By Hayden Swope

Going into his senior year, Braylon Smith of Minneapolis knew he wanted to make an impact on his team. 

“Some goals that I have for this season are to personally get over 1,000 all-purpose yards,” Smith said. “Team-wise I’d like to see the young guys step up in a big way. We have guys that can do it, they just need to know that they can. Another goal for me this year as a senior is I want to be a bigger leader than I have been.”

After losing a few essential seniors from last season, Smith is excited to see how this year’s team bands together. 

“I’m most excited to see what this team can do,” Smith said. “We had some key players for us last year that graduated and I want to see how our young guys step up.”

While the season is right around the corner, Smith has taken advantage of any and every offseason chance to progress with his team. 

“This offseason has been like any other,” Smith said. “We have team football nights every Tuesday, we workout Monday through Thursday every week, and I also workout at night Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. We went to our seven-on-seven football camp and the University of Friends football camp, which are both held in Concordia.”

With many team goals and workouts that Smith attended, he also worked to improve his own strengths and weaknesses. 

“There really wasn’t one area in particular in my game that I tried to improve, I really just tried to work on my strength and speed,” Smith said.

Next fall, Smith plans to continue his education at a higher level. 

“As for the future, I plan on attending Kansas State University and eventually become an anesthesiologist,” Smith said.