Dwight L. Smith (born August 13, 1978) is an American former college and professional football player who was a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for eight seasons. He played college football for the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classifie ...

, and earned consensus All-American honors. The

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

picked him in the third round of the 2001 NFL Draft, and he also played professionally for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

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

and Detroit Lions of the NFL. Smith earned a

Super Bowl ring The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the team members of the winning team of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Since only one Vince Lombardi Trophy is awarded to the team (ownership) itsel ...

with the Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII.

Early years

Smith was born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. He attended Central High School in Detroit, and played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

for the Central Trailblazers.

College career

He attended the

, where he played for the Akron Zips football team from 1997 to 2000. As a senior in 2000, he had 10 interceptions and was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American at defensive back along with being a finalist for the Thorpe Award.''2011 NCAA Football Records Book''
Award Winners
National Collegiate Athletic Association, Indianapolis, Indiana, p. 11 (2011). Retrieved June 24, 2012.

Professional career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Smith began his career with the

from 2001 to 2004. Smith's career highlight came in the Bucs' 48–21 victory over the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII, in which Smith intercepted two passes from

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Rich Gannon Richard Joseph Gannon (born December 20, 1965) is an American former football quarterback who played 18 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Subsequently, he was a sports commentator with CBS Sports for 16 years. Gannon was born i ...

, returning both for touchdowns. He was the first player ever to score 2 touchdowns on interception returns in Super Bowl history.

New Orleans Saints

Before the 2005 season he signed with the

and played for them for a season. He was released in July 2006, after failed attempts to trade him.

Minnesota Vikings

Smith signed a three-year deal with the Vikings in July 2006. On February 20, 2008, the Vikings released him.

Detroit Lions

On February 27, 2008, he signed with the Detroit Lions. He received $5 million over 2 years. The deal reunited Smith with Lions' head coach

Rod Marinelli Rodney Marinelli (born July 13, 1949) is an American football coach. He has been a defensive coach for several college and professional teams, serving primarily as a defensive line coach when he has not been a coordinator. From 2006 until 2008, ...

and defensive coordinator

Joe Barry Joe Barry (born July 5, 1970) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the assistant head coach and linebackers coach for the Los A ...

, both of whom were assistants on the Tampa Bay staff when the veteran safety spent the first four seasons of his NFL career as a standout Bucs' defender. Smith was released by the Lions on February 9, 2009.

References

External links

Detroit Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Dwight 1978 births Living people Akron Zips football players All-American college football players American football safeties Detroit Lions players Minnesota Vikings players New Orleans Saints players Players of American football from Detroit Tampa Bay Buccaneers players