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Cameron SmithNorth Team

Cameron Smith Profile Photo

ILBCameron Smith

USC — Pac-12

  • Height: 6-2
  • Weight: 250
  • Hometown: Roseville, CA
  • Age: 21
SUMMARY: He has 354 tackles, including 26.5 for losses (with 3.5 sacks), plus 14 deflections, 3 fumble recoveries and 4 interceptions (with a TD) in his career.  He is the first Trojan since inside linebacker Dennis Johnson in 1977-78-79 to lead USC in tackles in 3 consecutive seasons.  He has appeared in 47 games in his career, with 44 starts.
 
SENIOR (2018): The intense, physical, always-around-the-ball Smith started for his fourth season at inside linebacker as a senior in 2018.  Overall while appearing in 10 games (all but Colorado and Arizona State, both which he missed because of a hamstring strain) and starting 9 times (all of those but Utah, in which he was slowed by the hamstring strain and played briefly), he led USC with 81 tackles, including 7.5 for losses of 18 yards (with a 2-yard sack), plus he had 4 deflections.  He was 16th nationally in solo tackles (5.8, seventh in Pac-12).  He was a finalist for the 2018 Senior CLASS Award and a quarterfinalist for the 2018 Lott IMPACT Trophy.  He made the 2018 All-Pac-12 second team, Phil Steele All-Pac-12 first team and Pro Football Focus All-Pac-12 first team.  He was USC’s MVP and a team captain.  He is a 2019 Senior Bowl invitee.

He had a team-best 7 tackles (including 2 for losses, with a sack) and had 2 deflections against UNLV, a team-best 9 tackles (1 for a loss) at Stanford and a game-best 9 tackles at Texas.  He had a game-best 15 tackles (2 for losses) against Washington State and a team-best 7 tackles with a deflection at Arizona.  He had 5 tackles and a deflection at Oregon State, then had 7 tackles against California, 10 tackles (0.5 for loss) at UCLA and a game-high 12 tackles (2 for losses) against Notre Dame.

JUNIOR (2017): Smith started for his third year at inside linebacker as a junior in 2017 and led the team in tackles for the second consecutive year.  Overall in 2017 while appearing in all 14 games and starting 13 (he had to sit out the first half of the Western Michigan opener because of a targeting penalty in the 2017 Rose Bowl), he had a team-high 112 tackles, including 11 for losses of 32 yards (with 0.5 sack for 6 yards), plus an interception, 3 deflections and a fumble recovery along with a 2-yard kickoff return.  He is the first Trojan since 2012 to have 100-plus tackles (and just the third since 2004). 

He was named to the 2017 CBSSports.com Midseason All-American first team (unanimous pick). He made 2017 Phil Steele All-American third team, CollegeSportMadness.com All-American third team, All-Pac-12 first team, AP All-Pac-12 second team, Athlon All-Pac-12 first team and Phil Steele All-Pac-12 first team and was named a semifinalist for the 2017 Butkus Award and Lott IMPACT Trophy.  He won USC’s Defensive Perimeter Player of the Year Award and Co-Lifter of the Year Award.  He was a USC captain.

He had 6 tackles (2 for losses) against Western Michigan despite having to sit the first half because of a targeting penalty in the 2017 Rose Bowl.  He had 8 tackles (0.5 for a loss) against Stanford and a team-best 9 tackles (0.5 for loss) against Texas.  He had a team-best 12 tackles (1.5 for losses) and a fumble recovery at California to earn Lott IMPACT Trophy Player of the Week honors.  He had 6 tackles (1 for a loss) at Washington State and 5 tackles (0.5 sack) against Oregon State.  He had a game-best 16 tackles (0.5 for a loss) against Utah (the most stops by a Trojan since Hayes Pullard had 16 against Georgia Tech in 2012) and he also had a point-blank interception (the fourth of his career, all coming against Utah) to earn Lott IMPACT Trophy Player of the Week honors.  He had a team-leading 10 tackles (1.5 for loss) at Notre Dame, 7 tackles at Arizona State, 4 tackles and he returned a short kickoff 2 yards against Arizona, 4 tackles at Colorado, 8 tackles (1 for a loss) and a deflection against UCLA and 7 tackles (1 for a loss) and 2 deflections against Stanford in the Pac-12 Championship Game.  He had a game-high 10 tackles (1 for a loss) against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.

