The Pittsburgh Steelers wrapped up a busy trade deadline Tuesday by acquiring edge rusher Preston Smith from the Green Bay Packers. You may have heard about his 68.5 total sacks in 155 regular season games. But what else should you know?
Children playing three sports thanking their mother
As a kid, Smith wasn’t just a soccer kid. That’s good. From a talent standpoint, specializing in one sport all year long as a kid is like a dinosaur. More and more people are realizing that diverse backgrounds in sports are good for athletes.
It’s good for their mom too. Smith’s mother encouraged him to play multiple sports, and in addition to football, he also played basketball and baseball.
“My mother was trying to keep us active.” Smith said, via commands.com.. “There are different aspects to our lives, and instead of being athletes in one sport, we just play many sports and have different athletic abilities.”
And if Smith’s career is any indication, maybe more parents should encourage their kids to try more sports.
Stevenson High School in the NFL pipeline?
Smith played football for the Stevenson High School Jaguars. This football team started playing football in 1996, so they haven’t been around that long. But in a relatively short period of time, it has produced 18 football players who have had at least a cup of coffee in the NFL. Preston Smith played in more NFL games than any other Stevenson High School graduate. But the Jaguars’ second-most played player is Smith’s former teammate with new QB Russell Wilson. Bruce Irvin may have only played part of his high school career at Stevenson, but the connection is there.
Also, three years after Smith graduated from high school, current Chicago Bears DE Montez Sweat graduated from Stevenson.
Dominant senior season at Mississippi State
Smith was a three-star prospect out of Stevenson High School in Stone Mountain, Georgia. And he showed the ability to make plays with the Bulldogs early in his college career. In his second season, he recorded 5.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. However, Smith had a standout season as a senior, with SEC coaches naming him to the All-SEC first team and the Associated Press naming him to the All-SEC second team. He became the first defensive lineman in conference history to be named Defensive Lineman of the Week for three consecutive weeks.
How good was Smith? He had 48 total tackles, 15 tackles for loss, nine sacks, two interceptions (including a pick-six), nine pass knockdowns, five forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery. He also blocked two special teams kicks.
It’s a great way to end your college career.
The true iron man of the NFL
Washington selected Smith in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft. Since that moment, Smith played 10 seasons in the NFL. During that time, he missed exactly one game. And depending on who you talk to, Smith missed the Week 7 game just to make sure his oblique injury was okay the following week.
“My body is my investment,” Smith said. Interview with Larry McCullen of Total Packers: 1-on1 on Packers.com. “That’s what got me this far. I got everything I wanted in life.”
Playing in 155 regular season games in 10 seasons is an amazing feat for anyone. But Smith, who will celebrate his 32nd birthday on Nov. 17, is still going strong and shows no signs of slowing down. Not bad for a player aiming for at least eight sacks in four straight seasons.
He fired Russell Wilson in the playoffs.
Smith had 68.5 sacks in 155 regular-season games, but he also played in eight playoff games and added 4.5 sacks in that span.
And two of those sacks came in the same game in 2019, when Smith’s new QB won 28-23 against the Seattle Seahawks. Those bags are NFL video highlighting Smith as the 63rd player on the 2020 Top 100 list.
The most significant of the two sacks came on a third-and-five play with 3:19 left. The Packers held a 28-23 lead, but the Seahawks were threatening. But somehow Smith got one-on-one with the Seahawks tight end and blew past him, knocking Wilson down.
Wilson must be comfortable having Smith on the same team, rather than pushing him.
