Baylor’s freshman receiver room has a name worth watching, and it isn’t hard to see why London Smith keeps popping up as a potential breakout.
With the transfer additions already crowding the depth chart, the path to snaps won’t be simple. Drelon Miller and Gavin Freeman are expected to be Lagway’s primary targets, but Smith brings a different kind of intrigue: a local Waco product with the kind of athletic profile that can force his way onto the field if everything clicks.
Smith was just outside the top 50 receivers in his class, yet the buzz around him has been building for a while. Baylor offered him almost four years ago, back in October of 2022, and that early attention says plenty about how long the Bears have had their eye on him.
The family connection makes the story even stronger. Smith’s dad, Rodney Smith, was one of Baylor’s best safeties, starting from 1996 until 1999.
He finished as the eighth all-time tackling leader for the Bears and also played for the 96 basketball team. Smith’s mother was a 1999 NCAA national champion in the triple jump and represented the United States in the 1999 World Championship.
That background gives his commitment a little extra weight. Him commiting to Baylor shows he wants to make history here in Waco, just like his dad did for the Bears in the 90's.
On the field, the opportunity may come in layers. Baylor has over four freshman and redshirt freshmen receivers not counting Smith, so the competition for a role behind the portal additions will be real. Even so, Smith looks like a player who could carve out special teams work and earn offensive chances because of what he brings athletically.
The appeal is obvious: elite open-field ability, vertical juice, and a ceiling that gets people talking. The one knock mentioned so far is that he can still tend to be a one-speed runner at times. That’s the kind of issue that can be smoothed out with coaching, playbook growth, and time in the weight room.
If that development comes, Baylor may have more than a promising freshman on its hands. Smith has the tools to become a multi-year starter with a real downfield impact, and the belief here is that his college trajectory could eventually point all the way to the NFL draft.
There’s a lot of talent here, and the fit with Baylor’s family history makes the whole thing feel even more natural. He chose the Bears over major programs like Oregon, Georgia, and Alabama, and that decision could end up looking like one of the more interesting bets in this freshman class.
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