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Sunday, July 6, 2025 | 5:05 PM
Josh Rizzo | For TribLive
Woodland Hills football player Scoop Smith enjoys some of the action during his camp Sunday.
Josh Rizzo | For TribLive
A camper catches a pass Sunday during Scoop Smith’s football camp at Woodland Hills.
Josh Rizzo | For TribLive
Campers vie for the football while doing a drill on “high pointing” a catch Sunday during Scoop Smith’s football camp at Woodland Hills.
Woodland Hills senior wide receiver Scoop Smith wanted to make his college commitment something that stood out. He didn’t want to be behind a table picking from baseball hats.
Instead, Smith hosted a football camp Sunday at the Wolvarena, announcing his commitment to Miami (Ohio) with a video on the stadium’s scoreboard after a camp featuring nearly 120 youth players.
Smith’s two other finalists were Nebraska and Toledo.
“I didn’t want to do it like anyone else,” Smith said. “I wanted to give back to the kids. I remember being these kids, and being at these camps helped me get to where I’m at today.”
Smith, who is 5-foot-5, scored 15 touchdowns last season, helping the Wolverines win their first conference title since 2015. Woodland Hills finished 8-3 after it was bounced in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs by Bethel Park.
Smith said a lot of coaches during recruiting talked about his height, and he wanted to go to the school he felt trusted him the most.
Smith said he isn’t sensitive about talking about his height.
“I think it’s an advantage,” Smith said. “I don’t look at it as a disability. I don’t get sensitive when people talk about it. I use it as motivation.”
Wolverines coach Brian Tarrant was pleased by the response to Smith’s camp. Many of the program’s coaches came out to run stations at the camp.
Following the end of camp, there was a large water balloon fight.
“It’s a beautiful day,” Tarrant said. “A lot of these kids are in our youth football program. A lot of these kids coming up idolize Scoop and what we are doing on top at the varsity level. It’s good to have our football coaches from each level here today and a collective effort to support Scoop.”
Smith caught 38 passes last season for 360 yards. He also ran for 352 yards on 27 carries.
During the spring, Smith fought off a nagging hamstring injury to win the WPIAL Class 3A title in the 100-meter dash for the second consecutive season with a time of 10.72 seconds.
Smith, who also plays basketball, said he remembers being around every sport and isn’t sure which one he started first.
“My first word was ball,” Smith said. “I was around every sport.”
Woodland Hills is hoping to have another strong season after spending a few years under the radar. Tarrant said he has heard good things from around the community.
“It’s one of the things I look forward to doing. We were down to 37 players when I inherited the job, now we are up to 82 players,” Tarrant said. “Football is alive and well in all of our boroughs. Our goal is to get each and every kid who wants to play football out for our program and do something positive in their lives.”
Tags: Woodland Hills
