Hopping off Harvard's pre-med track, Lions' Smith dreaming of lengthy NFL career
Allen Park — There aren’t many Harvard graduates playing in the NFL, but there’s one in the Detroit Lions locker room.
Second-year defensive tackle Chris Smith is currently on the team’s practice squad, but he impressed the coaches enough this offseason that he earned a temporary promotion and playing time Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams.
Holding a degree in human evolutionary biology, and formerly on a pre-med track, he’s currently got his sights set on carving out a lengthy career in the NFL. Who would have guessed that would have been possible when he committed to Harvard out of Cranbrook Kingswood in Bloomfield Hills as a 6-foot-2, 250-pound edge rusher six years ago?