East Carolina Pirates true freshman wide receiver Yannick Smith celebrated a touchdown catch by tossing the football towards his opponent with a "stepback jumper" during Friday's game against Navy.
It happened with under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter as East Carolina was down 34-13. With 2nd and 9 on their own 48 yard line, ECU quarterback Katin Houser dropped back and threw the ball deep to Smith, who beat the two deep safeties as he caught the ball on the 10-yard line for the 52-yard touchdown.
Smith slowed down as he crossed the goal line as Navy sophomore safety Gieuseppe Sessi hit him in the back in a failed attempt to keep him out of the end zone. Smith turned to face Sessi as he broke out the basketball moves with the football, pretending to dribble between the legs before stepping back with the jumpshot toss towards Sessi.
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) November 29, 2024
It looks pretty silly to celebrate a TD while being down big. Smith was lucky not to get penalized for taunting on this one. Maybe the officials cut Smith some slack because he was hit in the back?
Smith led the Pirates with 66 yards receiving on 3 receptions, but it was too little, too late as the Midshipmen ran down the clock to win the game 34-20.
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
