Harrison Smith on his Scars, Teammate Teacher, & Love of Melted Cheese
On Tuesday, the Vikings made a pair of players — Harrison Smith and Kirk Cousins — available to the media.
During those sessions, Smith and Cousins both revealed some good things about the defender who is affectionately known as The Hitman. Obviously, being able to glean insight about Smith from his own presser isn’t super surprising, but the Cousins tidbit isn’t to be overlooked. Already a fan favorite, the Harrison Smith facts should make fans a bit more enthused about watching him in his 12th season.
The Press Conferences:
What We Learned About Harrison Smith
At 34, Smith has seen an awful lot.
He’s clearly the elder statesman within a secondary that’s aching for experience. The overwhelming majority of the corners are super young and Byron Murphy is the only one to have started more than a pair of NFL games. Clearly, having a seasoned veteran will be beneficial.
Smith spoke about the importance of his experience, noting that he has built up scars throughout his career. “The information I have,” Smith explained, “it’s not always true anymore. You’ve got to keep updating it from time to time.” He goes on: “Those like kind of scars that you build from getting beat on certain things or successes that you’ve had, those are just kind of ingrained somewhere in you that pop up in split seconds before plays.”
Obviously, Smith is speaking in a non-literal sense when discussing these scars. For his purposes, the safety is describing the accumulated knowledge and wisdom that can only arrive after years of failure and success. Since entering the league in 2012, Smith has certainly had plenty of both (but mostly success). He’s right that he can’t become complacent and fool himself into believing that he knows everything and yet it’s also true that his experience will allow him to play better football.
A great bit of insight arrived when Smith shifted the focus to his teammate Josh Metellus (someone who is getting a lot of hype). According to the veteran safety, Metellus not only makes plays but also is someone who is super smart. Or, perhaps, Metellus is someone who makes plays largely because he is super smart.
“No matter where you put [Metellus],” Smith notes, “he’s going to do everything he can to be the best at that.” Shortly thereafter, Smith describes Metellus as a “really smart guy.” Even more impressive is that Smith leans on the 4th-year safety for insight: “He could sit up there and run a meeting as a coach right now, he’s got it that well. I learn a lot from him.”
Learning that the knowledge is a two-way street in somewhat surprising since Smith has been around for so long. To be sure, the admission is a positive one since it speaks to Smith’s willingness to keep acquiring knowledge and Metellus’ high-level understanding of his position and the game more broadly.
Let’s end on a fun, albeit unusual, bit of information.
Apparently, Harrison Smith likes to put shredded cheese on a plate, melt it in a microwave, and then eat just the melted cheese. A bit odd, but certainly not a sin.
Kirk Cousins was the one to bring up the strange culinary preference. Cousins expressed some intrigue and surprise about how the safety approaches his preparation. The one specific example of Smith being peculiar in his approach is that he eats cheese in a strange manner.
Not too long afterwards, Dustin Baker sent a tweet in Smith’s direction asking for some clarification. The safety didn’t disappoint:
Last season, Smith finished with 85 tackles, 5 interceptions, 10 passes defended, and 1 forced fumble. He’ll hope to boost those numbers from within the Flores defense, a scheme that should be better suited for the physical, versatile safety. He enters the year carrying a cap hit a bit beyond $11.8 million.
Training camp got fully underway on Tuesday when all of the veterans arrived (the rookies got to Eagan on Sunday). PurplePTSD has been keeping readers informed on all we’ve learned, offering pieces about Kevin O’Connell’s update on the injured Vikings, the return of Kirk Cousins contract talk, and Danielle Hunter pursuing a hold-in.
Of course, our coverage hasn’t stopped there, so be sure to check out what has already been written and to keep swinging by for more great coverage of your Minnesota Vikings.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
