Rashawn Smith is a senior linebacker for Florence. He has committed to play at Ole Miss next season.

1. What has been the biggest reason for the hot play of Florence down the stretch?

The biggest thing has been just getting the team to realize that we are something special. We’ve been playing hard every prtacice and taking that into the game.

2. What kind of energy did the new coaching staff give the team as compared to last year?

They gave us that want to play rather than us just going out there and playing. We want to do things great now, we want to make them happy.

3. You had a knee injury before the season. How much of a struggle was it to recover and get back ready to play this season?

It’s just a minor thing. You either want to play or you don’t. You can either whine about it or choose to keep playing. I chose to fight through it. I look at myself as a leader on the team. People feed off my energy. I thought if I play down, the rest of the team will play down, so I took it upon myself to fight back.

4. What did you like about Ole Miss that made you decide to verbally commit to the program?

Ole Miss is a lot like the team I’m with now. It’s a building program, I’ve got a good chance of playing my freshman year, and I like that style of play. (Ole Miss) Coach (Hugh) Freeze is a good coach, I really thought a lot of coach Freeze.

5. What is the biggest key to Florence making a run through the playoffs?

We’ve basically got to make sure we don’t get satisfied with what we’ve already accomplished. Want to be remembered as the first Florence team to make a deep run in the playoffs.