Missouri State

ADRION SMITH
Football, 1990-93
Inducted February 16, 2008

Adrion Smith was a standout cornerback for the football Bears of head coach Jesse Branch from 1990 to 1993. Smith started 38 of the 41 Missouri State games in which he appeared over his four seasons, missing four games in the middle of his junior year with a broken collarbone. A native of Kansas City, he put up good numbers from the start, working as a regular on the Bears 9-3 Gateway Football Conference championship and 1990 NCAA FCS playoff team. MSU was 6-4-1, 6-5 and 7-4 over the next three seasons and Smith led the team in pass interceptions all four years, the only Bear gridder on record with that accomplishment. Smith picked off four passes his freshman year, seven each as a sophomore and junior and six his senior year. His four-year total of 24 remains the Missouri State and Gateway Football Conference career record and is still in the NCAA FCS all-time top 10. Smith also set Bears’ career records for passes broken up (37) and interception return yardage (230). He returned two of his interceptions for touchdowns. He was in on 183 tackles as a Bear. He was a three-time all-Gateway first team pick and received All-America selection once from The Associated Press, twice from Football Gazette, twice from The Sports Network and was on the Walter Camp All-America team as a senior. Smith was also picked for the Gateway All-Decade team in 1994, commemorating the first 10 years of the league’s existence. After his graduation from Missouri State, he began a 12-year career in the Canadian Football League, including the last 10 seasons with the Toronto Argonauts. He helped the Argonauts to Grey Cup titles in 1997 and 2004, was a four-time CFL all-star, and picked off eight passes his final season with Toronto to set that club’s career interception record at 51. He then moved into the Argonauts front office and also became part of Toronto’s football game radio broadcast crew.