Coach Smith, Slippery Rock have tough road ahead

''I look at our schedule and we have Sharon, Wilmington,'' said Smith. ''I thought Reynolds was a much-improved team. Grove City is always very difficult. One of our non-conference games is against a team that won the (Class A) state championship last year in Sharpsville. It's going to be a tough year. The challenge is certainly there for us.''

Smith takes over for Mike Kish, who resigned after last year's 2-8 season. But Kish is still involved with the program, keeping his role as athletic director. And Smith realizes the opportunity and the influence Kish has imparted. Smith served as an assistant under Kish last year.

Smith graduated from North Catholic High School in Pittsburgh 1980 and from Hiram College in '84.

Along with being an assistant last year for the Rockets, Smith served as a graduate assistant at Slippery Rock University from 1984-86, an assistant coach at Forest Hill High in West Palm Beach, Fla. and a graduate assistant at the University of Rhode Island ('87-90).

The early '90s saw Smith lead Worcester (Mass.) Academy to a 38-16 record playing teams such as the Harvard freshmen, the Naval Academy plebes and the Coast Guard Academy.

Now Smith turns his attention to the job at hand.

''There's always excitement,'' Smith said. ''There's always optimism when you start off. You always have a little apprehension too, a little anxiety.

''We're looking forward to it. We're trying to get our kids excited about playing and about hustling. That's where our focus is right now. We want guys hustling this year and learning to create opportunities for ourselves.''

Smith's charges had the opportunity to do that from the start. The Rockets spent their first week of camp away from friends and family at the SNPJ recreation complex in Enon Valley.

''It's the first time, in my knowledge, that Slippery Rock High School has gone away for preseason camp,'' Smith said. ''It's a real nice facility. It's secluded there. It's a better opportunity for us to work and train for football as well as try to come together ... create team unity.''

Smith said the trip eliminated any distractions the team would face if it stayed local. Also, the three-a-day's were ''more concentrated'' and that's something the Rockets need since they had just under two full weeks of practice since they head back to school sooner than most other teams in the area.

''We only have one week of preseason basically,'' Smith said. ''It's a good year for us to go away and get that extra practice in at night.''

As any coach would, Smith expects to see the results on the field. But he's keeping things in a general perspective heading into the season.

About the only thing Smith knows for sure heading into the season is the Rockets will rely heavily on the arm of junior quarterback Greg Grupp, who saw a significant amount of playing time last year, seeing action in seven games under center.

''Greg has the leading hand at that position,'' Smith said. ''Simply because of his experience. He's a year older, two years older than most of our kids. I thought he had a great spring playing baseball. He's grown a lot, and I think he got a lot out of his sophomore season.''

The Rockets' offense, however, sputtered at times.

The team averaged just over 10 points and 216 yards/game.

Grupp completed 10 of 44 attempts for 155 yards during his action. But the telling stat was the 1 TD pass against 6 interceptions.

''He's going to be a leader,'' Smith said. ''He's also going to be playing defense and we're looking at him to be our punter, too. Right now he's a good package.''

Smith said there's up to six players vying for playing time in the backfield, the majority of whom are underclassmen. Leading the race are senior fullbacks T.J. Somers and Adam Ritenour. From there, it gets young with juniors Josh Hartman and Craig Harry and sophomore Josh Kniess expected to see some time. Seniors Pat Kingsley and Jason Foster, too, might get the call.

Smith plans to use a one-back set, thus tightening the race to start.

''That's going to be a struggle there,'' Smith said. ''There's a good opportunity for a kid to step up, if they want. With the competition there, the cream will certainly rise to the top. That's one thing I don't think they've had here, is the competition for one spot.''

The most notable absence is the loss of the versatile Adam Kniess, who led the team in rushing last year, on defense as a middle linebacker, kicked field goals and PATs and, simply put, left it all on the field.

''We're, literally, starting from scratch,'' Smith said, ''as far as a new defense, a whole new offense. We haven't looked at it as 'we have this hole to fill, we have that hole to fill.' ''

Assisting Smith will be Rocket assistants from last year Greg Walzer, who is in charge of the 7th- and 8th-grade program and Bud Sarver. New to the program are secondary/receiver coach Rodney Wilson, offense and defensive line coach John Kerr, and Sam Haybarger and Rick Murphy.