Headin' to the Hall: A&M legend Kevin Smith to be enshrined in Atlanta

Earlier this week, it was announced that legendary Texas A&M cornerback Kevin Smith will go into the College Football Hall of Fame as a member of the 2024 class. On Friday, "Pup" joined TexAgs Radio to discuss the honor, reminisce about his career in Aggieland and more.

Key notes from Kevin Smith interview

• I don’t remember all of those things that I did, but you piled all of them on me to make me feel pretty good!
   
• R.C. Slocum is on an early committee with the College Football Hall of Fame, and he held it to a T. He couldn’t tell me much other than I was in consideration for a couple of years in a row. I moved a couple of weeks ago, so whatever package the Hall of Fame sent me, I didn’t know which house it went to. I thought they’d announce it, but I didn’t hear from anybody.
   
• The day I found out, it was a gloomy day in Dallas. I ran some errands. I hadn’t checked my phone in a couple of hours. I had missed a couple of calls from Slocum, so I called him back to check on him. He said, “Did you get any good news?” He said that somebody should have called, and he told me to stay close to my phone. Coach Slocum would not tell me. I had a couple of texts from Alan Cannon and Matt Watson congratulating me, so at that point, I knew I got in. Ross Bjork texted me. Mike Elko texted me, and I am so proud of what he’s doing down there. I eventually got the package. My Amazon email was in my spam folder, so I picked up the package from the Hall of Fame a couple of days ago.
   
• COVID-19 probably backed my induction back a little bit. Every year, they pick 60 nominations for 18 guys to go in. There are almost 7 million guys who have played college football since the 1970s, and there are only 1,100 guys are in the Hall of Fame. Every guy that is on that list of nominations probably deserves to be in the Hall of Fame because of their contributions to their school and the game. The class is great. Every year, the class that they put in is absolutely deserving of being in the Hall of Fame.
   
• Coach Slocum said it and implemented it, and it was passed on: Football truly is a sport of life lessons. It’s unique that it has the most guys on the field at one time or in a locker room with different backgrounds. You have to take all of that to make those guys chase one common goal. That’s about winning football games, but it’s more about being great student-ahtletes and having great character in the community. If you don’t have that, you’re not going to win football games.
   
• If I didn’t have my four years at Texas A&M, I wouldn’t be here. I was a young man that was ready to challenge the world. Guys speak so well about guys like Slocum because those coaches knew it wasn’t just about football. It was about life and growing as a young man.
   
• It’s crazy to be the 12th Aggie to go in. You would think more guys would be in. It’s a process. There are others that are very deserving. To be listed with guys like John David Crow, Jacob Green, Ray Mickens and Ray Childress, those are guys with names on streets, buildings and statues in College Station. It’s an honor and touching. My mother is touched more than anybody in the world. There is nobody that is backing Texas A&M University more than my mom.
   
• During my recruitment trips, I remember one of the coaches telling me that you’d play in front of 60-70,000 fans at Kyle Field. You might not know all of them, but once you start making plays, they’re going to know you.
   
• What really brought love for me to A&M was the traditions and the spirit of the school. To be in the dorm the day before the game to see the preparation, atmosphere and smiles was special. On the day of the game, we’d meet our parents and family in Cain Hall, and then we’d walk through that crowd to the stadium. There was no better feeling. The energy and spirit of Aggieland was so powerful. That’s what I remember most.
   
• I think we have the athletes. The facilities are there. We have more than other colleges. It’s hard to tell because I’m not inside the locker room, and I’m not in Elko’s head. When I was there, we had a culture and a locker room where we really cared about each other, and we really wanted to be there. We had a true brotherhood. There was no NIL or transfer portal. The guy who thought he was an individual, we quickly reeled in.
   
• The kids now have access to so many different things. We didn’t have social media, and not everybody had a car. We couldn’t get around like these guys can. We were stuck in that dorm, and we played cards, dominos, ping pong and competed against each other. Being in the dorm probably made it different than how they have it now.
   
• With the Cowboys in the 90s, we didn’t know how good we were. We were young, dumb and energetic. We ran a 4-3 base defense. It was basically man-to-man with zone rules. It was nothing special. Once I got in the huddle as a starter, we had some veteran guys that I had to perform with. I didn’t really know I was playing against the great Jerry Rice. The less we knew about our opponent and the more we knew about ourselves, it gave us the advantage. I remember playing Rice, and we had been going back and forth. Charles Haley told me not to talk to him.
   
• Those Cowboy teams have stayed pretty close. Ed “Too Tall” Jones probably deserves to be in the Ring of Honor. He was a great player, and he has been in Dallas for almost 50 years. If he walks into a restaurant, you’re going to recognize him. He’s a quality guy and doesn’t get in trouble. He represents the Cowboys well and is a good ambassador.
   
• My teammates from A&M and I have a group text, and we go at it. We stay in touch, and it’s a brotherhood. We have a bond like no other.
   
• I haven’t talked to Emmitt Smith yet because I think E.J. Smith committed on Saturday or Sunday, and the Hall of Fame stuff happened on Monday. I’ll probably run into him on Sunday at the Cowboys game. I’ll definitely talk to him about E.J. committing to A&M.