Honors
- MVFC Honor Roll: 2024
- MSU Athletic Director's Honor Roll: Fall 2024
2024
Played in all 12 games his junior season with 6 starts at defensive tackle ... Finished season with 20 total tackles, 9 solos, a sack and a pair of QB hurries .. Tallied season-high 4 total tackles at FCS national champion North Dakota State with a pair of solo stops (11/16/24) ... Earned Defensive Showtime Award for win at Murray State (11/9/24) after registering 3 solo tackles, a 7-yard sack and a pass breakup ... Also brought down 3 ball carriers in season opener at No. 3 Montana (8/31/24) and in home win over Youngstown State (9/28/24) ... Earned spot on MVFC Honor Roll ... Named to MSU Athletic Director's Honor Roll for Fall 2024 semester.
2023
Started all 11 games at defensive tackle in his third season with the Bears ... Racked up 15 total tackles from his interior post with 4 solos, 3.0 tackles for loss and a QB hurry ... Logged season-high 4 total tackles in homecoming win over Murray State (10/21/23) with 1.5 tackles for loss and a solo stop ... Brought down 3 ball carriers at No. 10 Southern Illinois (9/30/23) with a tackle for loss ... Was in on a pair of tackles in road win at Western Illinois (10/14/23) with a QB hurry ... Also notched a half TFL at Youngstown State (10/28/23) ... Broke up a pass in home win over No. 15 Northern Iowa (11/11/23).
2022
Redshirt freshman played in 5 games in 2022 ... Finished season with 7 total tackles and 3 solo stops ... Recorded season-best 4 total stops vs. Southern Illinois (10/8/22) with 2 solos and a tackle for loss ... Made season debut at No. 10 Arkansas (9/17/22) and had a pair of assisted tackles ... Had a solo tackle vs. No. 2 South Dakota St. (9/24/22).
2021
Played in just one game as a true freshman to retain his redshirt ... Saw action in road win at Utah Tech (11/20/21) ... Dressed out for 5 of 6 home games in addition to travel squad experience for game at Oklahoma State (9/4/21) in season opener.
High School
Widely regarded as one of the top defensive linemen in the Kansas City metro area, he helped Blue Valley (Kan.) and coach Allen Terrell’s Tigers to a regional championship run his senior season (2020) ... Registered 45 total tackles in a shortened senior campaign with 37 solo stops and 4 sacks while earning first-team all-state and All-EKL laurels ... As a junior, he tallied 70 total stops with 45 solos for a sectional championship squad ... Also earned all-conference honors as a sophomore and junior ... Listed as a two-star recruit from 247sports.com and four-star (out of six) by Six-Star Football ... He held offers from Illinois State and Akron ... Also competed in track (discus) and wrestling in high school.
Personal
Sterling Kane Smithson was born 6/24/02 in Wichita, Kan. ... Son of Chris and Ashley Matthews of Overland Park, Kan. ... Has two brothers, Titan and Bishop, and two sisters, Isabella and Reagan ... Grandfather, Larry Cantrell, played college football at Kansas State ... Majoring in Sociology.
