DeVonta Smith made it to the NFL in 2021, after being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2021 NFL Draft. He achieved this feat through hard work and humility.
The wide receiver got these qualities through his upbringing. His parents, especially his mother, had a significant impact on him and how he is today.
DeVonta Smith’s Mom’s Difficult Job Made Him Mature
Smith grew up in Southeastern Lousiana with his mother, Christine Smith-Sylve, and little brother, Christian. His mom was a single woman raising her kids through social work.
Her job was taking children out of troubling situations. She would have to get up and go to work in the middle of the night during emergencies.
Working for Amite Department of Children and Family Services, her job would take her to dangerous places and situations. And she didn't always have someone with her.
Smith did not like her mother's predicament.
A young DeVonta Smith with one of his parents, mom Christine Smith-Sylve. (Photo: DeVonta Smith/Instagram)
He even offered to go along with her on multiple occasions and heard unsavory things said to her on duty.
"I think it made me a better son," said Smith of his mother's situation growing up to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
He would avoid doing anything to create a situation like the ones she had to face at work.
These experiences made him mature at a young age, something everyone noticed. Her mother agrees on the same.
"I think it did," said Christine of her son's growth. She used to teach him about how they had little but more than a lot of people.
We don't live the luxury lifestyle, but what we did have, I worked hard for, and we took care of it, and we never went without.
She tried to show him the bad condition of the children she rescued to make him understand their position. Smith understood.
His father, too, had an impact on his demeanor.
Smith's mom and his dad, Kelvin Dickerson, split when he was young. However, this did not mean Kelvin wasn't involved.
A car-detailing business manager, Kelvin, would see Smith on the weekends. "We have a great co-parenting relationship," Christine said of Kelvin.
Smith got his quiet, reserved nature and hard-working tendencies from his dad.
Despite going their own ways, they would always be there, together, for their son, whether that be at football or life.
His family dynamic was strong, making for an excellent environment for Smith to grow up in.
DeVonta Smith Repaid Parents’ Hard Work
The values Smith's parents instilled in him have a lot to do with his position now. And his success is one of his gifts to them.
The hard work started seeing results even before he reached the NFL.
For his performances during his senior year for the University of Alabama's Crimson Tide in 2020, he received the Heisman Trophy, an award given to the most outstanding player in college football for the year.
He became the first wide receiver to win the award since 1991 and just the fourth overall.
After being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021, he scored his first career touchdown on his first catch ever in the NFL.
Under a massive rookie contract of $20.1 million for four years, he used some of that to make one of his parents' life a little better.
On June 24, 2021, Smith took to his Instagram to reveal that he had bought his mother a house.
"To the world you are a mother, but to me you are the absolute world," he wrote in the caption as the video showcased the house and his mother getting emotional because of the gesture.
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