Veteran Smith ready to step up
Linebacker takes on leadership role
Motivation comes in various forms for college football players. Some athletes view collegiate careers as resume builders, similar to anyone else pursuing professional goals.
Athletes have a finite time to get as much out of the game as possible before it’s over. However, the best situation comes when a player’s goals align with the team’s.
Penn State coach James Franklin tries to foster an environment where every athlete reaches his wildest dreams. His players also know they have to win because none of it works if the Nittany Lions repeat anything close to last season’s awful start.
“I’m looking forward to this coming season. The time is now, as far as what I need to do,” Penn State linebacker Brandon Smith said Tuesday via Zoom when asked about his balance of personal and team goals. “But for the most part, I’m just doing what I need to do within the framework of the defense and making sure that everything works out fine as far as that.”
Smith came to Penn State from Virginia in the 2019 class. Last year wasn’t ideal for him or the team. It’d be easy to make excuses. Smith didn’t.
“We just dropped the ball in general as far as what we needed to do, what we wanted to do,” he said. “We can’t make any excuses as far as not having a spring ball, having spring ball, whatever it is like that. We knew the job that we had to complete. We didn’t complete it. That’s cut-anddry how it was. We dropped the ball.”
Smith mostly played outside linebacker in 2020. He found his best success, as did many Nittany Lions, in the season finale against Illinois. Penn State uses the phrase “Sam” to denote the middle linebacker, and that’s where Smith hopes to play this year.
“I feel good knowing both the Will [outside linebacker] position and the Sam position. I’m interchangeable,” he said. “I can stay on the field more when it comes to specific situations and just knowing more in general.
“I know the playbook inside and out for both positions, so I’m not worried about my abilities as far as doing any of those responsibilities.”
Smith racked up three tackles of loss in the seasonending rout. He told reporters he worked on his confidence through studying his craft. “I’m very comfortable in the role that I’m playing right now. I’m comfortable being an older guy in the room and becoming that leader that everybody looks up to.
“I feel confident in my ability as far as being able to let others know anything that they may need to know about at a different position or just playing my role in general and being able to know what I have to do.”
Smith and the Nittany Lions are 12 days away from a Blue-White game at Beaver Stadium. If the team continues to follow the COVID-19 protocols, they’ll get 15 practices. Smith is itching to get every second of coaching.