Dallas Cowboys’ first-round draft pick Mazi Smith doesn’t plan on letting them down

It’s been a surreal 24 hours for Mazi Smith and his mother Kenya.

From being a surprise draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys at 26th overall in the 2023 NFL Draft to flying to Dallas from Grand Rapids, Mich., to being introduced to the media as the first defensive tackle taken in the first round by the franchise since 1991, it was the epitome of joy and ecstasy for Smith.

“You heard whispers that I could go 25 or later,” Smith said in his first official press conference at the Cowboys headquarters at the Star in Frisco on Friday. “My agent said I could go from 25 to 40. When it got to 20, it was getting close. When that 26 came, I didn’t know it was going to be that quick. But I just felt I was surreal. I couldn’t sleep (last night). And this morning, it hit me. Walking around this facility, it hit me. I have been wanting to explode all day. Let’s save it for football. Ready to hit somebody.”

Smith, who starred in college the last three years at Michigan, said when he got the call from owner Jerry Jones announcing the Cowboys pick it was the manifestation of a dream he envisioned when he came on his pre-draft visit to the headquarters in early April.

“It was a legend calling me to a legendary place,” Smith said. “It’s a honor. I said ‘Let me play with this team.’ They took it to heart.”

Smith said he wouldn’t be in this position with his heart in the from of his mother, who raised him by herself. He made a point to spend draft night with her and she was the only person who made the trip to Dallas with him.

“I made the decision you only do this one time,” Smith said. “And it’s been me and my mom my whole life, since I was born. I don’t think I will ever able to repay her. But I am going to try. I want to make sure I expose her to things she hasn’t seen before and show her a different side of life.”

Smith said it took a village to raise him Grand Rapids with coaches, uncles, teachers and men in the community. They instilled valuable traits in him like honesty, work ethic, staying humble and being grounded.

But he said got his toughness and resolve from his mom.

It was mom who never wavered in her belief that Smith was going to be a first-round pick.

“I wasn’t nervous at all. I knew he was going in the first round,” Kenya Smith. “It’s just exciting to see my son live his dream.”

Kenya admitted that she was “tired as hell,” as the events of the last 24 hours began to take their toll.

Smith is living his dream in Dallas because of his toughness, size and strength that the Cowboys believe make him the perfect fit for the team’s defense as a run stopper who can also give them pass rush push from up the middle.

“Very comfortable. You just can see the energy in him,” vice president Stephen Jones said. “You can see it in his face that he loves ball. He loves everything about it. That’s what we got from all the coaches that he would just be a great fit in organization. And for him to fall down there to us and get the opportunity to pick him, it feels like Christmas.”

Smith had to be special for the Cowboys to pick him, considering it was the first time they took a defensive tackle in the first round since 1991 when Russell Maryland was selected No. 1 overall.

That was the beginning of the run to three Super Bowl titles for the Cowboys in 1992, 1993 and 1995.

After going 12-5 each of the last two years before losing in the playoffs, the Cowboys have identified improving the middle of the defense as a key to helping them reach the Super Bowl for the first time in 27 years.

None of that was lost on Smith.

“There’s definitely something for me to do here, history or not,” Smith said. “Everybody knows defense wins championships. In order to have a good defense, you have to have a good middle. The middle of the defense has to be strong. I appreciate that. I ain’t going to let them down.”