Owls' Katrina survivor facing hometown team

NATE L. SMITH doesn't like to live in the past, even though it's so much a part of who and what he's become. So he will tell his story, whenever someone brings it up again, since he knows it's never going away. That's the way it is, with this kind of story.

A little more than 10 years ago, Hurricane Katrina changed New Orleans forever. Smith, who was 12 at the time, lived there with his family. Before the storm hit, his mother took him and his younger sister to stay with relatives in Texas. They would return a week or so later, to a devasted city. Fortunately, their neighborhood on the outskirts of town didn't get hit very hard. But many people they knew lost houses and/or loved ones. It was a world turned upside down.

"I always look at it as everything happens for a reason," said Smith, a redshirt junior free safety for Temple's undefeated football team. "I wish it didn't happen, but you have to rise above it. I think it just helped shaped me into the man I am today.

"It made me want to focus, like I had to do everything as if it's my last play. Because you never know when it's going to end. It can be just like that. A storm could come out of nowhere, in the blink of an eye. What if I didn't push extra hard, to do the things I'm supposed to do?"

Some people recovered, others moved on. And many are still there, dealing with a rebuilding process that's ongoing. Smith, who relocated here as he was entering high school after his dad got a new job, has seen the story from all sides. He goes back once a year, during the Christmas holidays, to see the life he left behind. He still considers himself one of them. And insists he always will.

"That's my home," Smith said. "It's where I'm from. Nothing can change that. I was born and raised there. It's where my heart lies. It's in the blood. But this was a fresh start.

"Growing up in Louisiana, every person who plays football dreams of being (an LSU) Tiger. That's what I wanted. Now I'm an Owl. And I'm grateful for that."

Smith had a couple of big plays last Friday in the Owls' 37-3 win at Charlotte: He ran back a blocked punt 16 yards for a touchdown and returned an interception 74 yards.

On Saturday, the Owls host Tulane (2-2, 1-0 American Athletic), which is in New Orleans. They closed out last season with a 10-3 win over the Green Wave down there. But for Smith, it's simply the next game.

"It's not really a bigger deal for me," said Smith, a criminal-justice major. "Whoever you're playing, you've got to play ball. Last year, (some teammates) were kind of curious and stuff. So I told them what I went through, and what other people went through. Now they really don't ask me anymore."

Smith went to George Washington High School before he ended up at Archbishop Wood, which won the PIAA state Class AAA championship in 2011 when he was a senior. He originally committed to West Virginia, but on national signing day changed his mind and headed to North Broad. He redshirted as a freshman and didn't play much his second season. But these days he's making a difference, on a team that's 4-0 (the same record as LSU) for the first time since 1974. He had seven tackles (three solo) and forced a fumble in the Owls' pivotal second game, at Cincinnati.

But more to the point, he feels like he belongs.

"It was hard, coming to a new city," Smith recalled. "I didn't know anybody. I don't talk the same. I'm a little country boy, trying to find my way around. After a while, you just start adapting to it."

With one exception.

"I still can't get used to the cold," he acknowledged. "I just can't. The cold's no good. I hate the snow."

So what does he do in February?

"Whatever I have to do," he smiled.

And it's that spirit that impresses coach Matt Rhule.

"Any time you go through something really hard, it can leave you bitter or make you better," Rhule said. "He's not bitter. He's certainly better. And wiser, stronger. He's one of our next leaders, if you look at the (2016) senior class.

"He's had his ups and downs, but he's matured, grown up, become a really good football player and person. I think it just shows his resilience, how far he's come. He's a respected member of the campus community, on his way to getting a degree. That's what kind of character he has . . .

"We went down (to New Orleans) and recruited a couple of kids last year. And we listened to some of those families tell stories about what it was like. It's just absolutely shocking. I don't think any of us really have any idea what that horror must have been like. For him to have come through that and be here today, with that spirit . . . I certainly know I don't have a feel for what he's experienced."

And no matter where the journey takes Smith, that will remain an indelible slice of his DNA.

"Nobody thought it was going to be that bad," he said of Katrina. "I never think about the what-ifs. I try to live in the moment. Nobody told me I was lucky to get out. I'm thankful that God didn't allow my part of the city to get hit. I try not to (think) about that. I try not to get too emotional, because it hurts. But it'll always be emotional.

"Unless you were there, you can never understand what really happened, know what I'm saying? It probably is worse than the pictures and stuff people read. I was young at the time, so I probably didn't understand the full (impact). I know there was looting and other things going on. They were just trying to survive. People were dealing with tragedy.

"It's just getting back to where it used to be. It's not all the way back. But it's back enough to where people can say, 'We're on the rise.' They're happier, they're enjoying themselves more. But it takes time."

Smith has made his adjustment. There's no looking back, even though it's impossible to forget. So he goes through the daily routine of trying to make the best of everything he does have.

"As a kid, I always told my dad I wanted to be a football player," he said. "He pushed me to the fact that if that's what I wanted to do, I had to work hard at it. So I'm doing what I said I was going to do when I was younger.

"We're blessed to have this start. We've just got to keep grinding. Practice by practice, game by game. It's a new week, a new opponent. The only thing we can do is focus on what's in front of us."

Blessed? Certainly some more than others.