MOULTRIE — Wearing his purple Minnesota Vikings jersey with the No. 50 on the front, back and shoulders, former Packer T.J. Smith told a group of campers how they, too, could reach their dreams.

Smith, who was a member of Colquitt County’s undefeated and state championship football team in 2014 and went to start for three seasons at Arkansas at defensive tackle, was invited to speak at last week’s Propel Summer Program at C.A. Gray Junior High School.

A member of the Southeastern Conference’s Community Service Team, Smith has made it a point to encourage and challenge students.

His subject for the campers was “Chasing Your Dreams.”

His key points were:

• Obey our parents and teachers.

• Dream BIG.

• Understand there is a huge difference between a dream and a fantasy. A fantasy is a dream without a plan/work.

• It’s okay to have haters.

• In your toughest moments, you are not alone. It is building character in you.

• Flee from temptation. Turn away from wrong. Focus on right.

• Don’t lose your faith/your hope.

• Chase your dreams daily.

• Don’t be afraid to walk through open doors.

• Forgive the people who aren’t treating you right.

Portia Wilson Gudes, C.A. Gray academic coach said “students and teachers were truly engaged in his words.”

For his part, Smith said, “I love talking to kids. Some just need a pat on the back or someone to lift them up.”

Smith has been fortunate. His parents are educators.

His father Frederick Smith is the principal at C.A. Gray.

Avis Smith, his mother, is a guidance counselor at Willie J. Williams Middle School.

And his grandmother also encouraged him to strive to be the best.

Still, to play collegiate football at the highest level and then become just the fifth former Packer ever to perform in the National Football League, Smith had to battle through many of the same obstacles the students he was talking to are facing.

In fact, he might never have become a successful football player if a coach had not taken a special interest in him when he was a junior in high school.

Smith was a basketball player at North Stanly High School in New Lundon, N.C., when football coach Ralph Jackson challenged him to a one-on-one basketball game.

If Smith couldn’t beat the coach, he would have to go out for the football team.

Jackson won and not only helped start Smith’s development into an outstanding football player, he became one of the young player’s mentors.

“He really changed my life,” Smith said. “I really didn’t want to play football then.

“But he challenged me, helped with my work ethic. We still have a great relationship.”

After Smith played that one season at North Stanly, the family moved to Moultrie where his father took the principal’s job at C.A. Gray.

Smith joined a Colquitt County football team that promptly won 15 straight games and won the school’s first state championship in 20 years.

Smith said he takes no credit for the championship.

“They had a great team already,” he said, ticking off the names of such outstanding Packers as Bull Barge, Quinton Hampton, Alfred Brown and Sihiem King, among others.

“I came into a great situation. I feel like I helped, but they were going to win state whether I was there or not.”

Smith said he feels fortunate to have played for head coach Rush Propst, who led the Packers to another state championship the next year and won 110 games in his 11 years in Moultrie.

Smith said he still employs much of what he learned that one season with the Packers.

“He’s special,” Smith said of Propst. “We’d go into games, look across at the other guys and know we were built different than they were. He helped get us to the next level.”

Smith had early offers from UNC-Charlotte and Dartmouth, but as the season progressed, he began getting more calls from interested Power 5 programs.

Ralph Jackson was also touting his former player and mentioned Smith’s name to a Vanderbilt recruiter.

Offers from North Carolina, Central Florida and Wake Forest arrived.

He was strongly considering Vanderbilt because he wanted to play in the SEC and get a quality education.

But when he discovered that Arkansas had an outstanding business school, he went from being a Hawg to a Razorback.

“I’m a country boy and the atmosphere just felt like home to me,” he said.

“I knew that if I was going to spend four years somewhere, I had to ask myself, can I do this here on a day-to-day basis? I knew I’d have to love the place. And I did.”

He arrived in Fayetteville in the fall of 2015 and graduated in December 2018 with a degree in financial management with a focus on investments.

Smith had high hopes for the Arkansas program when he arrived, but the team struggled during his career there.

During his final three years, the Razorbacks went 4-8 in 2017 and 2-10 in both 2018 and 2019.

In those three seasons, Arkansas won just one of 24 SEC games.

“Things didn’t go the way we wanted them to go,” he said. “Losing can take you to some dark places that I don’t want to go to again.

“But I also learned a lot of important lessons. I think it brought out the best in me.”

In his final season at Arkansas, Smith had career highs in tackles for loss, with four, and sacks, with 2.5.

Still, he did not get invited to the NFL Combine, where scouts evaluate draft-eligible players.

He did have a strong performance at the Pro Day, where scouts assess and interview prospects before the draft.

But then COVID shut down NFL facilities before he was able to take a physical.

Still, Smith persevered.

“I just thought, ‘This is God’s plan,’” he said.

Eventually, he signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Chargers and remained on their practice squad during the 2020 season.

The Chargers released him just weeks before the start of the 2021 season, but weeks later he was signed by the Vikings.

Not only did he like the community and the people in Minnesota, he was fortunate to play for defensive line coach Andre Patterson.

“He saw potential in me and told me to just keep working,” Smith said.

And finally he got his chance to play when the Vikings activated him for the game against San Francisco, known for having one of the top offensive lines in the league.

He responded with three tackles, including a solo.

“That helped me to realize I just have to keep my head down and keep working,” he said.

Smith is working out at Colquitt County High, getting himself ready to report to the Vikings camp on July 26.