“Fast” Ed Smith: Family and Football

by Cody Zeeb

Ed Smith comes out surrounded by the Salina crowd during player intros

Ed Smith is a 5’9”, 170 lbs wide receiver for the Salina Liberty. Smith is known for his blazing speed and great hands. He’s been a key component in the Liberty’s second-half run to sneak into the AF1 playoffs. The Liberty heads to Albany, New York, Saturday, June 21st, with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET on EvergreenNOW. 


Start Em' Young 


Ed Smith hails from Coconut Grove in Miami, Florida. He began playing football at the young age of just four years old. Even though the rules were that you couldn’t play until you were five, there was no stopping this young speedster. He dabbled in some other sports like baseball, but football has always been his main focus and love. We know and love him as a wide receiver in Arena Football One, but from the age of four through college, Smith was a running back. 


At Southwest High School, Smith was the second leading rusher in Miami-Dade County, where he ran for 1,600 yards and 21 touchdowns. He was also the leading rusher in the Miami-Dade County All-Star Game. Smith was offered a scholarship to Fort Hayes State University in Kansas and jumped at the chance to play there. As you’ll notice through his career, Smith is loyal to his teams and spent all five years of his college career playing for the Tigers. Smith played all four seasons he was with the team after receiving a medical redshirt in his junior season from an injury in the Tigers' second game. He totaled 1,970 yards on the ground over his career at Fort Hayes and 2,514 all-purpose yards. In his final career game in college, Smith rushed for 144 yards and scored a touchdown.  


Liberty Veteran 


After graduating from Fort Hayes State, Ed attended a tryout in Salina where he ran a 4.3 40-yard dash, and it was history from there.” Smith said. He has been a member of the Salina Liberty for eight seasons now, including a key part in their 2022 CIF Championship team. It wasn’t a tough transition for the speedy running back to shift over to the wide receiver position once he got to Salina. He’d caught his fair share of passes throughout his career, and his speed made him deadly at wide receiver. With the emphasis put on the passing game in this style of play, it was a no-brainer for both the team and the player. And it’s worked out well for both. Smith commented that the playbook at wide receiver is more diverse, but not having to try and run through the big guys up front makes the trade-off well worth it. 

When it comes to game day routines, Smith isn’t a big superstitious guy. He just likes to listen to his music, usually some Rod Wave and Iceberg and whatever else comes up on the playlist. A phone call home to mom is always a must before games as well. This season in 11 games, Smith has 51 receptions for 669 yards and 15 touchdowns. He’s thrown it back to his running back days by adding another touchdown on the ground. In the final game of the regular season, Smith grabbed nine catches for 121 yards and three touchdowns to help lead his team to a must-win victory to stamp their playoff ticket. 


It started out as a rocky season for the Liberty, but they really found themselves in the second half of the year. “As a team, we’ve always stayed focused on what’s important to us, and that’s a championship mindset.” Even when they were 0-4, the entire team came to practice ready to work and get better. He’s seen a lot of passes from two different quarterbacks this season, as there's been back and forth between Rakeem Cato and Javin Kilgo due to injuries and other things. I asked Smith how that affected his play. “To be honest, it's been a good thing,” Smith has enjoyed the mix of both quarterbacks’ styles. He’s played a few seasons with Kilgo; the duo were both on that 2022 Liberty championship team, and he immediately clicked with Cato and his gunslinger style. 


Family and Coaching


Off the field, everything revolves around family. Ed and partner Cynthia have three kids. Sebastian (11), Eli (7), and Cyla (1). That keeps him busy, and he’d have it no other way. “They are my motivation," Ed said. They are all into different activities. Sebastian is getting big into football, just like his dad. But there’s a good chance you’d find them at the Water Park on a hot day off. Smith is a strong member of the Salina community and lives there full time. He’s a substitute teacher and running backs coach for Salina South High School. He got into coaching about three years ago, and “I just love giving what I learned throughout all these years back to the kids.” 


From growing up in Miami to living in Kansas now, Smith said it’s not really that big of a difference, other than life in Kansas is a lot slower pace, it’s just steady and not so fast paced like Miami, which he enjoys. He’s been a part of the Kansas community for so long now that it’s just home to him. “We’ve got the best fans in the nation, and we’re going to try to bring it home for y’all.”