Marcus Stokes, who will come back into the story later, and JJ Kohl of Ankeny.

By the end of the event, Smolik was among the final Elite 11 players chosen. He was the only athlete with less than four stars who made the cut.

Within a week, teams like Virginia Tech, LSU and Auburn showed interest in Smolik. Wisconsin and Notre Dame emerged with interest. Penn State and California offered Smolik before the end of July.

It was a turning point for the already committed rising senior.

Tough decisions and a flipped commitment

“Growing up, I’d always watch Penn State,” Smolik said. “Trace McSorley, Saquon Barkley. And Cal used to be one of my dream schools. It’s really awesome to see my childhood dreams kind of come true getting these offers.”

Well, those dreams have become reality. Smolik will play for one of the teams he grew up watching.

Remember Marcus Stokes, one of the quarterbacks who participated alongside Smolik at the Elite 11 Finals? He committed to Penn State on April 7 and was officially still committed to the Nittany Lions when he competed at the finals. Stokes decommitted from PSU in early July and committed instead to his home-state Florida Gators.

That left Penn State without a quarterback commit in the 2023 class, less than two months before the start of the new season.

A few weeks later – after Smolik attended Penn State’s camp – the Nittany Lions offered the rising Dowling Catholic senior. The next two weeks went by quick. After conversations with family and coaches, he made a tough decision.

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Smolik decommitted from Tulane and committed to Penn State.

It wasn’t something he took lightly; Smolik knows how players who decommit are viewed.

“In the past, if you decommitted, you were kind of seen as less because not a lot of people decommitted and you weren’t a man of your word,” Smolik said. “These days, a lot of people switch their choices. I was thinking about it a lot because I didn’t want (Tulane) to have to scramble to find a quarterback.

“It was hard for me to tell them, and to tell all the other coaches that were recruiting me too. But I feel it was the right decision for me.”

Let’s break down the first week of high school practice for Smolik.

• On Monday, Dowling held its first official summer practice after Family Week.

• Tuesday is when he had the conversation with Tulane’s coaches that he had flipped his commitment to Penn State.

• On Wednesday, he informed Penn State’s coaching staff of his decision.

• Smolik posted the announcement on social media on Friday.

While the process might have seemed rushed – especially in that last week – it was actually Penn State’s patience that won Smolik over.

“I talked to coach (James) Franklin, and he didn’t push me to make a decision, which was kind of a big thing,” Smolik said. “Everybody was telling me that he would push me to commit and he didn’t. Other coaches weren’t really pushing either, but they wanted me to make a decision sooner rather than later.”

As for picking up the late offer from Penn State, Smolik doesn’t feel like the Nittany Lions' second choice after Stokes decommitted. Rather, he thinks things worked out just the way they were supposed to for both quarterbacks.

“I don’t feel like a backup option at all. I feel like the stars kind of aligned. Stokes got to go to his kind of hometown team, and I get to go to Penn State, which is more cold and more what I’m used to. I think everything kind of lined up great for both of us.”

Sights set on his senior season

The recruiting process has been stressful for Smolik.

He plans to graduate early, which meant he stacked schoolwork on top of his summer responsibilities. Not following the typical quarterback recruiting schedule didn’t help matters, but Smolik isn’t looking for sympathy.

“It’s just a hard process,” Smolik said. “But I mean, everybody goes through hard stuff. If I want to be a decent athlete, this is what I have to do. And I just gotta accept it and kind of go with it.”

Regardless of the ups and downs – of which there have been many in his recruiting journey – Smolik is happy to have his decision out of the way before the start of his senior season so he can focus on helping his team.

But win or lose this season, Smolik wants other recruits to take his story as a bit of a learning lesson.

“Never give up. I was thinking of giving up after my collarbone injury because of other injuries before that and things weren’t looking good. But I kept going, and I kept working hard in silence. You never know what might happen.”

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Dowling's Smolik finishes rocky recruitment with Penn State commitment