The NFL has many talented young stars and DeVonta Smith is one of them. The Eagles’ wide receiver has been contributing well to the team ever since his debut. However, things haven’t been easy for him since the beginning. The star player recently made revelations about the hardships he faced in high school for being underweight.
Born in November 1998, DeVonta Smith recently appeared on the podcast ‘Club Shay Shay’. There, the NFL star talked to host Shannon Sharpe about his struggles in high school. The WR, who attended Amite High Magnet School, mentioned that people used to look down on him due to his weight.
#Eagles WR Devonta Smith, who won the Heisman Trophy in college, opened up about how he weighed only 120 pounds in high school. He talked about how people doubted him his whole life because of his lack of size.
He’s now a 1st round pick and a 1,000+ yard WR in the NFL – he… https://t.co/SJwSLI0iqU pic.twitter.com/QmggEdW41r
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) November 16, 2023
Sharpe asked if the Eagles star weighed only 120 pounds during his freshman year in high school. To that, Smith said yes and went on mentioning that his weight was 145 pounds in his senior year. The WR mentioned how people judged him because of his “size”. However, at the same time, he gave a motivating message to the youngsters. He asked people to focus on their goals and believe in themselves to be successful.
“And just to all the young kids out there, that’s not the biggest, not the strongest, just keep pushing cause I’m not the biggest, I’ve been doubted a lot just because of my size. And really it just comes out to if you put your mind to it, you can do it. No job is too big if you put your mind to it and just keep believing in God, and you’ll get where you wanna be. You just really have to work day in and day out and just believe in yourself… And if you don’t, nobody else believes in you… you just have to believe in yourself and just prove everybody wrong,” he said.
It’s obvious that many people doubted and bullied DeVonta Smith, but the NFL star proved his worth. He showed everyone what he has got through his skills and gameplay in the league.
Tracing the NFL career of DeVonta Smith
Born in Louisiana, DeVonta Smith has been passionate about football since childhood. In his high school, the 6-foot WR used to play both basketball and football. He then chose football as his career and joined the University of Alabama in 2017. During his freshman year, he got to play in only 8 games in which he got 8 receptions and 3 TDs for 160 yards.
The 170 lb star’s game improved when he entered his sophomore year. DeVonta Smith had 42 receptions and 6 touchdowns for 693 yards.
DeVonta Smith performed exceptionally well in numerous games in 2018. During the Iron Bowl in 2020, the $1.5 million rich star grabbed eyeballs. He had 7 receptions and 2 TDs for 171 yards against the Auburn Tigers.
His phenomenal performance won him the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award that year. Throughout his college career, DeVonta Smith got 235 records and 46 touchdowns for 3,965 receiving yards. In 2021, the Philadelphia Eagles drafted the WR as their 10th pick in the 1st round of the NFL Draft.
DeVonta proved the Eagles’ decision to select him right as he had a great rookie year. The star player got 64 receptions and 5 TDs for 916 receiving yards as a rookie. With this, he even became an Eagles’ rookie to have the most receiving yards in one season.
The NFL 2023 is Smith’s 3rd season and he’s playing well for the Eagles. Throughout his career till now, the wide receiver has had 198 receptions and 15 TDs for 2,594 yards. For now, he must be looking forward to leading his team to the Super Bowl this year. Considering the Eagle’s 8-1 record till now, they surely are a big contender for the Super Bowl ring this year.