It wasn’t enough for the Pittsburgh Steelers to secure CB Jalen Ramsey in a trade with the Miami Dolphins. They also grabbed TE Jonnu Smith in the same transaction. The Steelers wanted to add more playmakers on offense, and this is their latest attempt.
Smith adds to an already-deep tight end room that QB Aaron Rodgers has praised this offseason. And he’s reunited with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who was his OC with the Tennessee Titans in 2019 and 2020 and head coach with the Atlanta Falcons in 2023. But just who is Jonnu Smith? Here are five things to know.
Born And Raised In PA, Graduated In Florida
Jonnu Smith is a native Pennsylvanian. He was born to Karen and Wayne Smith in North Philadelphia. However, Smith had a troubled life as a kid. His father was killed in a freak accident with a car while working as a tow truck operator when Smith was only five. That left his mother, Karen, to raise six children as a single mother. It was tough, but she was able to make it work.
But things didn’t get easier in Philly. Eventually, to help Smith get out of the bad area and pursue his dream of playing football, Karen Smith sent her youngest son to Florida. There, he would live with his mother’s sister, Daria, and her husband, Mike Kirkland.
There, in Ocala, Jonnu Smith got to play football. He also got into another sport.
One Of The Best Weightlifters In The Country
At the same time that Jonnu Smith was playing football and earning a three-star rating at West Port High, he started lifting weights competitively. It wasn’t just a side hobby, either. Jonnu Smith was good.
It is so good that Smith finished second in the country in the 219-pound weight class. That’s not just for show, either. At the NFL Combine, Smith did 22 reps on the bench press.
More Tragedy Strikes
Unfortunately, Jonnu Smith’s personal story has tragic chapters. It started with his father’s death but continued even into college. After Smith’s high school career, he had only one Division I offer, Florida International University. And he played well there. While it kept him far from his hometown of Philly, his childhood friend Willie “Quasim” Jefferson stayed in touch. Sometimes it was by phone, sometimes Jefferson would come down to FIU.
Unfortunately, after Jefferson returned to Philly after a visit in 2016, he was killed.
“That crushed me,” Smith said in the interview with Patriots.com linked earlier. “A lot of thoughts went through my head, like, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have let him go back. Maybe if I’d just tried to keep him down here …’ He goes back and … you see what happened.”
Jefferson’s death shook Smith. But he vowed to honor his friend and did just that by giving his firstborn the middle name Quasim.
Almost Didn’t Get Recruited
Smith only received a scholarship offer from FIU. And it almost didn’t happen. West Port was not a good football team. They finished 5-5 in Smith’s senior season, and he wasn’t on anyone’s radar. But back then, FIU under then-head coach Mario Cristobal had a philosophy, according to the Miami Herald: At least one coach had to visit every single Florida high school.
And it didn’t take long for recruiting coordinator Dennis Smith to fall in love with Jonnu Smith (no relation).
“It took me just 10 minutes of watching him,” Dennis Smith said. “And I was sold.”
Unfortunately for Cristobal and Dennis Smith, they never got to coach Jonnu Smith. The entire coaching staff was let go that year. But Jonnu Smith’s work, even in a lackluster high school program, caught the right people’s eyes, and now he’s about to start his ninth year in the NFL—all thanks to one coach’s idea to visit every single high school in the state of Florida.
Wanted To Join The Secret Service If Football Didn’t Work Out
While Jonnu Smith was at FIU, then-President Barack Obama visited. Smith was already studying criminal justice, but he got a chance to meet with some of the Secret Service agents who were part of President Obama’s detail.
“Some of the Secret Service guys talked to him and told him how they got started,” Karen Smith said in the Miami Herald piece. “He called me the next day and said, ‘Mom, I finally know what I want to do’ [after football].”
