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People SearchFind an individual who either played a sport or was a member of a support group. Search by last name by clicking on the first letter of the person's last name.
Mr. Bernard Smith
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Home Phone: -- Football: Smith relishes trip to Georgia Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • September 4, 2010 Football took UL junior defensive end Bernard Smith from Mays High School in Atlanta, Ga., to West Virginia, followed by a detour to Mississippi before he ended up in Louisiana. With the Ragin’ Cajuns set to open the 2010 season today at No. 23 Georgia, Smith gets to play about two hours from his hometown at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga. At least 20 of his family members and friends from all over the country are expected to attend the game. No one is more excited about Smith’s homecoming than his 3-year-old daughter Jayden, who lives in Atlanta with her mother, Kashawna Folks. “I do love him!” Jayden said Wednesday in a phone interview. “I’m really excited. I love him so much!” In a huge understatement the feeling is mutual. “That’s my life right there,” Smith said of his daughter. “She’s been my No. 1 fan since she was born. It used to be my mom, but once she was born she said ‘I’m his No. 1 fan.'” The pair has been close since Jayden, who turns 4 in February, was born during Smith’s junior year of high school. Smith was rated the nation’s No. 41 strong-side linebacker and a three-star recruit by Scout.com during his prep days in 2008. He verbally committed to Ole Miss and Western Kentucky before signing with West Virginia. “I was being recruited by SEC schools, and that was nice,” Smith said. “But I wanted to go somewhere and experience life. I followed the opportunity.” An admitted cold-weather person, Smith took summer classes at West Virginia but had to leave school just prior to preseason camp due to an error on his transcript. West Virginia hoped to grayshirt Smith after the mistake was later corrected, but he had already enrolled at Northeast Mississippi Community College. Going into his sophomore season in Mississippi, Smith was still being recruited by bigger programs like Tennessee and Alabama. Those schools backed off when he hurt his right knee, thinking he tore his anterior cruciate ligament. It was actually just a strained posterior cruciate ligament. Smith, who moved to rush end in college, earned honorable mention MACJC all-state honors after logging 25 tackles and three sacks despite missing three games due to his knee injury. In the end, the Cajuns beat out Memphis, UAB and Arkansas State for his services.
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