By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor 

VINCENT – Vincent has 29 kids on its football roster for the 2015 football season. Of those 29, just 12 are upperclassmen. The Yellow Jackets had a long and somewhat torturous summer, as they bled players who were poised to make big contributions on both sides of the ball this season to other schools, and also lost assistant coach Stuart Morrison, who took a job underneath the brighter lights of Oak Mountain. All that being said, the Aug. 21 game at West Blocton will be here in a hurry, and no matter who is in a Yellow Jacket uniform or who isn’t, they’re still playing football that day.

Fortunately for head coach Jason Hill, Jordan Smith is still on his roster. Smith is the de facto leader of this team although, at 6-foot-1-inch and 180 pounds, the defensive end-turned-linebacker does not at first, or second or third glance, seem like the type of kid who eats nails for breakfast or takes his lunch to school in a metal pail or the source of any other type of football-centered hyperbole. He’s unassuming, polite, and his straight brown hair falls over his scalp and into his eyes like a mop. But come game time, he’s someone else entirely. A quick, intelligent savvy defensive player who has a nose for the ball, he led Vincent in tackles last season with 76, or right at 7 per game, and will need to have the same impact in his senior year.

“There’s just nothing like Friday nights,” he said during the Jefferson-Shelby County media day in Gardendale on July 27, as the only explanation to his transformation on the football field.

This season, Smith is not going to step off the field. He’s playing tight end on offense, a position he played some as a sophomore but did not play as a junior, while playing linebacker on defense, a switch from his natural defensive end position that happened less than a week ago. He’s also the holder on extra points and field goals, and will help on all special teams as well. If Vincent is playing in a football game, Smith is going to be on the field.

“I’m just adjusting to playing the whole game right now,” Smith said of his growing responsibilities in an Aug. 12 phone interview. “On defense, coach moved me to linebacker this week because we’re not as deep there. He wants me to step up and be the leader of the linebacker corps. It’s a lot different than defensive end, and I just want to make as many tackles as I can to help our team.”

Football however, is not even Smith’s top sport. He’s a catcher on the baseball team, and had a .420 batting average with 37 hits and 31 RBIs in his junior year. He’s always wanted to play in college and is hopeful that will pan out down the line.

For now though, he’s just focused on doing whatever it takes to make sure his last season of high school football is a memorable one.

“Without a doubt we can win region this year,” he said. “I want to take this team on a deep run in the playoffs.”

Whether that comes true or not, or is even a possibility, remains to be seen, especially when it’s extremely likely the Yellow Jackets will start a freshman under center. But the fact remains; don’t sleep on the mop-headed kid from Vincent, because he’s playing for keeps.