During his time at Michigan , Smith and teammate Martavious Odoms came up with the idea to build community gardens back home after they graduated . The goal was to provide food to locals who needed it and sell the rest . It was a more sustainable form of the rabbit chase : instead of hawking skins for $ 2 a pop , they could sell produce and maybe create jobs .
" The idea was a brainstorm based on how our area is sugarcane and corn ," Smith says . " If we have this muck and it ' s so rich , we might as well give back in a major way ."
Smith didn ' t just brainstorm . He phoned the mayor of his hometown .
" He called me and he said he wants to do something in town ," says Pahokee mayor Colin Walkes . " He wanted to use what we have to keep us self-sufficient ."
View photos The mayor was all for it , and the first shovel hit the ground this summer , only a few weeks after Smith graduated . Walkes drove by the first garden recently and saw several people working on it . To him it ' s a shining example of what a college scholarship is worth not only to an athlete , but to an entire community .
" When you have good players , usually they leave the small communities and go off to big cities and they get soaked up by big city ," says Walkes . " He didn ' t get soaked up . He came home . We ' re proud to have him . A lot of kids look up to him and want to be like him . They ' ll want to come back and build the community itself ."
Smith is hoping to raise money to keep the garden going and build one in every neighborhood . He ' s gone so far as reaching out to some former teammates – including former Michigan QB Denard Robinson , who now plays for the Jacksonville Jaguars – for help and support . " It would feed so many people ," he says , " and it would be healthy ."
He still hasn ' t given up on his NFL dreams , but he intends to make Pahokee his home for good . He even plans beyond this particular project . He wants to work for the city full time and , when asked if he could see himself holding office in the region one day , he quickly said , " Yes ." Football wasn ' t just a way out ; it was a way back .
" I just used the football to bring smiles to people ' s faces ," Smith says . " That ' s where I got the most joy out of it ."
There wasn ' t much joy in getting hit by Clowney and becoming a constant reminder of a future pro ' s talent , but a greater goal is in sight and Smith doesn ' t see anything getting in his way .
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