Cameron Smith (born March 26, 1997) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

and was selected by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

in the fifth round of the

2019 NFL draft The 2019 NFL draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. The first round was held ...

Early life

Cameron Smith attended Granite Bay High School in

Granite Bay, California Granite Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) in Placer County, California, Placer County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento, California, Sacramento–Arden-Arcade, California, Arden-Arcade–Roseville, California, R ...

. He played

; Granite Bay High won the state championship during Smith's sophomore year, in which Smith was the leading tackler for the season. He also was on Granite Bay's baseball and wrestling teams. Smith was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the seventh best

inside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

in his class and 190th best player overall. He committed to the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC) to play

where he joined the Beta-Sigma chapter of

Tau Kappa Epsilon Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternities and sororities, fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, maki ...

fraternity.

College career

Statistics

''Source'':

Professional career

Smith was selected by the

in the fifth round (162nd overall) of the

. He was waived on August 31, 2019, and was signed to the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on October 12, 2019. He was waived again on November 2, 2019, and re-signed to the practice squad. He was promoted back to the active roster on November 26, 2019. Smith was placed on the reserve/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

list by the Vikings on July 29, 2020. On August 8, Smith announced he would need open-heart surgery to fix a

bicuspid aortic valve Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is a form of heart disease in which two of the leaflets of the aortic valve fuse during development in the womb resulting in a two-leaflet (bicuspid) valve instead of the normal three-leaflet (tricuspid) valve. BAV is ...

he was born with, and would miss the 2020 season. He was activated from the reserve/COVID-19 list on August 10 and was subsequently waived with a non-football illness designation. He reverted to the team's reserve/non-football illness list after clearing waivers the next day. He announced his retirement on August 18, 2021.

References

External links

USC Trojans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Cameron 1997 births Living people American football linebackers Players of American football from Placer County, California Sportspeople from Roseville, California USC Trojans football players Minnesota Vikings players