Smith was selected the Defensive Player of the Week by both I-AA.org and Hansen’s Football Gazette following his performance in the Hilltoppers’ league opener against Youngstown State. He’s the second Topper to earn national honors this season, as Charles Thompson was chosen the Defensive Player of the Week by The Sports Network, I-AA.org and CSTV: College Sports Television after Western’s Sept. 18 victory over Eastern Kentucky.
Smith, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound senior inside linebacker from Louisville, Ky., had a career-best 12 tackles Saturday — sharing game-high honors with Brandon Smith and Thompson — with a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception he returned 48 yards for a touchdown. His efforts helped WKU earn a 44-19 conference-opening victory over the Penguins, marking the first time in four seasons as a member of the league that the Toppers started Gateway action with a win.
He ended back-to-back YSU drives in the second half that helped Western put the contest away. With the Penguins facing 3rd-and-goal on the WKU-1 while trailing 16-7 midway through the third period, Smith forced a fumble that Dennis Mitchell recovered — the Toppers instead drove 94 yards and scored a touchdown to push their advantage to 23-7. Then, on the first play of the fourth quarter, he stepped in front of a Tom Zetts pass and ran back the interception — the first of his career — for a 30-7 Western lead.
Smith also recorded 1.5 tackles for loss with a combined sack that resulted in a loss of 12 yards. He leads the Gateway with 1.38 stops behind the line of scrimmage per contest.
The Hilltoppers (3-1, 1-0 Gateway) — who remained sixth in all three polls this week — will face No. 21 Northern Iowa (1-3, 0-1 GFC) at 4:05 p.m. (CST) Saturday in Cedar Falls.
