Smael Mondon's motivation runs deep as Dawgs embark on another national title run

Dallas, Ga. - Smael Mondon Jr. thinks his name suits him pretty well – although he knows sometimes he may not give a warm and smiley impression, especially to opposing players as the Georgia Bulldogs' leading tackler.

"Well, for people who don't know me, I always have a straight face, just because that's how my face is. People say I've got a serious face," Mondon told FOX 5 at the Peach Bowl's Media Day Thursday. "If you actually know me, I'm always laughing, smiling, anything. So I think it fits me."

"Very much so," his dad, Smael Mondon Sr., recently told FOX 5. "He is always easy, happy-going and everything."

JACKSONVILLE, FL - OCTOBER 29: Georgia Bulldogs linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson (10) and Georgia Bulldogs linebacker Smael Mondon Jr. (2) celebrate a big defensive play during the college football game between the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs o

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But getting this name was a bit of a happy accident for both Smaels.

Smael Senior actually grew up thinking his name was Ismael, but when he enrolled in senior school he found out his birth certificate was actually misspelled as "Smael." 

As for Smael Junior? His name was a product of procrastination rather than indiscretion.

"(My wife Rolade) was about to have a baby, and then she kept on asking me about the baby and how we're going to name the baby and everything. And I kept on procrastinating. So she was in labor and she went to the hospital and she had the baby," Smael Sr. recalled. "I just got off work. I'm tired and we'll get to it tomorrow."

The next day, he came back to the hospital, and "I saw on the paperwork ‘Mondon, Smael Junior.’"

"Who's Junior?" he asked.

"The baby!" Rolade Mondon replied.

"Well, who told you to name the baby Junior?" Smael Sr. asked his wife.

"I've been asking you about this name for months," Rolade reminded him. "The nurse came to me and she was asking, she was pressing me, so I had to give her a name to write the paperwork, so we gave him (Smael) Junior."

Smael Jr. is proud to share his father's name and is still driven by his parents' journey and hard work.

In the early 1990s, Rolade and Smael Mondon Sr. came to New York from the Ivory Coast, working at gas stations and restaurants while getting their college educations and raising their young family.

"My dad would wake up early, come home late, and then get up early again, so the days where I'm like lazy and don't feel like getting up, I'm like, ‘Man, I can't do this. My dad's been doing this for how many years?'" Smael Jr. said. "So it's like a motivation, really."

"I think it really made it – I don't want to say tough, but, you know, there were a lot of expectations to live up to because you hear all these stories about, you know, how it was for your parents to come here and they work hard," his sister Helena said. "So essentially they worked so that you wouldn't have to work as hard. But now you still kind of have to do work so you know that they can reap the fruits of their labor. So I wouldn't say it was too much pressure because they never put pressure on us. But it was pressure within ourselves, especially my brother. He works really hard and he wants to do his best so that, you know, they can be proud and we all do."

After September 11th, the Mondons moved away from New York City and to Boston. But that was too cold, Smael Sr. said, so they followed the advice of some friends in the Atlanta area who told them the city was a great place to invest in property and build a life for their family.

That’s when Smael Jr. started park ball, which was a little different than the football his parents were used to back in Africa. His mom was the hardest sell.

"She was like, 'Oh, yeah, but that's just too dangerous, you know, Smael, he's just so small.' Because he was! He was not as as big as he is now," Helena recalled. "He was so tiny and like scrawny and he was so small and fragile. (My mom said) 'You know, I don't want him to get hurt easily.' And I was like, 'No, it's fine, just let him. Not everyone gets hit.' And, now, it's funny, because he's doing the hitting."

"Football actually was kind of crazy because, I mean, it was crazy rules and very hard to comprehend and understand and everything," Mondon Sr. said. "So we got him enrolled in football and then he went there and he loved it. But now we had to go to the park and watch them play and understand why they're running, why people are screaming, why they're doing all those things.
So it took us some time to start understanding and everything, and he loved it."

Getting to know their new community through their son’s football success helped the Mondons make a home here. And eventually, the recruiting process heated up and the community became even more invested.

"When I came home and I saw just how much was going on, it was definitely surprising because I just did not know everyone was that interested," Helena recalled. "Like I knew he was good, but I didn't know to that extent. And then I remember I was the one going to get the mail, so I would go get the mail. And I remember one time there was like 100 envelopes. And then I talked to the mail lady, and she was like, 'Where do you think he's going to go?' And, you know, like, she was even interested. So yeah, that was crazy."

Smael Jr. committed to Georgia on his grandmother’s birthday on FOX 5, a nod to his family’s past, present and future.

"You look back 20 years before, you see your hard work paying off," Smael Sr. said. "You have to flip back from yesterday and see that was a time that was hard work and everything pays off and now they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. So I mean, raising kids and getting them to live the dream and see that they're succeeding is priceless."

Smael Jr. already has "national champion" on his resume, but he’s taken on a bigger role as a full-time starter this year, now tied with Jamon Dumas-Johnson for the most tackles on Georgia's defense with 64.

One of Smael Sr.'s favorite moments was hearing the name "Smael Mondon" announced among Georgia's Week 1 starting lineup against Oregon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. 

A close second is his son's interception in the SEC Championship Game against LSU. 

"I still replay that in my car every day," he said, laughing.

And if all goes well in the Dawgs’ third game in the Benz this season, the Mondons are already all set for another national championship trip.

"Since we like to plan everything, hopefully everything works out, but we've already got everything lined up for L.A., so. It's already booked." Smael Sr. said. "And now he's going to play this semifinal. And going to the final is big, huge. To be a starter and just going out and get the full confidence of his coaches to trust him to be on the field and doing what he does and everything. So that's why he needs all our support and to be around him and we won't shy away from that."