D.J. Smith is rising up the college coaching ranks quickly
Former Green Bay Packers linebacker D.J. Smith, who made nine starts over the 2011 and 2012 seasons for the green and gold, is quickly rising up the coaching ranks. Smith, drafted in the sixth round out of Appalachian State in 2011, got his first crack at being a full-time on-field college coach in 2018 when he joined the Mountaineers staff as an outside linebackers coach.
In 2020, when App State head coach Eliah Drinkwitz left the Mountaineers for Missouri, Smith joined the SEC staff as a linebackers coach and was given co-defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator titles beginning in 2022. Before transitioning to coaching, he had previously been App State’s director of recruiting relations in 2016.
Now, the 35-year-old has his first outright defensive coordinator opportunity, and it’s at his alma mater. Earlier this week, the Mountaineers announced that Smith would be returning to Boone to construct a defense in his own vision under new head coach Dowell Loggains, a former NFL offensive coordinator who most recently was South Carolina’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Congrats to Smith on the opportunity. In seven years, he went from a first-time positional to an outright defensive coordinator with SEC experience. We probably haven’t heard the last of his name. Heck, maybe one day he’ll make his return to Green Bay.