Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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break trip in South Carolina with seven Harvard classmates when Notre Dame reached out and extended an offer. "I was definitely shocked. It was a good feeling," Smith said. "They had an opportunity and a need at defensive tackle." A respectful, talented and commit- ted student-athlete — Smith graduated from Harvard with an undergradu- ate degree in human evolutionary biology — t h e d e c o m m i t - ment phone call back to Minnesota wasn't an easy one. "Obviously, they weren't too pleased," Smith said. "But you have to do what's best for you and what you see fit." Listed at 6-foot-2 and 310 pounds, Smith is the biggest player on the Irish defense and benches 35 reps at 225 pounds. Smith's teammates affection- ately call him "35" instead of "65" — his jersey number. "Chris Smith is a beast," fellow grad- uate student lineman Jayson Ademilola declared. "Great punch inside, ready to work. He's the same dude every day." Expect the catalog of nicknames to grow for Smith. In an earlier interview, Washington called his new graduate student a "fire hydrant," a "rhino" and a "block of granite." Smith, who contributed 7 tackles in the Fighting Irish's first five contests, also has impressed Notre Dame defen- sive coordinator Al Golden. "Chris [Smith] will do exactly what we ask him to do, it's an unbelievable quality," Golden said. "And he's trying to do the technique perfectly." BEYOND FOOTBALL Smith is part of an odd couple of 2022 Harvard-to-Notre Dame transfers who are already making quick contributions in new surroundings. Like Smith, Irish starting punter Jon Sot relocated and excelled here after a successful career with the Crimson. Entering the Stanford game, Sot ranked third nationally with a 46.6- yard punting average. Smith shared stories of how imme- diately after Sot decided in January to transfer to Notre Dame, his former Har- vard teammate became a driving influ- ence to flipping him from Minnesota to Notre Dame. "He definitely hit my phone up a lot," Smith said with a laugh. "It's definitely cool having someone I went to school with, who knows the grind at Harvard and was someone familiar going to a new place. That was definitely a factor in the [transfer] decision." Smith holds a great affinity for his time a t H a rva rd , a l o n g with the experiences he gained and the people he met there. In fact, during Notre Dame's bye Oct. 1, Smith returned to Cambridge, Mass., to watch a Crimson game and catch up with friends, coaches and former teammates. "They're proud of everyone. They're not surprised," Smith shared of the re- union, and his former coaches' reaction to his graduate transfer. "They've seen other guys have success at other pro- grams that played at Harvard for four years. They were really encouraging. It was good." Sot concurs. "[Smith] is the guy that whatever the coaches ask him to do, he will do it," he said. "He will fill in different roles if they need him too. He's going to make plays for this defense." Sot wasn't the only influencer who helped bring Smith to Notre Dame. Raised as an only child by his single mother, Sebrina Hicks, Smith was an unrated and lightly recruited player out of academically driven Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Off the recruiting radar, Smith's scholarship offers came almost exclusively from Ivy and Patriot League schools. "I knew right away that was the di- rection I was going to take," Smith said. Smith calls his mother a guiding light, and an influential force to helping him settle on Harvard then, Notre Dame now and everything in between. "Once my mom and I visited Notre Dame, and got to meet some of the coaches, and realized they were genu- ine," Smith recalled, "we felt this was a good spot for me." And the feeling between program and player is mutual. ✦ "Chris Smith is a beast. Great punch inside, ready to work. He's the same dude every day." GRADUATE STUDENT DEFENSIVE TACKLE JAYSON ADEMILOLA ON SMITH BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 22, 2022 19