When Kobe Bryant was coming up as a youngster in the Los Angeles Lakers organization, he idolized Michael Jordan, wanting to mimic everything arguably the greatest player of all-time did.
For this generation of athletes that didn’t have the privilege of getting to watch Jordan, Bryant was the role model they looked up to due to his greatness, mentality and work ethic.
Athletes speak about the ‘Mamba Mentality’ all the time as Bryant left an incredible legacy behind when he passed away in 2020.
The latest athlete to speak on the impact that both Bryant and Jordan had on him is current Ohio State freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, via Fox College Football:
Game recognize game 👀@OhioStateFB WR Jeremiah Smith says he wants to be like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan 😤🔥 pic.twitter.com/g5Kp7nfjT8
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 28, 2024
Smith is in the midst of an exception freshman season at Ohio State, hauling in 63 receptions for 1,037 yards and an NCAA-leading 12 touchdowns in 13 games to this point.
Ohio State is currently fighting for a National Championship and the 18-year-old has played a key role in getting them into the playoff.
The fact that he is already mature enough to model his mentality after Bryant and Jordan shows that Smith is destined for greatness. One person who surely will be rooting on Smith and Ohio State the rest of the way is current Lakers great LeBron James, who also took a few things from both Bryant and Jordan throughout his illustrious career.
Kyrie Irving talks lessons learned from Kobe Bryant
One of the young players that Kobe Bryant mentored in the back half of his career was Kyrie Irving, who recently discussed what he learned from the Lakers legend.
“When somebody tells you to do something for the greater good of the team, it’s not always gonna sound like the best thing. You gotta be able to know how to take that advice and apply it. But for him, yeah, 2016 he told me to really start isolating myself a little bit more to get a greater sense of who I am and how you have to approach every day. That’s the best Kobe story I can give is his approach to life, his approach to the game of basketball was transformative. It gave us a hero to look up to, but also he didn’t wanna be looked up to as a hero he wanted to always let you know ‘you’re gonna be better than me. Don’t try to strive to be where I’m at, try to strive to go past and if you can’t go past then keep striving for your own goals.’ The perception of him was so crazy too. Lets not forget people were on the Kobe hate train for a while, he wasn’t always the most favorite athlete. I know some of you guys have your favorite athletes here and you’ll go to bat for them. But Kob was like one of those ones that made it out the fire. Media turned on him, fans turned on him, and to be a Kobe fan when you were younger during those times you really had to have those tough conversations. I asked him all those questions on how he dealt with it mentally, spiritually, emotionally. How he really got closer with his wife and his kids. How he was more open to life when he left the league because he didn’t have to be competitive with us anymore.”
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