Smith finds comfort, confidence in switch back to Will linebacker spot
Before Brandon Smith had ever played a snap for the Nittany Lions, James Franklin understood intrinsically that the true freshman linebacker had soared past the eye test.
“He's a man. I mean, he looks great. He's so angular, and you look at him, his waist is here, he's got the broadest shoulders with these two boulders on each shoulder. We've been very impressed with him,” Franklin told reporters in August 2019. “He's had a great spring. He's a guy that could be 255-260 pounds and playing linebacker legitimately because he's 240 right now and he still looks skinny because of how long he is. He's been impressive. He's handled things well and is very mature, very competitive, very hard-working. So we're excited to see what he's going to do in camp.”
In camp, Smith backed up his Rivals' four-star status as the No. 39 overall prospect in the Class of 2019. He did so well that, sensing an opportunity to find him more game reps, the Nittany Lions coaching staff shifted him out of the Will linebacker position to Sam in practices the second week of the season.
A transition from what he’d been used to in his career previously, his plate of responsibilities evolving to include pass coverages, Smith dutifully accepted the request as an opportunity.
“It was kind of tough getting caught up, just the different adjustments that we were making as well as learning like the base play,” Smith said. ‘But for the most part, I made the best of that situation and did what I could do.”
Admittedly, being positioned in space was new, Smith said. Last doing so his ninth-grade season at Fork Union Military Academy, the challenge was considerable but not something he was going to pass up.
“That was the only time other than playing Sam last year that I was really out in space like that. So it was kind of new to me, but I learned how to get used to it real quick, because shoot, I'm on the field getting playing time. I'm not gonna be like, ‘Oh, no, I don't want to do this. I'm not comfortable.’ No, I'll get comfortable,” Smith said. “So that was the biggest change, but really, there was nothing that I shied away from. I just tried to embrace the role and then do what I could do within the moment.”
Ahead of Penn State’s 2021 season, his third in the program, that moment has changed considerably for Smith and the Nittany Lions’ linebacker corps.
Though Lance Dixon opted to transfer in the offseason, the emergence of Curtis Jacobs after his first season at the Sam allowed Penn State’s coaching staff the opportunity to shift Smith back to the Will this spring. Experienced and confident in his abilities at both spots, the return to the box has delivered to Smith a feeling familiar to what led him to become the nation’s No. 3-rated outside linebacker as a prospect.
“It was really just my instincts and my range and speed, and being able to make plays where others coming from across the field wouldn't be able to make. Just being able to move sideline to sideline and just having that freedom was what made me who I am and will continue to do that even to this day,” Smith said. “There's been different situations during practice where the ball would be on the other side of the field and I'm running to go and get it. It's just flashbacks from high school at this point, and that's what my goal is to get to where I get so comfortable with the position I'm in, in the game I'm playing, that I go back to those glory days.”
Through Penn State’s spring practices, with informal summer workouts leading into preseason camp up next, the results for Smith have so far been positive.
Welcoming the ability to play to his strengths every down, the combination of comfort and his prior experiences has created a sense of optimism for what’s to come.
“It feels great being closer to a ball, for one, and also making a big difference within the defense the way I want to,” he said. “I'm still learning more about the position each day. Just knowing those things that I didn't know my freshman year just brings me to a point where I feel like there were certain things I did my freshman year that I definitely could have set myself up better for, paying attention to detail and that type of thing, even though I was young. I'm a lot older now and I'm more mature when it comes to that, so that shows growth in that area.”
Determined to do his part to rectify the disappointments of the Nittany Lions’ 2020 season, it’s a step forward Smith is confident will come to fruition.
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