Will Stein opens up on Kentucky's emotional week following Nic Smith's death: 'Grief is real"

The Kentucky Football family continues to mourn Nic Smith, the redshirt freshman defensive lineman who passed away on Monday. The program was set to host several commits and targets on official visits this weekend, but those have been postponed as the team grieves. On Thursday, Will Stein spoke to the Rotary Club of Lexington and began his speech with a few words about the 20-year-old they called “Big Happy” and how the team is processing the loss.

“I would be remiss not to acknowledge some things that we’ve been going through in our program this week,” Stein said. “We lost a teammate, and it was an absolute tragedy. I’m still dealing with that mentally myself; I know our team is.”

“Grief is real, and I know everybody in this room has lost somebody that they love at some point in their lives, and it’s never easy, and there are never any words that you can say to a team, especially in those moments. There’s no rubric for a head coach to have those types of meetings with the team, especially six months into the job.”

And especially when that job is your first as a head coach. Charlie Strong, who coached Stein at Louisville, told On3’s Chris Low that Stein reached out to him earlier this week for advice on how to help his team. Smith committed to Kentucky in June 2024 and redshirted his first season, but was a huge personality, even listed as “Nic (Happy) Smith” on the roster.

“He was broken up and just wanted to talk,” Strong said. “Those are things you can’t prepare for, no matter how long you’ve coached. He was looking for anything he could do to help the family.”

The staff isn’t just worried about the players. Ahmad Breaux‘s mother, Candice, posted on social media that the coaches also reached out to the players’ parents about Smith’s death to offer their support.

“Not only did they share a private morning with our boys, they called us parents individually to check on US as well. Coach (Anwar) Stewart listened to everything I had to say and acknowledged my concerns and feelings; no interruptions and no rushing off the phone. What a class act Coach Stew is,” she said. “A little over a year ago, Ahmad experienced the loss of another teammate in the same manner. There are things in life that we have no control over. We needed that support today.”

Smith is survived by his parents, Spencer and Kisha Smith and Genedra Smalls, and his six siblings, Jackson Roundtree, Killik Smith, Arkeion Smith, Nedra Roundtree, Valencia Murray, and Ariana Smith. On Monday night, Smalls posted about her son on Facebook, calling him a “gentle giant.”

“It is with an extremely heavy heart that I let you know our beautiful young man, Nicholas ‘Big Happy’ Smith, is no longer in the land of the living. I post this to let those who knew my son and loved him know of the passing of our gentle giant. I know there are more people that I can call or think of who loved and cared about my son and was rooting for him.”

“Hold your children tighter, kiss them, tell them you love them, check on them every day. Thank you for those who have reached out, who heard the news, thank you for your support and your prayers.”

Back in Lexington, the team is working through their grief, which Stein knows is not a linear process.

“We’re praying for Nic, for his family, praying for our team, our teammates, people that were really close with him, and we want to continue to honor him, not just this season, but for the rest of time with Kentucky football, so I’d be remiss not to talk about that, because that’s really on my mind currently.”