Balancing personal loss and football, Michigan State safety Armorion Smith is an inspiration to all

Many Spartan fans are familiar with the story of Michigan State redshirt senior safety Armorion Smith. It is one of incredible courage, sacrifice and inspiration.

In August of 2024, Smith's mother, Gala Gilliam, died after battling breast cancer. This led to Smith taking on legal guardianship of his four youngest siblings — two brothers (Armond and Avaugn) and two sisters (Arial and Amaira), with ages ranging between 3 and 17 — last year. The family lives together, along with Smith's 20-year-old sister, Aleion.

Smith stepped up for his family and had to find a way to balance personal loss, legal guardianship of his siblings, football, school and everything in between. Of course, he had many responsibilities in 2024 and sole focus simply could not be on football. Fast forward a year, however, and Smith has started the first two games at safety for the Spartans in 2025 with fellow safety Nikai Martinez out with an injury.

For Smith, football is a "business." He has figured out a way to balance his football responsibilities with his family responsbilities. He is simply doign what he has to do. He has had a lot of help and support from his coaches, teammates, MSU fans, parents of other players and more.

Last year, a GoFudMe page raised more than $338,000 for the family. Around the country, people heard Smith's story and wanted to help. For example, the "Good Morning America" show presented him with a car in November of 2024, a GMC Acadia, a check for $40,000 from CashApp, and a trip to Disneyland.

Smith said he could not do it without the help of the village around him. That village includes Yolanda Wilson, the mother of MSU sophomore wide receiver Nick Marsh, Nikki Chiles, the mother of MSU junior quarterback Aidan Chiles and the Cyreeta Hall, the mother of MSU junior linebacker Jordan Hall, and others.

"It's been amazing to have (that support), especially women in your life, that actually cares about you and genuinely looks out for you," Smith said about the people who have helped him and his family. "Despite my situation and everything, they've always been good women before all of this happened. I met them before (my mom passed away). And then just being able to lean on them through all of this stuff, just makes me feel better about the situation.

"I have people that actually care about me, (support me). Whenever I need help, I can reach out to them, and it's just been amazing. We built relationships with my siblings, they have relationships with my siblings, so it's not just me, it's all of us. We can always count on them. I appreciate Nick (Marsh's) family, Aidan (Chiles') mom and his family, Jordan (Hall)'s mom and their family. It's just been amazing."

Obviously, Smith and has family have dealt with unbearable tragedy. But because Smith stepped up for his family, and because he has so much support from his team and the community, he is able to take solace in the fact that he providing for his siblings to the best of his ability. They have what they need.

"I'm happy that I'm able to do everything that I'm doing, find a way around it and stuff, and then my siblings don't have to suffer — go through all of the stress of worrying about their next move, where they're gonna live ... how they're going to take care of this, anything like that," Smith explained. "So, I try to take all of that off of them and it makes me feel good knowing that they're happy and don't have anything to worry about.