Texas A&M football graduate wide receiver Ainias Smith was named the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week for Week 5, the conference announced Monday.
Smith had a career-high 131 punt return yards in the Aggies’ win over Arkansas on Sept. 30, including an 82-yard punt return touchdown that put the Maroon and White up 34-16 in the fourth quarter. He also had a 43-yard return on the Razorbacks’ next punt.
The score was the second special teams touchdown of Smith’s career, and the first since his 95-yard punt return against South Carolina in 2021. He currently leads the FBS in career punt return yards among active players and ranks seventh in all-time punt return yards amongst Aggies with 768 and is 14th on A&M’s all-purpose yards list with 3,384 yards after adding 202 in the win over Arkansas.
Smith and the Aggies will return to action Saturday, Oct. 7, as they host No. 11 Alabama at Kyle Field.
Ainias Smith named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week
October 2, 2023
Photo by Photo by Ishika Samant
Graduate WR Ainias Smith (0) returns a punt for a touchdown during the Southwest Classic against Arkansas on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (Ishika Samant/The Battalion)
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Ian Curtis, Managing Editor
Ian Curtis is a journalism sophomore from College Station, Texas. Ian has written about football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, hockey, gymnastics, volleyball and more for The Battalion. Ian's work has also appeared in The Bryan-College Station Eagle and over the airwaves on WTAW and BCSball.com.