Wagner College has been without a key piece during its spring football practice this past month as starting quarterback Adam Farnsworth has been held out while he rehabs from shoulder surgery.

But another crucial part of the Seahawk backfield is feeling good after injuries took a bite out of his first season on Grymes Hill.

Running back Shane Smith enters tomorrow’s Green & White spring game (11 a.m.. Wagner College Stadium) looking forward to the fall.

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“I’m trying to hope for a full season,” said Smith. “Knock on wood with the injuries. Hopefully we can come back and stay away from the nicks and bruises and play some football.”

For the fifth-year senior, there hasn’t been a lot of action over the past few years. A winding road brought Smith to Wagner a year ago and put him in the mix to step in for All-Northeast Conference running back Jason Butler.

Smith came out of Susquehanna, Pa., and went to Milford Academy Prep before landing at Central Florida. After a redshirt season in 2005, he played nine games in 2006 before leaving school and sitting out the 2007 season.

Smith’s coach at Milford, Jason Houghtaling, had moved on to the Wagner staff and brought the 6-foot-2, 230-pounder in as a mid-year transfer in time for the 2008 spring semester.

“He heard I left Central Florida so he offered me another opportunity to come and play football,” said Smith. “I had to take it and run with it.”

Smith ended up as the Seahawks’ leading rusher last fall with 639 yards, averaging 4.9 yards per carry. But in a 3-8 season, Smith was one of several players limited by injury. He played in just eight games after suffering an injured spleen and a pulled hamstring.

“I couldn’t really perform the way I wanted to,” said Smith. “I still tried to do my best and do as good as I could and help out the team whichever way I could.

“I feel great right now. Coming into the spring game, were pretty healthy as a team as a whole.”

Wagner running back hoping for a healthy year
by Tom Dowd, The Staten Island Advance (NY)
http://www.silive.com/colleges/index.ssf/2009/05/wagner_running_back_hoping_for.html