Former Manning, S.C. State star Smith sets eyes on NFL Draft

Former Manning linebacker Aaron "Boog" Smith saw it all during his collegiate career at South Carolina State.

His journey to Orangeburg started with COVID-19, and ever since that lost season, the Bulldog linebacker has been in the lab honing his craft.

As a senior, Smith led the team and MEAC with 95 tackles, while adding 8.5 tackles for a loss, a pick and a forced fumble. He helped lead the Bulldogs to a 9-3 record and a spot in the Cricket Celebration Bowl, where he went off on the national stage. Smith set a new career high with 17 tackles in this final game at S.C. State and added a stop in the backfield for good measure. Now, he's hoping his senior year will propel him to every football player's dream: the National Football League.

Ever since taking his final collegiate snap, Smith has received invitations to major senior showcases, talked with NFL teams and tried to catch the eye of evaluators from across the league.

"It's just a blessing. I give all praise to the Lord because without him, I wouldn't make it this far," Smith said. "It hasn't been overwhelming. The overwhelming part of this process for me was getting ready for pro day. That was where I felt the most stress. Since the pro day has been over, I'm not free, but I'm free of the pressure. I went out there and did what I needed to do. Now the rest of it is in God's hands. I did what I can control, so now I'm just waiting. I'm blessed to be even in this process and have interest from teams."

Smith started his journey to the draft in Tampa, Florida, where he trained with Yo Murphy Performance. The former Monarch was rehabbing a quad injury, so his first priority was getting healthy enough to show off his skills at the South Carolina State pro day. Smith received invitations to both the East-West Shrine Bowl - where former Sumter High and South Carolina defensive back O'Donnell Fortune was named the defensive MVP - and the HBCU Legacy Bowl but couldn't take part in football activities as he recovered from his injury. Still, he went to the Shrine Bowl and met with NFL personnel and had some great meetings.

"A lot of it was that I was probably a little undersized," Smith said of the main talking points with teams. "They wanted to see how fast I could run in the 40. They talked about my linear speed, but they wanted to see how fast I could move in the 40 and move through my drills."

Smith finally had the chance to show off his athleticism at the S.C. State pro day on March 18. While teams questioned his size, Smith measured in at 6'2", 230 pounds and had some great performances at the pro day. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.58 seconds and showed off a 35" vertical leap and a broad jump of 10'3". He had a 4.37 short shuttle and 7.12 three-cone drill and ripped off 25 reps of 225 pounds on the bench. After he wrapped up, Smith had a chance to meet with a few teams again.

"I actually sat down with the Jets, and we talked for about an hour, an hour and a half," Smith said. "I talked with the Chargers, the Houston Texans.

"They told me I showed them everything that they were expecting out of me and, in a few aspects, I kinda did better than what they thought. I felt good about my performance."

Despite coming from a smaller school, Smith hasn't just been flying under the radar. Maybe the most impressive was getting a shoutout from Steve Wyche on the NFL Network.

"The comparisons to Darius 'Shaq' Leonard, who also played at S.C. State, (they're) very similar," Wyche said in late March. "You talk about speed, that's what he has. Coverage-ability, speed, he also arrives with some thump; it's just that he does not have that ideal interior linebacker size. We'll see if he puts that on heading into the draft."

Smith was also graded at 80.6 by Pro Football Focus for his performance as a senior.

While the former Monarch isn't trying to pay too much attention to headlines, he was happy to get a shout on the NFL Network.

"I actually didn't see it when it first got posted," Smith said. "To see it and hear it, it felt kinda good to know there's someone out there watching me and giving me high praise. They actually see me. I'm not just invisible out here in this draft pool. Somebody put some respect on my name."

While Smith has drawn comparisons to Leonard, who was also a South Carolina native before playing at S.C. State and being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the second round of the 2018 draft, the former Manning star turned to more recent graduates for advice.

"It's just a blessing to follow behind guys that paved the way, and to be the next guy is absolutely a blessing," Smith said. "I definitely talk to (former S.C. State and current Atlanta Falcons defensive back) Antonio Hamilton and (Los Angeles Rams defensive back) Cobie Durant. He got drafted in 2022, and I actually played with him his senior year. That's big bro to me, so I call him fairly often just to pick his brain, ask him questions just to see any information he has to help me."

Now, Smith just has to wait and see if his name is called. He'll be at home with his family watching the draft April 24-26 and expects to hear his name called on the third day. If it's not, he knows he'll be scooped up pretty quickly after the draft.

"The earliest I may hear my name called is the fifth based on some draft grades from some teams," Smith said. "If I go undrafted, it's going to be like a bidding war. That's pretty much what I've been hearing."