The clock was ticking.
There were two weeks until college football fall practices were scheduled to start and Darryl Smith didn't have a home yet. Smith knew he loved football and wanted to continue playing the sport, but he did not know where.
A scholarship offer from Temple fell through. So Smith was contemplating attending the University at Buffalo as a walk-on. But he was also hoping something better would appear.
That's when North Carolina Central called.
After discussions between his mentor Justin Gilmore and North Carolina Central general manager Ethan Fame, the school offered Smith as a preferred walk-on and he officially committed on July 18 to play defensive back.
"My whole life has just been surrounded by football," Smith said. "... My family's big on sports and always use football to show my little brother that it's a way to get away from all the bad things in Niagara Falls cause I wouldn't want my little brother to go down any bad roads. So anytime I went to a college visit or anywhere with football, he came with me and it always put a smile on his face."
In his discussions with Fame, Gilmore expressed how good of a kid Smith is and how much untapped potential he has as a player. He also told Fame about the fact that Smith has competed against players from all over the country at various showcase camps.
One of the other people that played a role in Smith's college recruiting process is Sal Constantino who has helped behind the scenes in making sure that Smith was eligible and sending in all of his paperwork.
As the recruiting window got later and later, Constantino helped Smith stay positive and know that he will find a school to play at.
"Tank's been good for a really long time," Constantino said. "So it's hard for kids like that as you start to go through the process, especially with the new NCAA rules …He had a good senior year. He did a bunch of prospect camps. I think in a different year like it was five years ago, he probably would have had more than one choice."
Smith's decision to attend HBCU was helped by the fact he already knows family and friends in the area. The fact that he does know people there has allowed him to feel safe and if anything does go wrong he knows he has family there to help him.
Throughout the recruiting process, Gilmore used his resources to find Smith a home. He worked alongside Smith's parents and support system to send Smith to the next level. The former University of Louisville walk-on knows what it is like to be in Smith's shoes. He lived that experience as a Niagara Falls native himself.
Gilmore also used his expertise as a former NCAA Division I football player to help train Smith. Gilmore put Smith in contact with former Philadelphia Eagle Marcus Smith II to talk about the importance of preparation and mindset.
"I've also helped him when I could with footwork and training and stuff like that because I know … holistically and I played the game and I have resources," Gilmore said.
It is also in an effort to help prepare the kid nicknamed Tank for when he gets to the school and joins a packed defensive back room at the bottom of the depth chart. It is a defensive back room that is expected to already have 20 players in it.
It is a room that will only get busier moving forward as according to 247sports.com , N.C. Central has five players committed in the secondary in the Class of 2027. As a result, Gilmore is looking for Smith to solidify his spot this year.
Although summer workouts have already started, he is heading down to Durham, North Carolina on Aug. 12. He is heading down to the school late thanks to issues with his housing. As a late commit to the school, Smith will have to work to catch up and find his place on the team.
"It's super tough … My high school experience trying to get to college was very tough," I had a lot of ups and downs, a lot of things didn't go my way a lot of times. But I'm just blessed that it all worked out."
