Highlight reels are supposed to make people look good. No one has ever been hurt by a highlight reel. Even the one I send out when I apply for jobs is great, and though it’s basically me backspacing, anguishing over ledes, singing along to Spotify and chuckling at my plays on words, the hair is great, the wardrobe is business casual and the soundtrack is superb.

So in other words, we’re going to suspend certain disbelief — those first three plays! — when we have a look at Collin Smith, the latest player to pledge to West Virginia’s 2017 recruiting class.

But man, he looks like a football player.

Smith committed Tuesday, and he’s the third player in four days to say yes to the Mountaineers.

“I’m excited. That’s all I can say — excited,” said Smith, who chose WVU over offers from Michigan, Louisville, Boston College and others. “I’m 100-percent committed to them, and they’re 100-percent committed to me.”

Smith had never set a deadline for a commitment, and wasn’t certain heading into the trip that he would commit. However, he said he was ready to get his recruitment out of the way and focus on his senior season knowing he had a place to call home — and a place he felt comfortable.

Part of that comfort comes from his relationship with safeties coach Matt Caponi, who recruited his area and visited Smith during the spring. The 247Sports three-star recruit, who shines on both sides of the ball in high school, may not know him as just an area recruiter, but also his future position coach.

Let’s pause for a minute and reset the highlights. It’s a long package — say twice as long as coaches generally prefer — but it’s not like Copola and the Godfather. There’s a lot of action, which is the first of three things you notice. Smith is forever involved.

Two more:

1. He’s a really good quarterback. Look at the throws and the combination of wherewithal and speed as a runner from the pocket. In a 12-game season, Smith passed for 1,958 yards and 25 touchdowns and ran for 757 yards and 12 more touchdowns. He’s giving the offense 225 yards and three scores a game, and it’s not as though he was a one-man gang. Ligonier Valley averaged about 35 points per game.
2. He’s agile and seemingly fast, and while that might project as a skill player, his future is at safety. You can picture him on the outside and in the box, maybe as a bandit and probably as a spur, but he’s quite likely a free safety. Watch him play centerfield (yes, at the high school level) and picture where he could be three years and 25 pounds from now.

There is one concern: Competition. He’s breaking guys down allover the field, but he’s also playing in the PIAA’s Class AA. There’s Class A below and Class AAA and Class AAAA above. It’s not the best competition, but it’s still Western Pennsylvania high school football, which is nothing for which he should apologize.