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There he found the name of a high school junior from Burton named Dan Taylor, followed by the words: "too slow to be a Division I athlete."
Talk about being way off base on a scouting report.
Not only did Taylor sign with the Buckeyes, he went on to be a nine-time All-American in the shot put, discus and hammer throw, won two national championships and was recently named the Male Athlete of the Year at Ohio State, an award that encompasses all varsity sports.
To top it all off, the 2000 Berkshire High School graduate will be at California State-Sacramento this weekend to take part in the U.S. Olympic trials as the fifth-ranked shot putter in the country.
"Going from Burton, where there's no stoplights, to being in the position to make it to the Olympics, that's something," Taylor said. "Every time I go home, I think of that. Yeah, it does mean a lot to me."
Taylor has undergone quite a transformation since he received his diploma from Berkshire, one which Smith describes as "going from a 6-6, 330-pound bowl of jelly to a 6-6, 335-pound rock that runs a 4.8 40 (yard dash), can tomahawk dunk a basketball and can jump up onto a 54-inch box."
At one point, Taylor ballooned to 395 pounds before going on a diet that cut out, among other things, the 2,000 calories he consumed a day drinking Mountain Dew.
Yes, 2,000 calories.
"I dropped 65 pounds, give or take a little," Taylor said with a chuckle. "I've still got a little (fat), but I'm not your typical 330-pound guy. It really increased my speed, my strength, everything."
The results after that sophomore-season diet were immediate. During his junior campaign, Taylor uncorked a shot put of 69 feet, 11 inches at the indoor nationals. It was then that he first though about the Olympics.
"At the time, I was only 20, and that was a new world record distance for that age," Taylor said. "I believe it still stands. Until then, my best was 66 or 67 feet.
"It was just a perfect throw. Since then, my consistency has gone up. I'm consistently in the 66- to 67-foot range every meet. I'm just waiting for the day for it to time up right again."
Taylor, a construction systems management major with a few quarters of classes remaining, hopes that's what will happen at the Olympic trials.
The competition is going to be staunch, to put it lightly.
Christian Cantwell, who recently won the world indoor championships, is the No. 1-ranked shot putter in the world. And six-time world champion John Godina, who has Olympic bronze and silver medals on his mantle, isn't far behind.
Adam Nelson, the silver medalist in the 2000 Olympics, is there, as is the two-time world indoors champion, Reese Hoffa.
That doesn't mean Taylor can't do it. The top three at the trials advance to the Summer Games in Athens, Greece, and he's in the thick of things. Taylor's got some rough competition, but he's still got a shot at Athens.
"Dan's probably the most mobile man in the world for his size, really," Smith said. "If he went to the NFL combines, he'd probably be a second-round pick just on the combine results alone.
"But realistically, he's got one of the toughest jobs in the world. He's got the four best throwers in the world ahead of him. He's a big underdog. He could make it to the Olympics for any other country."
Taylor said nerves won't be a big issue, since he has so many big-meet performances already in his career, including the 2003 Pan-American Games.
"There is a lot of adrenaline," Taylor said. "The trials is the day that everyone sets themselves up for. Nothing else you did up until then matters. If you don't perform, you're not going to the Olympics. That's really going to bring up the level of competition."
Smith agreed, saying, "If you get it all right on that one day, you can go. If he pops a big throw, he could find himself on he Olympic team."
Taylor thought about taking part in the hammer throw, too, but decided not to because the finals for the shot put and the semifinals for the hammer throw are at the same time.
That's OK with him. He just wants a chance. After being "the hunted" for four years, Smith said, it'll be nice for Taylor to be the one doing the hunting.
Just as he was as a junior in high school, he's a relative unknown again.
"I'm billed as the darkhorse," Taylor said. "The others don't know me, except that they've seen what I've thrown. But I think I'm going to be in the back of their minds."
