Clifton Smith was a freshman at Edison High School in Fresno, Calif. He was a talented running back who could also swing a mean bat in baseball.¶ Matt Garza was a couple of years older and throwing what Smith called "bullets" for the nearby Washington Union High baseball team.¶ "We played together on a traveling team in the summer," said Smith, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' punt and kickoff returner. "And our high school teams played against each other, too."¶ Smith can't remember if he got a hit off Garza. He's just glad he didn't get hit by Garza.¶ "Matt was the best baseball player in the area, and he had a presence about him that you just knew he had a great future," Smith said. "But back then, I don't think he really knew where the ball was going all that much. I didn't get hit, but that was a definite possibility every time he threw it."¶ Garza became a standout with the Twins, got traded to Tampa Bay and won Game 7 of this year's American League Championship Series.¶ "I called to congratulate him after Game 7," Smith said. "We've stayed in touch over the years. He's a pretty popular guy down here."¶ Smith is becoming one as well. Undrafted out of Fresno State, he spent the first seven weeks on the Bucs' practice squad as one of those face-in-the-crowd running backs. Make that a 5-8, 190-pound face-in-the-crowd running back.

Things began to change on Oct. 25. Unhappy with the kick and punt returns of rookie second-round pick Dexter Jackson, Bucs coach Jon Gruden promoted Smith to the 53-man roster.

"We don't discriminate here," Gruden said. "Just because you were a second-rounder doesn't mean you are going to be given anything. You have got to get it done."

Smith has played only two games, but he's already gotten it done in record fashion.

Two weeks ago, right after the lowly Chiefs went ahead 24-3, Smith returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest kickoff return for a touchdown for a franchise that has had only two of them in its 32-year existence.

The Bucs came back to beat the Chiefs in overtime as Smith compiled a franchise-record 259 total return yards (232 on kickoffs and 27 on punts). He's averaging 32.7 yards on nine kickoff returns and 15.6 yards on seven punt returns.

Associated Press, Star Tribune
Buccaneers running back Clifton Smith (22) returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown against Kansas City, and has set a franchise record for return yards.

So that's two NFL games, two franchise records and a game on Sunday against a Vikings team that has already tied the NFL record for most special teams touchdowns allowed in one season (six).

"Nothing that guy does surprises me," said Vikings cornerback Marcus McCauley, a former teammate of Smith's at Fresno State. "My junior year, his sophomore year, we played Weber State. Eleven guys had a chance to tackle him. And 11 guys missed."

That was the game Smith set an NCAA record by returning three punts for 189 yards and two touchdowns.

"Clifton likes to show off a little bit," McCauley said. "He'd make all these guys miss and then do these front flips into the end zone. His feet are so quick, he can make these cuts with either foot that you wouldn't believe."

Smith said setting two franchise records in a span of two NFL games, "has been a big shock for me."

"Then again," he said, "it's my teammates you should be talking to. All I do is catch the ball and run."

If he keeps doing it this well, it will be his old buddy Garza who is calling to congratulate him.