Eagles' DeVonta Smith nearly quit football. Now, he could win the Super Bowl in his home state.
Long before DeVonta Smith was a star wide receiver in the NFL, he was a five-star recruit as a high school football player in Louisiana.
Smith grew up in Amite City, about 73 miles from New Orleans, where the Eagles wideout and the rest of the Birds will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome.
"A humble young man, yes sir, no sir," Zephaniah Powell, the Amite High School head football coach, said. "Family-oriented, team-oriented, community-oriented. So Philadelphia definitely has a gem."
Amite High Magnet School is where Smith became a football star in his hometown. The city has a population of 4,000.
Christina Smith, DeVonta's mother, helped him become who he is today. She still lives outside Amite and works as a social worker, something that helped shape her son.
"It was hard for him knowing that I was going into unfamiliar territory and taking children from their parents," Christina Smith said.
Now, DeVonta Smith is a parent himself, and another child is on the way.
But before the world knew Devonta Smith as the "Slim Reaper" or "Tay Tay" as he's known at home, he nearly said no thanks.
"Actually, ninth grade, when he was at practice one day, he got hit very hard," Christina Smith said. "He thought about quitting. And at that time, my cousin was his coach, and he said he wasn't letting him quit. He went back out there, and we're glad he did."
From there, DeVonta Smith rose to stardom in the football world.
At the University of Alabama, he won two National Championships, became the first wide receiver to win the Heisman Trophy in nearly 30 years, and became a top 10 pick in the NFL draft when the Eagles selected him in 2021.
Now, he's one win away from an incredible milestone.
Christina Smith is feeling stressed, but she said she knows her son has been under the bright lights in big games plenty of times before.
"This is not your first championship game," she said. "Although it is the biggest game, the Super Bowl. But you know what it takes, do what you always do, play hard. Let's get that win. Go Birds!"
