Elijah Smith grew up in the heart of Nebraska football country, envisioning himself lowering the boom on any player with whom he crossed paths.
At 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds, he looks the part of a Division I strong safety. Instead, the 22-year-old is in his senior season with Towson men’s lacrosse, where he delivers big hits as a close defenseman. He has become a key piece for a team that went 11-6 and won the Coastal Athletic Association last season and has high hopes for 2026. Smith is coming off a season in which he picked up 19 ground balls and caused seven turnovers.
“You see his physique, his size — he’s put together well,” Towson head coach Shawn Nadelen said. “He gets out there and he likes to try to maximize what he has. He’s a guy that didn’t grow up in a lot of lacrosse or barely [had] any lacrosse around him. I think that sport is still pretty new to him. You can see that kind of excitement and intensity when he’s on the field overall.”
Smith loved football — it’s all he could think about. He played running back and defensive back growing up, but he needed something to keep him in shape during the offseason. His childhood friend Michael Adcock introduced him to lacrosse in the fourth grade. The physicality of the game was reminiscent of football — the hitting, the pushing, the shoving and aggression.
From there, his love for the game grew.
“I was like, ‘Wow. I get to be physical and I get to run and I can beat on people,'” Smith recalled. “I’m a big guy. I like to hit people. So, it was like lacrosse really picked up for me because I’m an aggressive person. I play defense. I loved the fact that I could hit people and not really have any repercussions behind it.”
Football forced Smith to understand which gap to hit as a runner, what his next option was if the gap closed, how to read a defender and how to bounce to the outside. It also aided him in working with different teammates because he had to lean on 10 other players in any play. The ability to work with multiple players on the field, relay messages from coaches and understand his reads made him a better athlete.
As for lacrosse, he was a late bloomer. He wasn’t getting a ton of looks from colleges because he didn’t play the sport at the high school level until his senior year. He played football and basketball at Elkhorn High School (Omaha, Neb.). Smith went to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., for a lacrosse camp as a freshman in high school and the people there reached out to his father after seeing potential in Smith. That eventually led to a postgrad year at IMG in 2021-22 following a stint with the Long Island Sting club lacrosse squad.
Smith got looks from North Carolina, Robert Morris, Saint Leo and Jacksonville University prior to committing to Towson.
“I actually didn’t even get recruited to go to Towson until basically my second semester [in] my postgrad year, which was the semester right before I went to college,” Smith said. “I was still undecided and uncommitted until the beginning of 2022. I didn’t commit to Towson until late January — the beginning of February of 2022.”
When Nadelen saw that Smith was available, it became a no-brainer to add him to the program.
“It’s just been awesome to see him dedicate himself to making himself better and doing things that we’re asking him to do between playing a couple different positions on the defensive end and putting himself in position to get on the field,” Nadelen said.
Smith’s background in football and basketball became a premium selling point in his recruitment. Tigers defensive coordinator Steve Grossi played multiple sports at Strath Haven High School outside of Philadelphia — ice hockey and lacrosse. Grossi went on to be a lacrosse co-captain at Drexel and was a four-year letterman.
Watching Smith on film piqued Grossi’s interest.
“I believe playing multiple sports allows you to learn different aspects of the game that relate back and forth on the field,” Grossi said. “On the film — decision-making, footwork, progressions, specific reads, as well as keeping you competitive all year-round and learning from different coaches. His football background and his multi-sport background definitely has a positive impact on his style. You can see that he definitely was a multi-sport athlete over the years.”
Smith has continually grown on the field since joining Towson ahead of the 2023 season. He began as a long-stick midfielder with the Tigers. He played 10 games as a freshman, causing five turnovers and notching five ground balls.
Smith’s production picked up as a sophomore in 2024. He played in 17 games in a reserve role, causing 12 turnovers and picking up 26 ground balls. Smith transitioned to close defense as a junior in 2025, seeing more playing time (eight starts in 17 games) and notching the first assist of his college career.
Smith was named a Preseason All-CAA selection ahead of the 2026 campaign, and his team was predicted to win the CAA by the conference’s coaches. While playing lacrosse at the pro level is a dream for Smith, he has another dream in mind if that doesn’t work out: utilizing a fifth year of eligibility to play another sport, in this case football.
“I miss hitting people. When I watch football, it’s like, ‘Dang, I really do miss playing football because that was my true sport,'” Smith said. “That was the sport that I grew up on. That was the very first sport I tried. Playing football is always close to my heart. So I would love to have the opportunity to play professional football.”
Photo Credit: John Bowers
Issue 297: February / March 2026
Originally published Feb. 18, 2026