SOPHOMORE (2016): Smith, coming off an eye-opening first-year performance in 2015, returned as a starting inside linebacker as a sophomore in 2016.  Overall in 2016 while starting all 13 games, he had a team-best 83 tackles, including 7 for losses of 24 yards (with a 6-yard sack), plus 4 deflections, 1 fumble recovery and 1 forced fumble and he returned an onside kick 7 yards.  He made the 2016 Campus Insiders Sophomore All-American first team, All-Pac-12 second team and Phil Steele All-Pac-12 second team.  He won USC’s 2016 Trojan Way Leadership Award.  He was limited in 2016 spring practice while recovering from 2015 knee surgery, as well as rehabbing a shoulder sprain. 

He had a game-best 9 tackles, including 1.5 for losses (with a sack), and a fumble recovery against Alabama, a team-high 13 tackles (1 for a loss) against Utah State and 6 tackles at Stanford.  He had a game-high and career-best 15 tackles (1 for a loss), along with a forced fumble (that USC recovered) and a deflection at Utah, 2 tackles against Arizona State, 4 tackles (with 1 sack) against Colorado, a tackle for a loss at Arizona and 5 tackles (2 for a loss) against California.  He led USC with 8 tackles against Oregon and he also had 2 deflections, then had 3 tackles, a deflection and returned an onside kick 7 yards at Washington, 3 tackles at UCLA and a game-high 10 tackles (with 1 for a loss) against Notre Dame.  He had 4 tackles against Penn State before being ejected in the second half for targeting.

FRESHMAN (2015): Smith, who enrolled at USC in the spring of 2015 after graduating a semester early from high school, started at inside linebacker as a first-year freshman in 2015 until suffering a late-season knee injury.  Overall in 2015 while appearing in USC’s first 10 games (and starting all but California), he had 78 tackles, including a 9-yard sack, plus 3 deflections, a fumble recovery and 3 interceptions (1 for a TD).  He tore knee ligaments against Colorado and had season-ending surgery.  Before getting hurt, he was leading USC in tackles and interceptions and was on pace to be the first true freshman to top the Trojans in tackles in a season since records were first kept in 1954.

He was a 2015 USA Today, ESPN.com, Sporting News and 247Sports Freshman All-American first teamer.  He made 2015 All-Pac-12 honorable mention and Phil Steele All-Pac-12 second team, as well as Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year (the fourth Trojan in the past 5 years to be so honored).  He also won USC’s John McKay Award (underclassman with the most competitive spirit).

He had a team-high 7 tackles along with a deflection against Arkansas State and became the first USC true freshman to start an opener at inside linebacker since Riki Gray (Ellison) did so in 1978 against Texas Tech.  He had a team-best 6 tackles against Idaho, 12 tackles against Stanford and 5 tackles (with a sack) at Arizona State.  He had a game-high 12 tackles against Washington and a team-best 11 tackles and recovered a fumble in the end zone at Notre Dame.  He had 3 interceptions against Utah, including a 54-yard scoring runback that broke open the game right before halftime, a 41-yarder to set up USC’s game-tying TD early in the second quarter and a 27-yarder in the fourth quarter  (it was the most picks by a Trojan in a game since Jason Oliver’s 3 in 1991 versus Penn State) to go along with his team-best 9 tackles to earn Chuck Bednarik Award Player of the Week, FWAA AutoNation National Defensive Player of the Week, Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week and CollegeSportsMadness.com National and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors.  He had 4 tackles and a deflection at California, 6 tackles against Arizona and 6 stops at Colorado before getting hurt.

HIGH SCHOOL: He made 2014 Prep Star All-American Dream Team, Cal-Hi Sports All-State first team, Max Preps All-State Division I first team, USA Today All-California, Orange County Register Fab 15 second team, Tacoma News Tribune Western 100, Max Preps All-Northern California first team, Max Preps All-Sac-Joaquin first team and Sacramento Bee All-Metro first team as a senior linebacker at Granite Bay (Calif.) High.  He had 148 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries and 4 interceptions (2 for TDs) in 2014. 
As a junior in 2013, he made Cal-Hi Sports All-State Junior first team, Max Preps All-Northern California second team, Max Preps All-Sac-Joaquin second team and Sacramento Bee All-Metro first team as he had 126 tackles, including 5 for losses, 3 interceptions, 3 deflections, 2 fumble recoveries and a forced fumble.

He made Cal-Hi Sports All-State Sophomore first team and Max Preps All-Sac-Joaquin Section first team as a 2012 sophomore, posting 196 tackles (including 8 for losses, with 3.5 sacks) and 4 interceptions.  Granite Bay won the California state championship in 2012.  He had 11 interceptions in his career. 
He also was on Granite Bay’s baseball and wrestling teams. 

PERSONAL: He is a communication major at USC.  He played youth football against eighth graders when he was in fourth grade.  He interned in the summer of 2017 at a Central California winery.