Harrison Smith

BIOGRAPHY

Harrison Smith was born on February 2nd, 1989, in Augusta, Georgia, and currently plays safety in the NFL.

He attended Knoxville Catholic high school, where he was named Gatorade player of the year in Tennessee. As a senior, he recorded 1,340 yards rushing to go with 19 touchdowns, he 23 passes for 453 yards and six TDs. He also made 61 tackles, two tackles for loss, and two interceptions and caused two fumbles on defense.

He played college football at the University of Notre Dame; as a freshman in 2007, he was a reserve safety and did not see any action. As a sophomore in 2008, he played in 13 games and started 9 of them; he earned fourth on the team in tackles with 57 stops, including eight and a half tackles for a loss; he added three and a half sacks on the year and had seven pass breakups.

In 2009 as a junior, he started all 12 games he played; during the season, he played six games s safety and six as a strongside linebacker. He recorded 69 tackles, including 6.5 tackles for loss; he added four pass breakups and forced one fumble.

As a senior in 2010 he started all 13 games of the season, he recorded 93 tackles, including one-half tackle for loss (1 yard), seven interceptions (54 yards) and seven pass breakups. During the 2011 season, he served as team captain and recorded 90 tackles, including three tackles for loss.

On April 26th, 2012, the Minnesota Vikings drafted Smith in the first round (29th overall) of the 2012 NFL Draft; he finished his rookie season with 104 combined tackles, one sack, three interceptions, and two touchdowns.

During the 2013 season, he played in eight games and finished 5th on the team in tackles averaging more than eight tackles per game. In 2014 he Led the team with a career-high 5 INTs, which ranked tied for 3rd in the NFL and tied for 2nd in the NFC; his 150 INT return yards were 2nd best in the NFL. He led the team in tackles for the 1st time in his career and had career highs in tackles (120), solo tackles (82), sacks (3.0), TFL (4.0), and INTs (5).

In 2015 he was named to Pro Bowl for 1st time in his career and Set Vikings record with 4th career INT return TD on his 12th career pick. He played all 13 regular-season games. In 2016 he started in 14 games recording 104 tackles and 2.0 sacks; he earned his 2nd career Pro Bowl nod.

During the 2017 season, he started 16 games for the 3rd consecutive year and recorded 93 tackles with a team-high 5 INTs, earning AP All-Pro honors, a trip to the Pro Bowl, and All-NFL and All-NFC honors by PFWA.

In 2018 he started all 16 games and earned 2nd-Team AP All-Pro honors and his 4th consecutive trip to the Pro Bowl. He set career highs in solo tackles (75) and TFLs (11) and tied career highs in sacks (3.0) and QBHs (10); he moved to up to 6th all-time in Vikings history in total tackles by a DB with 694.

On April 26, 2012, the Minnesota Vikings drafted Smith in the first round (29th overall) of the 2012 NFL Draft. On May 31, 2012, the Minnesota Vikings signed Smith to a four-year, $7.13 million contract with $5.78 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $3.63 million.

On May 3, 2015, the Minnesota Vikings picked up the fifth-year option on his rookie contract that paid him $5.28 million for 2016.

On June 6, 2016, Smith signed a five-year, $51.25 million contract extension with the Vikings that included $28.57 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $10 million.

In 2017, Smith was graded the third-best player in the NFL by Pro Football Focus.His season grade of 98.8 was also the highest among safeties in Pro Football Focus history. He was named to his third straight Pro Bowl on January 22, 2018 and was named first-team All-Pro. He followed with a 4th consecutive Pro Bowl in 2019 and second-team All-Pro.