As he approached the beginning of his senior season, senior linebacker Micah Smith decided to get his recruitment wrapped up and commit to Middle Tennessee over other noteworthy options.

Since then, he has shone on the field for Ensworth, showcasing his explosiveness in making plays all over the field on a talented defense. That defense was on full display last week as they shut down a talented Lipscomb Academy offense to remain undefeated.

"It's a great win," Smith said. "This is a different type of Ensworth. We come out hot in the second half too."

He had a significant impact in shutting down the edge on his side of the field during the game. His future coaching staff witnessed his performance as linebackers coach A.J. Reisig was in attendance with coaches being allowed to see high school games right now.

He has just begun to seriously form his connection with his future position coach, but he can already tell that it will be a successful partnership.

"The connection with Coach Reisig has been nice. It's been nice talking to him. I just feel the connection already even though we've just met."

Part of that for Smith was making the short trip to Murfreesboro to catch a game for himself, joining a handful of other commits for the game against Western Kentucky.

"The visit was nice. They had three or four players come and talk to us about the school life and how football integrates with school, so it was nice to see about the off the field there. Although the game did not go as planned, it was still a nice experience to see where I can fit in."

When he gets to Middle Tennessee, he will transition from outside linebacker to inside linebacker. He has the skills to do this and the staff believes he has a strong amount of upside as they attempt to establish a future core to build around.

"They like that I can play anywhere. They like my versatility and my athleticism. They said they want me to go to inside linebacker, so going from outside to inside, they think I can do it."

A lot of what goes into playing inside linebacker is the intense mental aspect of the position, having to read and diagnose the play and then get everyone else in the front seven set. Smith has a unique advantage to expand his mental capacity for the position, with new Ensworth defensive coordinator Dillon Sanders, spending the last four years in the same role at Murray State.

"With Coach Sanders' collegiate mind, he knows where I am trying to go, and he knows what it takes to get there, so he's brought that accountability."

As he weighed his options for the collegiate level next season, he looked for a coaching staff that he could connect with and he found one at Middle Tennessee led by head coach, Derek Mason.

"Coach Mason is a good guy. He's not just a football coach, he's a life coach as well and I just feel like I can go to him with anything already."

With this recruiting class being among the first to build upon, Micah Smith will be someone who has the chance to be an impactful player for the Blue Raiders from an early stage.