Joe Tessitore discusses where DeVonta Smith’s 2020 season ranks all-time in college football history
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
The performance of DeVonta Smith throughout the 2020 college football season will be talked about for years to come. The Alabama wide receiver will depart Tuscaloosa with a pair of national championships while having re-written the SEC record books—setting new conference marks in several single-season and career categories.
Very few expected him to do what he did in the national championship game against Ohio State on Monday: 12 catches for 215 yards and 3 touchdowns in the 1st half, his incredible night cut short by injury early in the 3rd quarter. It was still more than enough to see him named the game’s offensive MVP.
“I don’t believe it gets better than that at this level of the game. I really don’t, Paul,” ESPN play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore said on “The Paul Finebaum Show” on Tuesday afternoon. “And you and I have watched and covered and worked in this sport for a very long time, and we have great respect for the history of the sport. (There) may be [a performance] as good down the road by somebody very special, but I don’t know that you’ll ever see better than what you saw this year on DeVonta Smith, and then capped with that first half (Monday) night.”
Was what we saw from DeVonta Smith last night (and all year) the best performance in college football history – @JoeTessESPN pic.twitter.com/yeFbsQ5MXx
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) January 12, 2021
Smith will certainly have his name called early during the NFL Draft in late April. And his performance on Monday was just icing on the cake for what has been a legendary college football career.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
