Howard Smothers (born November 16, 1973) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

who played three seasons in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

with the

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played its ...

and

Buffalo Destroyers Buffalo most commonly refers to: * Bubalina, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York Buffalo or buffaloes may also refer to: Animals * Bubalina, a subtribe of the tr ...

. He was drafted by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

in the seventh round of the

1995 NFL Draft The 1995 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount Th ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Bethune-Cookman and

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 ...

Jean Ribault High School Jean Ribault High School is a public high school located in North Jacksonville, Florida. It is part of Duval County Public Schools. Improvement Ribault was one of 16 schools nationwide selected by the College Board for inclusion in the EXCELerat ...

Professional career

Smothers was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles with the 248th pick in the 1995 NFL Draft.

Orlando Predators

Smothers played for the Orlando Predators in 1998.

Buffalo Destroyers

Smothers played for the Buffalo Destroyers from 1999 to 2000. He was released by the Destroyers on February 13, 2001.

Personal life

His son, Howard Smothers, played college football at

Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a public historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two land-grant universities and the second oldest public institution of higher learnin ...

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smothers, Howard Living people 1973 births Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida American football offensive linemen American football defensive linemen African-American players of American football Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football players Orlando Predators players Buffalo Destroyers players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople