MOULTRIE – As long as he can remember, T.J. Smith has wanted to play in the National Football League.

The most recent, and major, step in that direction came last weekend when the former Colquitt County High and University of Arkansas defensive lineman signed as a non-drafted free agent with the Los Angeles Chargers.

When he will take the next step and put on the team’s powder blue jersey and lightning bolt helmet is unknown.

With plans for the National Football League’s 2020 season still uncertain and the city of Los Angeles partially shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, Smith can do little now but try to remain in shape and keep in contact with Chargers management.

Smith, who is back in Moultrie staying with parents Frederick and Avis Smith, said he kept in touch with Chargers officials leading up to last week’s draft.

“It was different because everything had been shut down,” the 6-foot-3, 290-pounder said this week. “We had a lot of telephone conversations. But the Chargers had told me they love what I can do on the football field. They had let me know they wanted me as a free agent.”

The Chargers are sending him a tablet so he can more easily keep in contact with the team. For now, that will have to suffice.

And that’s OK.

“Any kid who has played ball wants to play in the NFL,” he said. “It’s always been a dream of mine. I’ve loved this game for years.”

Smith started his career at North Stanly High School in New London, N.C. Before his senior year, he and his family moved to Colquitt County, where his father was named principal at Charlie A. Gray Junior High School. His new teammates made sure the transition was an easy one.

“They took me in like I was one of their own,” he said, listing players such as Bull Barge, Alfred Brown, Tomarcio Reese, Quinton Hampton, Taif Smith and Cody Nicholas as among those who helped usher him into Packer football.

“Those guys were like brothers to me,” he said. “They have become some of the closest relationships I’ve ever had.”

Smith also was fortunate to have come to Moultrie in time to help the Packers go 15-0 in 2014 and win the first of two straight state championships.

“It was a blessing to come here,” he said. “I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t come here.”

He still has plenty of admiration for former head coach Rush Propst, who led the Packers to 30 straight victories in 2014 and 2015.

“I learned so much from him,” Smith said. “He made us much better kids and much better athletes.”

He also remembers the effect assistant coaches Dextra Polite, Shelton Felton and Tracy Buckhannon had on him.

“They kept us in line,” he said. “They got the most out of us. When we played, there was no doubt in our mind that we were going to win.

“The question with us always was, ‘Who is going to make the play?’”

In fact, he said, players were disappointed when the team did not play up to expectations. Smith specifically remembers the 2014 quarterfinal victory over Milton on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium.

Colquitt led 28-13 heading into the fourth quarter only to see the Eagles tie the game 28-28 and 35-35 before Sihiem King scored on an 8-yard run with 2:37 remaining to give the Packers a 42-35 victory.

“When we got to the locker room, there was no celebrating,” Smith said. “We were upset.”

The Packers went on to pound McEachern 57-20 in the semifinals and defeat Archer 28-24 at the Georgia Dome for the school’s first state championship since 1994.

Smith still recalls the football culture in Moultrie.

“It was an awesome experience,” he said “We took pride in our fan base. When we won a close game, we felt like we had let the people down.”

Smith was a key performer on a 2014 Packers defense that also included Barge, Reese, Hampton, Smith, Dee Walker, Alex Williams, Zay Lewis, Javonta Woods, Landon Scott, Jay Blakely, I-Key Pinkins, Ricky Dunbar, and others.

Following his senior season, Smith was considered a three-star recruit and had offers from several SEC and ACC programs. But he developed a strong relationship with Arkansas defensive line coach Rory Segrest, who urged him to visit Fayetteville.

“And I just loved that place,” Smith said. “It was a nice small town with lots of fishing holes to go to.

“And I wanted to go someplace where, if football went away, I’d still be in a place I wanted to be.”

Smith’s decision to go to Arkansas worked out well both for him and the university. He was redshirted as a freshman in 2015 and saw action in five games the next year.

As a sophomore in 2017, he started all 12 games and started 10 of the 12 games he played in as a junior in 2018.

Last fall, he again started all 12 games for the Razorbacks.

Arkansas was just 23-39 during the five years Smith spent in Fayetteville, including 4-20 the last two seasons. There were three head coaches and several defensive line coaches during his time with the Razorbacks, but he said he will most remember the relationships he built with his teammates, especially the other defensive linemen.

“We were so tight,” he said. “We always knew we had each other to lean on.”

While at Arkansas, Smith was a regular on the SEC Academic Honor Roll and in 2018 was on the SEC Community Service Team.

He said he considered it an honor to serve the community in Fayetteville.

He also said the area had a lot of respect and passion for its “Hogs,” much as Colquitt County reveres its “Packer Hawgs.”

Smith graduated from Arkansas in 2018 with a degree in finance, but just how he will use that degree is on hold while he pursues “Plan A,” the opportunity to play professional football.

As he awaits word from the Chargers about when he can join his new teammates, he, like everyone else, is concerned about the death toll the coronavirus is having on the country.