Oregon commit Akili Smith Jr. opens senior season with 5-touchdown performance

Akili Smith Jr. passed for a career high 371 yards in Saturday's season opener

Lincoln's Akili Smith Jr. warms up during a 2023 regular season game / Bodie De Silva

The Lincoln Hornets opened up their 2024 campaign on Saturday afternoon by hosting Arbor View (Nevada) at Southwestern College. After falling behind 38-14 in the first half, Lincoln rallied back with 30 unanswered points to take the lead before an Arbor View touchdown with less than a minute left gave the Aggies a 45-44 victory.

SAN DIEGO SECTION LISTS: Top breakout candidates| Top quarterbacks | Top running backs |Top receivers| Top defensive linemen | Top linebackers |Top defensive backs|Top special teams players| Top 20 out-of-section games|Top 25 regular season games

Lincoln senior quarterback Akili Smith Jr., a long time Oregon commit who participated in this summer's Elite 11 Finals quarterback competition, started his final high school season with a huge stat line.

Smith completed 21 of his 31 pass attempts, finishing with 371 yards, four touchdown passes and an interception. He also added 31 rushing yards and a touchdown. Smith wasted no time finding his new target Ty Olsen who transferred in from Del Norte to play his senior season with the Hornets. Olsen had 12 receptions for 300 yards and was on the receiving end of all four of Smith's touchdown passes.

Smith's 371 yards marked a career high for the four-star recruit now in his third season as a varsity starter. He began his career at Vista Murrieta before transferring to Lincoln prior to his junior year. He gathered more than a dozen scholarship offers before picking Oregon in July of 2023. His father, Akili Smith Sr., played quarterback at both Lincoln High School and the University of Oregon before becoming the third overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft.

Smith and the Hornets will hit the road this week to continue their gauntlet of non-league games. They'll start with a trip to Long Beach Poly on Friday before heading to Las Vegas for a game against Coronado the following Friday.

-- Bodie De Silva | bodie@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveca

SBLIVE SPORTS LAUNCHES HIGH SCHOOL ON SI

High School On SI will serve as the premier destination for high school sports fans, delivering unparalleled coverage of high school athletics nationwide through in-depth stories, recruiting coverage, rankings, highlights and much more. The launch of a dedicated high school experience expands Sports Illustrated’s reach to even more local communities as fans can now truly follow athletes from “preps to the pros” on a single platform, bringing them closer to the action than ever before.For more information, visit si.com/high-school.