UGA football great gifting tickets to hometown kids to watch him face Falcons
Roquan Smith will have a hometown crowd in Georgia for the first time since 2017.
The Macon County native said he is buying tickets for “over a hundred” people — mainly students — from his hometown to watch him play against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Smith, who has starred as the Baltimore Ravens’ middle linebacker since 2022, called the gift a “once-in-a-lifetime type of thing.”
Smith has only played in Atlanta once since his NFL career began eight years ago. The Bears played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2020, but fans were not allowed to come due to COVID-19 restrictions. Smith and the Bears were scheduled to return to Atlanta in 2022, but Chicago traded him to Baltimore three weeks before the game.
“I look at it as, ‘If this is (the) one time, I’ll get as many tickets as I can,’ so that’s what it’s about,” Smith told reporters this week. “Just the high school and the rec department, that’s over a hundred well alone, but it’s all worth it, man.”
Smith grew up in Montezuma, a town in southwest Georgia with a population of roughly 2,900. Macon County is a Class A school with 333 students, according to the U.S. News and World Report.
Smith, who moved to Athens to play for Georgia before living in Chicago and Baltimore, hopes the trip can expand horizons for the students he’s bringing.
“Being from a small town, it’s worth it,” Smith said. “Like, those kids never get a chance to really get out and see a lot, so just being exposed to that at such an early age, it’s like a life-changing moment, and, like, can inspire those guys in a variety of ways.”
Smith also hosts a free youth football camp at Macon County High School every year.
Smith was a two-way star at Macon County before most of the country knew his name. The 2014 AJC Super 11 selection went on to win the Butkus Award, given to the country’s top college football linebacker, at the University of Georgia before Chicago drafted him with the No. 8 overall pick in 2018.
Smith has been just as successful in the NFL. He’s a three-time First-Team All-Pro and a four-time Pro Bowler. Smith has also tallied 1,169 total tackles, 22.5 sacks and 11 interceptions.
But Sunday offers the opportunity for a new accomplishment: bringing his hometown crowd to see football at the highest level.
“I’m just grateful to be in a position to have so many kids from the situations that they’re from being able to come out and see a game of football, and I can support them in any manner,” Smith said.