Dawuane "D.J." Smoot (born March 2, 1995) is an

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 wi ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

who is a free agent. He played college football at

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Early years

Smoot attended

Groveport Madison High School Groveport-Madison High School is a high school in Groveport, Ohio, United States. The school's mascot is the Cruiser, a horse tamed by John Solomon Rarey. Cruiser Football The current coach for the 2021-2022 season is Mitch Westcamp. Eastl ...

Groveport, Ohio Groveport is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Columbus. The population was 6,009 at the 2020 census. Groveport was the hometown of John Solomon Rarey, a 19th-century horse whisperer, and developer of the Rare ...

. During his high school career, he had 260 tackles and 30 sacks. He committed to the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

to play college football.

College career

Smoot played in seven games as a true freshman at Illinois in 2013, recording eight tackles and one sack. As a sophomore in 2014 he played in all 13 games and had 33 tackles and 2.5 sacks. As a junior in 2015 he started all 12 games, recording 40 tackles, eight sacks and three forced fumbles. On November 29, 2016, Smoot was named Third-team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media.

Professional career

Smoot contemplated leaving Illinois after his junior season and received a second round grade for the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015 NFL Draft, 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park (Chicago), ...

from the NFL advisory board. He decided to stay for his senior year and was the 24th overall prospect on Todd McShay's big board heading into 2017. He received an invitation to the

2017 Senior Bowl The 2017 Senior Bowl was an all-star college football exhibition game featuring players from the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season, and prospects for the 2017 Draft of the professional National Football League (NFL). The game concluded t ...

and practiced well throughout the week. He played defensive end for the North, but was held without a tackle as the North were defeated 16-15 by the South. Smoot attended the NFL Combine and completed most of the combine and positional drills, but decided to not perform the bench press. He also participated at Illinois' Pro Day and chose to perform the bench and have another attempt at the vertical. NFL draft experts and analysts projected him to be selected in the third or fourth round. He was ranked the 15th best defensive end available in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com. Smoot was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third round (68th overall) of the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia ...

. Smoot made the Jaguars team and played in all 16 regular season games, as well as Jacksonville's three playoff games. In week 3 of the 2019 season, Smoot recorded his first two career sacks on

Marcus Mariota Marcus Ardel Taulauniu Mariota (born October 30, 1993) is an American football quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted second overall by the Tennessee Titans in the 2015 NFL Draft. Mariota pl ...

in the 20–7 win. Smoot signed a two-year, $10 million contract extension with the Jaguars on March 16, 2021.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Personal life

On October 19, 2021, Smoot helped his wife Aumari deliver the couple's second child at home, after she fell on the way to the hospital. The couple has a two-year old son, Ahmir.

References

External links

Jacksonville Jaguars bioIllinois Fighting Illini bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smoot, Dawuane 1995 births Living people Players of American football from Ohio American football defensive ends Illinois Fighting Illini football players Jacksonville Jaguars players People from Groveport, Ohio Sportspeople from Franklin County, Ohio