Ainias Smith: Consideration of entering NFL Draft was 'very serious'

Texas A&M WR Ainias Smith didn’t have to return to College Station. He could have left the Aggies program, gone on to start his professional career off in the NFL, and never looked back.

However, he is back at A&M for his fifth season of college football. While his consideration for the NFL Draft was “serious”, Smith said at SEC Media Days on Monday that his decision was the result of a long process where he took a lot into consideration.

“It was very serious, you know what I’m saying? I try to take every situation as serious as possible, especially with how life is going nowadays,” Smith said. “You’re not really able to take shortcuts. I tried to go in with a clear head, a clear thought process. And I really tried to understand what it is that I was getting myself into.”

“I wanted to make the best decision, not only for myself but for my family and everybody back that’s relying on me. But I feel like that whole back half of the season was just interesting. Not only for myself going through the injury but for the team,” said Smith. “I definitely wanted to look at each and every factor. Whether I was going to be coming back and having to babysit, coming back and being the guy, or even leaving and trying to be the guy somewhere else, trying to bet on myself. I took every single factor that you can think of and I tried to make the best possible decision.”

Smith saw the field in only four games last fall due to injury. In those appearances, he was still able to catch 15 passes for 291 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

It was a drop-off from how he had improved in each of the past three seasons. Still, even after being hampered, he remained a prospect worth considering at the next level.

Even so, Smith said he couldn’t say no to the opportunity that he still had in the Southeastern Conference to improve his draft position. In the end, he knows the NFL can still be there, which is why he’s rolling the dice on himself in order to close out his collegiate career on a high note before going pro.

“With me coming back, I’m just very thankful that I still have this opportunity to play college ball,” Smith continued. “There’s nothing like it, especially playing in front of 100,000 fans every weekend. The SEC is the best of the best.”

“With me just coming back? Being able to boost my stock, show that I can do more than people say that I can do? (I’m) really just, in a way, betting on myself,” said Smith.