Texas A&M Player Profile: Wide receiver, Ainias Smith

Going into the 2022 football season, Aggies Wire will be looking at each scholarship player listed on the Texas A&M roster.

Over the preseason, each profile will cover where the player is from, how recruiting websites rated them coming out of high school, and what role they will play for Jimbo Fisher this season.

Ainias Smith is entering his senior season at the wide receiver position for Texas A&M, surprising the coaching staff as well as the fan base when he announced his return earlier this calendar year. As one of the most versatile athletes the program has had in decades, Smith is perhaps the most vital returning starter to a young, yet supremely talented 2022 offense, only rivaling starting strong safety, Demani Richardson, who will be playing a similar role as the unequivocal leader of the defense.

As a favorite of Jimbo Fisher’s in the newly minted head coach’s first official Aggies recruiting class, Smith was a three-year starter at wide receiver, running back, cornerback, and occasionally free safety at Fort Bend Dulles High School in Flower Mound, Texas, accumulating 131 receptions for 1,758 yards and 20 receiving touchdowns, and 161 carries for 1,232 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns on offense. On defense, made 23 total tackles and 4 interceptions.

During his recruiting process, it ultimately came down to Duke or Texas A&M, with the Aggies edging out the blue devils at the last minute, with the football swiss army knife committing on Feb. 9, 2019. In his first season with the team during the 2019 season, Smith instant chain mover for the offense, performing well at the slot wide receiver positions while taking snaps in the backfield, playing in 12 games and recording 22 receptions for 248 yards and 3 receiving touchdowns.

In 2020, his best statistical season, Smith became an offensive catalyst and the go-to flex option at wide receiver and running back, tallying 43 receptions for 564 yards and 6 touchdowns, with a heavy increase in his…