Community Garden Magazine Community Garden Magazine Issue 14 October 2016 | Page 11

Smith says he keeps his chinstrap loose and that's why the headgear flew off. He thinks
that's part of the reason the hit became such a big deal. "I give him credit for the tackle,"
Smith says, "but it wasn't the hardest hit."
Smith says he's seen the play "a couple times" and it doesn't bother him (although he
wishes someone would replay the special teams hit he made earlier in that game). Smith's
older brother, Jawarski Bouie, quickly grew tired of seeing his sibling getting trucked over
and over again – as Smith puts it, "You know how big brothers are about little brothers."
Smith, for his part, just wanted to move on.
And he has moved on – in quite a unique way.
Smith grew up in "Muck City," the part of the Everglades region of Florida known for
producing sugar cane and speedy football players including Anquan Boldin, Fred Taylor and
Santonio Holmes. The legend is that football players from Muck City are so fast because
they grow up chasing rabbits. Travis Benjamin, a wide receiver for the Browns, is
nicknamed "Rabbit" because of this, and Smith chased rabbits growing up as well. The
poignant part of growing up in the Everglades is that many kids can't run from poverty, and
football feels like the only way out.
Smith got out, and now he's making it his mission to come back to Muck City and stay.
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