Smith shines in first minutes at linebacker

When James Franklin took over at Penn State in January of 2014, Brandon Smith was a walk-on fullback.

Former Nittany Lions coach Bill O’Brien had moved Smith to fullback at the end of his freshman season, but Franklin’s offense didn’t utilize that position.

So he spent the spring, summer and first half of his redshirt freshman season “begging” the coaching staff to play linebacker.

“I would just go up and say, ‘Hey, I think I can contribute at linebacker and I’m not really playing at fullback,’” Smith said. “I saw an opportunity there and just kept asking and asking.”

Thankfully, Smith said, Franklin and linebackers coach Brent Pry let him make the switch.

On Saturday, he got an opportunity to play at middle linebacker after starter Nyeem Wartman-White went down with an injury. Smith finished with eight tackles to help the Nittany Lions to a 34-27 win over Temple at Beaver Stadium.

With the linebacking corps depleted by injury, the coaching staff turned to Smith to play the final three quarters alongside Manny Bowen and Jake Cooper on Saturday. Bowen and Cooper started in place of injured starters Jason Cabinda and Brandon Bell.

Pry told Smith to be ready to play Saturday.

“I thought it might be a couple series to give Nyeem a break,” Smith said. “So I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was just preparing mentally and physically before the game because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Instead of a couple series, Smith replaced Wartman-White after the starting linebacker suffered an injury at the end of the first quarter.

With Temple facing fourth-and-1, Franklin called for the team’s “punt safe” coverage, keeping his defense on the field in case of a fake or offensive play.

Wartman-White was looking to block for punt returner John Reid when his knee buckled near the sideline, ending his day.

Smith lined up at middle linebacker when the defense took the field with 12:44 left in the second quarter.

It was a “four-year process” for the redshirt junior to get on the field for extended playing time for the first time since high school.

He was a first-team all-state selection during his career at Lewisburg High School, where he was a star running back and linebacker. He made 135 tackles during his junior season and followed that with 122 tackles as a senior.

He considered going to Princeton and Penn.

But he chose to come to Penn State as a walk-on.

“I’m a Christian and my faith’s important to me and I don’t know what it was, I was really looking like I was going to Penn,” Smith said. “Just time and prayer, it might sound weird, but the only answer was I think God revealed to me to come here.”

He had just one career tackle going into Saturday.

But he grabbed his teammates’ attention with his play at practice.

“There’s a reason why everyone in practice calls him Urlacher,” said Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley, referencing former Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher. “... He’s just always around the ball.”

Smith felt he really learned the defense in the spring, getting plenty of help from Pry, Cabinda and Wartman-White.

And he was ready to lead the defense against Temple.

“He doesn’t really get a lot of reps in the game, but he gets a lot of reps in practice so I knew he was born for it,” Penn State safety Marcus Allen said.

Franklin called Smith’s performance “big time.”

He was productive and called the defense despite starting this season third on the depth chart at middle linebacker.

“I don’t know if he’s had any work with the (first team) to be honest with you,” Franklin said. “But he’s a guy that is, I think is what we want to continue to build here at Penn State as a university and as a football program — guys that are going to take advantage of opportunities, guys that are going to prepare for their opportunity when it comes and take advantage of it.”

Smith stayed patient throughout his career.

He was thankful to finally get his opportunity Saturday.

Said Smith: “It was kind of surreal.”

This story was originally published September 17, 2016 at 7:53 PM with the headline "Smith shines in first minutes at linebacker."