Donovan Smith

Former quarterback at Houston. 2024: 867 passing yards, 4 TD, 8 INT.

QB · Houston · Sr. · #1

6′5″ · 235 lb · Las Vegas, NV

CFB Index 25 · #128 of 137 QBsHigh confidenceTampa Bay — drafted 2015, Rd 2, Pick 2, #34 overall

Recruiting

3★

QB recruit

No. 1418 nationally · Signed with Damien

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former quarterback at Houston. 2024: 867 passing yards, 4 TD, 8 INT.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Damien in 2021.
Transferred from Texas Tech to Houston in 2023.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Four seasons at Houston, 6,354 passing yards — drafted at #34 overall by Tampa Bay.

His career

He was winning awards before he was old enough to be a story.

The week the volume broke through — put up 359 yds at Kansas State.Kansas State · L 28-372022

20218 games

Recruited3-star out of Damien

202312 games

Entered the portal

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#1418 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2021–2024

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted (yet)

Coaching lineage · 2021–2024

1 coach

2021–2024

Dana Holgorsen

Houston

Played his entire career under Dana Holgorsen.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

Tampa BayEntering 12th NFL season

#34Rd 2 · Pick 2

Tampa BayEntering 12th NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2024 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2021Texas Tech7-6HC: Matt Wells · Balanced

2022Texas Tech8-5HC: Joey McGuire · Balanced, fast tempo

2023Houston4-8HC: Dana Holgorsen · Balanced

2024Houston4-8HC: Dana Holgorsen · Run-heavy, slow tempo

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

25Below cohort / limited sample #128 of 137?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: fumbles lost (94th percentile). Concern: interception rate (2nd percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Explosive rate#110 / 169 · 35th pct

9.0%

Success rate#134 / 169 · 21st pct

36.6%

Sack rate#135 / 169 · 20th pct

8.3%

EPA / dropback#157 / 169 · 7th pct

-0.01

Interception rate#166 / 169 · 2nd pct

5.3%

Box-score rates (8)

Fumbles lost#1 / 159 · 94th pct

Completion %#38 / 165 · 77th pct

65.4%

Rush TDs#63 / 165 · 56th pct

Rush yards#80 / 165 · 52nd pct

159

Interceptions#92 / 165 · 40th pct

Yards / att#137 / 165 · 16th pct

6.5

Pass yards#146 / 165 · 12th pct

867

Pass TDs#147 / 165 · 10th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / dropback

44th → 7th percentile

Success rate

50th → 21st percentile

Explosive rate

52nd → 35th percentile

Sack rate

42nd → 20th percentile

Interception rate

49th → 2nd percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Passing profile

Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

87/133 (65.4%) · 4 TD · 8 INT

133 of 133 attempts matched to play-by-play

Adjusted ANY/A

3.52191 of 205 QBs

Sack rate

8.3%167 of 205 QBs

Sacked on 8.3% of dropbacks (167 of 205) and Adjusted ANY/A trails the field (191 of 205).

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Short

0–9 yds

66%of completions

57 comp3.8 yds avg

Middle

10–19 yds

21%of completions

18 comp13.5 yds avg

Deep

20+ yds

14%of completions

12 comp34.3 yds avg4 TD

Overall 65.4% completion on 133 attempts · 12 deep completions averaging 34.3 yds.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2024 season · 9 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home4g	87.0	0.2	5.7	0.8
Road5g	104	0.6	6.9	1.0

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-76g	116	0.3	6.3	0.8
Weeks 8+3g	57.7	0.7	7.2	1.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Willie Fritz

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2024

Part-time starter

Splitting first-team reps — starts some weeks, rotates others.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

25 · #128 of 137 QBs

Three-star recruit. Now #128 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2024	Houston	87	133	65.4%	867	6.5	4	8	118.1	47	--	--
2023	Houston	255	396	64.4%	2,800	7.1	22	13	135.6	40	--	--
2022	Texas Tech	147	222	66.2%	1,506	6.8	12	8	133.8	28	--	--
2021	Texas Tech	85	139	61.2%	1,181	8.5	7	2	146.3	62	--	--
Career		574	890	64.5%	6,354	7.1	45	31	134.2	41	--	--

Season	Team
2024	Houston	66	159	2.4	3	--
2023	Houston	138	429	3.1	6	--
2022	Texas Tech	75	113	1.5	7	--
2021	Texas Tech	56	155	2.8	3	--
Career		335	856	2.6	19	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 10 · 2024

W 24–19

vs Kansas State

2 CAR · 1 TD · 1 LONG

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 5 at home.

With L. Dougherty — 43 AVG · 5 IN 20 · 65 LONG · Z. Chriss — 103 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 72.7 · 75 rush yds (22 car) · 1 TD

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 1 · UNLV · 3&12 · Q3 · EPA -7.55Donovan Smith pass intercepted Jalen Catalon return for 36 yds for a TD (Caden Chittenden KICK)
Week 3 · Rice · 4&1 · Q4 · EPA +4.66Donovan Smith run for 37 yds for a TD (Joseph Kim KICK)
Week 5 · Iowa State · 2&7 · Q4 · EPA -4.11Donovan Smith pass intercepted, touchback. Jontez Williams return for no gain
Week 8 · Kansas · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +4.01Donovan Smith pass complete to Mekhi Mews for 52 yds for a TD (Jack Martin KICK)
Week 4 · Cincinnati · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.51Donovan Smith pass complete to Joseph Manjack IV for 52 yds to the CIN 25 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · UNLV · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +3.49Donovan Smith pass complete to Mekhi Mews for 57 yds to the UNLV 18 for a 1ST down
Week 2 · Oklahoma · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +3.41Donovan Smith pass complete to Joseph Manjack IV for 44 yds for a TD (Two-Point Conversion failed)
Week 3 · Rice · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.41Donovan Smith pass complete to Stephon Johnson for 44 yds for a TD (Joseph Kim PAT MISSED)
Week 8 · Kansas · 3&13 · Q3 · EPA +3.40Donovan Smith run for 15 yds to the KU 41 for a 1ST down
Week 3 · Rice · 3&7 · Q2 · EPA +3.28Donovan Smith pass complete to Maliq Carr for 22 yds to the RICE 45 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2024 season · 9 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	L 7-27vs UNLV	15/30	135	0	2	4.5	3.5
Wk 2	L 12-16@ Oklahoma	24/28	260	1	1	9.3	83.5	Season-high 260 yds
Wk 3	W 33-7vs Rice	12/21	142	1	0	6.8	52.9
Wk 4	L 0-34@ Cincinnati	11/16	73	0	1	4.6	23.8
Wk 5	L 0-20vs Iowa State	8/12	71	0	1	5.9	67.4
Wk 6	W 30-19@ TCU	2/2	13	0	0	6.5	85.0
Wk 8	L 14-42@ Kansas	15/24	173	2	3	7.2	57.1	3 INTs — rough day
Wk 10	W 24-19vs Kansas State	—	—	—	—	—	—
Wk 12	L 3-27@ Arizona	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total		87/133	867	4	8	6.4	53.3

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology