• This Feature Originally Appeared at LetsGoPeay.com
Tough times don't last, tough people do.
It's a saying as old as time, almost patronizing in its way. But it belies a kernel of truth: there are going to be moments in your life that, if you can find a way through them, you'll be able to find your way through anything.
This year has put that notion to the test; we've all faced trials and journeys that few could have conceived this time a year ago, when the weather began to turn and our biggest collective worry in Clarksville was, "After losing to Tennessee State, is the dream of a conference title dead this year for the Govs?" At the time,
Josephus Smith was having an incredible season, one that put him on the national map and caused regret among recruiting coordinators across the south who wrote him off as too short to be an effective Division I defensive lineman. A testament to toughness and tenacity, Smith believed getting his Division I opportunity, after transferring to Austin Peay from Division II Miles College and paying his own way the first semester in Clarksville just for the chance to play was the biggest hurdle he'd ever face.
"I had to go through a lot due to being undersized," he said, once more trodding ground he's walked in numerous stories during his breakout campaign last year. "I'm not the typical 6-foot, 6-3 defensive lineman. I had to go Division II before I got to Austin Peay, and I had to pay for school my first semester here. It's been a long road to get here.
"You could say there's a chip on my shoulder. So many people told me I wouldn't be able to play Division I football… I like being able to show that this is where I belong."
Yes. Well. About that hurdle… no, we'll get there in a minute.
The pandemic was one thing; if nothing else, the isolation from football was mitigated by his family—wife Shermiria and two-year old Skylar—and the knowledge that across the country, the routine of spring football, the humdrum of summer workouts and dog-days of summer camp were being, if not canceled outright, then limited in their scope and scale. A shared experience that is awful is still being shared, and there can be comfort found in that sometimes.
READ THE REST OF THE FEATURE HERE.