CINCINNATI, OHIO – SEPTEMBER 30: D’Ante Smith #70 of the Cincinnati Bengals against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Paul Brown Stadium on September 30, 2021 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Everyone is gearing up for a BIG weekend in football! And we're proud of one Augusta native who is Super Bowl bound.
Cheering on #70
Many Grovetown High School students and alums are looking forward to seeing one of their own play against the Rams on Sunday!
D'Ante Smith is from Augusta, Georgia. According to WRDW, he started playing football at the age of four at the YMCA.
He attended Grovetown High School. While playing high school football, he earned all-county, all-area and all-region honors as a junior and again as a senior. In addition, he was also involved in wrestling during high school. However, it looks like football was a great career path for him.
After graduating from Grovetown High School, Smith attended East Carolina. He graduated in December of 2020 with a degree in economics. While in college, he spent five seasons with the football team at East Carolina. During that time, Smith played 33 career games with 30 starts.
He did suffer a season-ending injury in the season-opener at UCF. Then, he was granted a medical hardship waiver by the NCAA prior to his final season. He was able to recover from the injury to go on and play in the 2021 Senior Bowl.
In the 2021 NFL Draft, Smith was selected by Cincinnati in the fourth round (139th overall). He officially signed with the Bengals on May 17, 2021. This huge accomplishment is special for many reasons, but one big one? He was officially Columbia County's first-ever NFL Draft pick.
Source: Bengals
And now, at the age of 21, Augusta's own D'Ante Smith will play the biggest game of his career yet: Super Bowl LVI! The game starts at 6:30 p.m. this Sunday, February 13th.
What a monumental moment for Augusta, Columbia County and Grovetown High School to have one native Super Bowl bound!
