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University of Illinois Athletics

2026 Football Signing Class

Maurice Smith Jr.

  • Position ATH
  • Class Senior
  • Height 6-4
  • Weight 245
  • Hometown Fort Pierce, Fla.
  • High School Vero Beach
  • Prev School Chowan
  • Instagram mauricejsmithjr
  • Twitter MauriceJSmithJr

Biography

2026 Senior

  • Transferred to Illinois with one year of eligibility remaining 

2025 Junior (Chowan)

  • Team captain
  • Played in seven games at quarterback
  • Threw for 1,088 yards and seven touchdowns on the season
  • Completed 61.7 percent of his passes (87/141) on the season
  • Rushed for 166 yards and three touchdowns on the season
  • Caught two touchdowns on the season
  • Passed, rushed, and caught touchdowns in a single game against West Alabama (9/6/25)
  • Conference Carolina Offensive Player of the Week in Week 0
  • Conference Carolina/Gulf South All-Academic
  • Served as a Christian Ministry Student chaplain and FCA leader

2024 Sophomore (Chowan)

  • Team captain
  • Played in nine games at quarterback
  • Threw for 1,374 yards and eight touchdowns on the season
  • Completed 58.3 percent of his passes (120/206) on the season
  • Rushed for 397 yards and five touchdowns on the season
  • Led the team in passing and rushing
  • Career-high 316 passing yards against North Greenville (11/16/24)
  • Career-high 136 rushing yards against Barton (9/14/24)
  • Served as a Christian Ministry Student chaplain and FCA leader
  • Gulf South All-Academic
  • Deans List
  • President List

2023 Redshirt Freshman (Long Island)

  • Played in eight games
  • Completed one pass for seven yards
  • Caught two passes for seven yards on the season
  • NEC Fall Commissioner's and Academic Honor Roll

2022 Freshman (Long Island)

  • Played in two games and redshirted the season
  • NEC Fall Commissioner's and Academic Honor Roll
  • Made collegiate debut in fourth quarter of season opener at Toledo (9/1/22)

High School 

  • Graduated with honors and associate of arts degree from Vero Beach (Fla.) High School in 2022
  • Captained football team for three seasons
  • Florida 8A Player of Year as senior
  • Two-time all-state and three-time all-area
  • Offensive All-State Player of Year finalist
  • Twice earned team MVP honors
  • Team won district championship in 2019 and 2020
  • Set school's record for career completion percentage (76 percent) while throwing for nearly 6,000 yards and 66 touchdowns
  • Threw for 43 touchdowns as senior
  • Also played varsity baseball and basketball
  • Previously attended Fort Pierce Westwood and Fort Pierce Central

Personal

  • Son of Tenice Smith and Maurice Smith Sr.
  • Two siblings, Micah and Christian
  • Brother, Micah, plays football at Illinois
  • Graduated with a degree in criminal justice from Long Island University
  • Completed a master's degree in organizational leadership from Chowan University

Statistics

Season Statistics

Season Statistics

No statistics available for this season.

Career Statistics

There are no statistics available for this player.