Tennessee Smokies pitcher Jeff Samardzija caught 179 passes for 27 touchdowns during his record-setting career at Notre Dame.

Many of those receptions have faded into oblivion after he stunned the NFL by signing a $16.5 million contract to play baseball for the Chicago Cubs; yet one against the University of Tennessee in 2005 stands out among the former wide receiver's favorites.

The Vols had erased an 18-point deficit to pull even at 21-21 in the third quarter and silence Notre Dame Stadium.

Samardzija, who has soft hands and amazing speed at 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, dodge a couple of UT defenders and turned Brady Quinn's short pass into a 73-yard gain to the Vols' 2.

"All the momentum swung back our way on that one play," Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said at the time.

The 6-foot-5 Samadzija finished the drive by grabbing a 4-yard TD catch, his 12th that season to break another Irish record.

Notre Dame pulled away for a 41-21 win.

"It was a big game," he recalled as he kicked back in the lounge at Smokies Park and reminisced recently. "We were pushing for a BCS bowl. Tennessee was struggling after some injuries and (they had) a very talented team, especially their defense. We always knew that it would be a good game."

Athletes get a buzz after making a game-breaking play but the rush wasn't instantaneous for Samardzija.

"It happened so fast. The play is going on and everything is flying by in the heat of the moment and you don't really get soaked it in," he said. "It's not really an adrenaline rush until after the fact. You're on the sidelines and celebrate with your teammates. That's kind of cool."

Amazingly, Samardzija says he gets the same emotional high at a minor league ballpark in front of 3,000-plus that he experienced in front of 80,000 crazed fans and a national TV audience that crisp November.

He'll experience his first professional playoff series starting today when the Smokies open the first-round Southern League series against the Huntsville Stars at Joe Davis Stadium in Huntsville, Ala. Mark Holliman will start game one of the best-of-five game series for the Smokies. Donnie Veal or Justin Berg will start the second game in Huntsville. Both games start at 8 p.m. EDT. Samardzija is slated to go in game three at Smokies Park on Saturday at 5 p.m.

In his Smokies' debut last month, Samardzija recalled a strikeout in the sixth inning - the final Montgomery batter he faced on the way to a 5-2 victory over the Biscuits.

He pumped his fist while fans behind the Tennessee dugout stood and cheered.

"That's one of them," he explained. "There are a lot of other times too. I remember down in Mobile they had runners on first and second and no outs and I got out of it without giving up a run. That's the same feeling you can't find anywhere else."

It doesn't take much to fire Samardzija up. He is a competitor and he doesn't need a national stage to get his juices flowing.

"I would get that same feeling anywhere, even in a pickup basketball game," he said. "You don't have to have 80,000 people in the stands to get fired up. If you do, there is something wrong. You got to love it."

Samardzija's undenying love for baseball led to his decision to leave football. Money was never an issue for the Indiana native who was born in Merrillville and grew up in Valparaiso. He was projected to be a first-round NFL draft pick and would have received a huge signing bonus either way.

"I tried telling people that," he said. "You go in the top 15 in the first round and you're going to get what I got guaranteed (from the Cubs) anyways. I never really cared about that (money)."

Happiness was Samardzija's concern. Baseball provided what football couldn't.

"It's what I wanted to do everyday of my life for the rest of my athletic career however long that may be," he said. "I knew it was a guaranteed fact that I would be in a good mood every time I went to the baseball field and enjoy what I was doing that day."

The Cubs drafted Samardzija in a fifth-round pick in 2006, a steal for someone with a 97 mph fastball. He wasn't hasty in reaching his decision.

"I debated for a very long time, probably during every class I took my senior year after coming back from Boise (where he pitched briefly in 2006)," he said.

The Cubs believe he made the correct choice and so does he.

Samardzija pitched at Notre Dame and considered becoming a two-sport athlete in the pros like Deion Sanders, who played football and baseball at Florida State before juggling a major league baseball and NFL career.

"That was my original plan for a couple of years," he said. "Really, I told every major league scout and GM that was what I wanted to do going into my senior year of football.

"He realized that isn't realistic with the year-round demands placed on athletes in each sport.

"The logistics of it wouldn't have shaped up," he said. "It would have been high risk to pursue something (football) that could have ended my career in both sports."

Samardzija is looking forward to the offseason. He will skip instructional ball as well as the Arizona Fall League.

"I've never had more than four (consecutive) days off in my athletic career," he said.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.