1st & 10 | “It seemed like it could be a good fit and I’m super-excited..."

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1st & 10 | "It seemed like it could be a good fit and I'm super-excited they picked me."

Spend even just a few minutes with Jaylen Smith and it becomes instantly clear why the Winnipeg Blue Bombers fell in love with the University of North Texas linebacker.

Enthusiasm oozes from his every answer and there's an infectious energy to him the club hopes will soon translate to the locker room and the practice field.

Selected in the second round, 15th overall, in this week's CFL Draft, Smith — a proud Hamilton, Ont. product — will be arriving in Winnipeg next Tuesday and on the field for the first day of rookie camp on Wednesday.

It will mark the next chapter in his life as he closes out his college days with an exam Monday night in Denton, Texas, then boards a plane the next day in Dallas bound for Winnipeg.

"I'm so excited. I'm sick of school and I just want to play football," began Smith in a chat with bluebombers.com this week. "The draft process seems to take so long and is so strenuous. I can't wait to get on the field and just start playing. I just want to show them the best I possibly can."

Smith has seen a lot of airports in the last week, to tell the truth. His parents surprised him a week ago, paying to fly him back home to Hamilton from Texas for a CFL Draft night party.

"They called me last Sunday and told me they were flying me home," he said. "I was shocked at that. I got home on Monday, got ready, got my haircut, had all my friends and family there on Tuesday — almost 60 people — so it was a special moment. I hadn't seen a lot of them in a long time, some of them for probably four-five years because I hadn't been home at all for a lot of that time.

"My parents (Elsa and Wallace) enjoyed it all and were definitely taking more of the spotlight than me. But they just wanted to show how proud they are of me, and I'll always be appreciative of them. They instilled a lot of good in me. I'm just happy for them, as well.

"When my name was said on TV it got loud," he added with a chuckle. "My uncle tweeted out something. That was cool. It was unexpected because we didn't know when I was going to get picked and we were just waiting. Then it seemed out of nowhere I was picked and everyone started screaming. I wasn't even paying attention — I was just staring at my phone waiting for that call. And then Coach O'Shea called me...."

https://www.bluebombers.com/2025/05/02/1st-10-it-seemed-like-it-could-be-a-good-fit-and-im-super-excited-they-picked-me/