

The name Vincent Smith doesn't register with a lot of college football fans.



The image of Vincent Smith in January's Outback Bowl? Everyone knows that.

Smith is the former Michigan running back who was blasted by Jadeveon Clowney late in that game. More accurately, Clowney ran straight through him. The crushing hit forced a fumble, changed the momentum of the game, and launched the South Carolina pass rusher into football fame. There was even off-season debate about whether Clowney would have gotten ejected under the new rules for his ferocious tackle.

But what became of Smith? What happened to the victim of one of the most famous tackles in college football history? And what's it like turning on the TV every weekend and seeing a highlight of yourself getting separated from the ball and your helmet?

First and foremost: Smith is OK. He was OK right after the hit, too. He went through the concussion testing protocol and went right back into the game. "I didn't miss a series," he says. "I didn't miss a play."

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Smith says he keeps his chinstrap loose and that's why the headgear flew off. He thinks that's part of the reason the hit became such a big deal. "I give him credit for the tackle," Smith says, "but it wasn't the hardest hit."

Smith says he's seen the play "a couple times" and it doesn't bother him (although he wishes someone would replay the special teams hit he made earlier in that game). Smith's older brother, Jawarski Bouie, quickly grew tired of seeing his sibling getting trucked over and over again – as Smith puts it, "You know how big brothers are about little brothers." Smith, for his part, just wanted to move on.



And he has moved on – in quite a unique way.





Smith grew up in "Muck City," the part of the Everglades region of Florida known for producing sugar cane and speedy football players including Anquan Boldin, Fred Taylor and Santonio Holmes. The legend is that football players from Muck City are so fast because they grow up chasing rabbits. Travis Benjamin, a wide receiver for the Browns, is nicknamed "Rabbit" because of this, and Smith chased rabbits growing up as well. The poignant part of growing up in the Everglades is that many kids can't run from poverty, and football feels like the only way out.

Smith got out, and now he's making it his mission to come back to Muck City and stay.

During his time at Michigan, Smith and teammate Martavious Odoms came up with the idea to build community gardens back home after they graduated. The goal was to provide food to locals who needed it and sell the rest. It was a more sustainable form of the rabbit chase: instead of hawking skins for $2 a pop, they could sell produce and maybe create jobs.

"The idea was a brainstorm based on how our area is sugarcane and corn," Smith says. "If we have this muck and it's so rich, we might as well give back in a major way."

Smith didn't just brainstorm. He phoned the mayor of his hometown.

"He called me and he said he wants to do something in town," says Pahokee mayor Colin Walkes. "He wanted to use what we have to keep us self-sufficient."

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