Ithaca’s Travis Smith and Powers Catholic’s Allyson Haran are headed south to continue their athletic careers.
Both standout athletes signed their National Letters of Intent Feb. 5 to attend Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, in front of friends and family at their respective schools.
Smith, who was a member of Ithaca’s four straight Division 6 title teams and a key contributor in the Yellowjackets’ 56-game winning streak, originally verbally committed to the University of Toledo, but after receiving a Facebook message from the Wake Forest staff right before Christmas, he opened his options once again.
At first, Smith couldn’t figure out why he was receiving a recruiting pitch from a coach at Wake Forest. “I was confused at first, because I didn’t really realize that the coaching staff at Wake Forest was the Bowling Green coaching staff,” he said. “When I learned it was Bowling Green’s coaches, I realized what was going on.”
Head coach Dave Clawson left Bowling Green University to take over the Wake Forest program in mid-December and took several assistants with him, including offensive coordinator Warren Ruggiero. The new staff was scrambling when it came to the most important position on the field.
Smith had been on Clawson’s radar for the previous three years while he was coaching at Bowling Green. In fact, Travis and his dad Brett Smith visited Bowling Green last spring and liked what they saw.
“Travis has always dreamed about playing big-time football, and when this opportunity came about, he jumped at it,” Brett Smith said. “To play in the ACC with the likes of defending national champion Florida State University is pretty amazing. I’m looking forward to heading south quite a bit in the coming years.”
The Wake Forest coaches offered Smith a scholarship before he visited the school, which he fell in love with the minute he arrived.
“When I went down there to visit, it just blew me away,” said Smith. “The coaches have the program going in the right direction, and all the players are buying in. The academics at Wake Forest are top-five in the country, too.”
For his career, Smith finished with 104 touchdown passes and 8,044 yards passing, which ranks second in state history. In 2013, he completed 188 of 264 passes (71 percent) for 42 touchdowns with only seven interceptions. His 42 touchdown passes ranks fourth in the MHSAA single-season record book. Additionally, he also carried the ball 91 times for 640 yards and 10 scores last fall.
Harran, a first-team all-state defender in 2012, verbally committed to the Demon Deacons almost two seasons ago, and now the opportunity to play for an NCAA national soccer power has become reality. It is something that she has dreamed about since she started playing the game she loves nearly a decade ago. “Being able to play in the ACC with a team like Wake Forest is pretty special,” she said. “To go up against the top teams in the country is going to be tough, but I’m ready for the challenge, not to mention the opportunity of getting an education from one of the top schools in the country.”
On National Signing Day, Smith was joined by two of his teammates, Logan Hessbrook and Josh Hafner, who also announced their college decisions. “It’s cool to be signing to play in college with two of my receivers and best friends,” Smith commented.
Hessbrook, who is headed to Saginaw Valley State University, is a 6’3″, 200-pound wide out who earned first-team all-state honors last fall. The future Cardinal caught 62 passes for 1,262 yards and 19 touchdowns in 2013 and was a key player on both sides of the ball for Ithaca. Defensively, he was a ball hawk, as he picked off nine passes and had 63 tackles.
Hafner, who will attend Northern Michigan University, earned honorable mention all-state honors last fall, as the the 6’2″, 175-pound wide out reeled in 48 passes for 770 yards and 10 scores. Defensively, he had 39 tackles and seven interceptions.