Never seen Michael Smith Jr. play? Go look him up. The 6-3/285 pound two-way lineman is a bulldog. Smith has great initial quicks and comes off the ball. His run blocking is vicious and in pass blocking he shows feet and good setup. If you want to see how a kid should get around the corner when pulling and trapping, watch Smith.

Smith has little buzz now. What has that done for his confidence? “It hasn’t changed my confidence at all. I always knew what I had in me. I just thank God colleges are starting too realize” says Smith. He holds oral offers from Bowling Green, FIU, Georgia Southern, Marshall and South Alabama.

Is Smith a good leader or great follower? Mike explains, “I’ve been told I’m a pretty good leader and I have been told I motivate people to want to do better. I’ve also had several younger people tell me I am their role model.” Pretty impressive for a high school junior. “What drives me is to get my family out the struggle and retire my mom and dad.” The motivation is there for Smith to be successful and he wants to use football to help accomplish those goals.

Last season Frostproof finished the season 6-5 under first year head coach Shannon Benton (FCA Honor Bowl loss v St.Cloud). No playoffs is not the way the Bulldogs wanted to finish the season. But in an 11 game season, Smith had to have a few really good plays. Which was his greatest play of the 2014 season? “My greatest play was when I drove a kid straight off the ball 30 yards and pancaked him.” Ultimate play for an offensive lineman is to drive a defender off the ball and finish the play by lifting the defender off the turf and embedding him into the ground. THE PANCAKE!

What goals have you set for this year and why?
“I want to lead my team to a state championship to leave a legacy at Frostproof and I want to get that offer from Florida. Because that’s been my dream school since I was born. BCP always helped me get exposure with colleges and I just thank them for helping me.”