Armorion Smith acting courageously in wake of mother's passing

When Armorion Smith got the news of his mother's breast cancer diagnosis, he knew there was one thing he had to do: he had to move closer to home to be by his family.

The Cincinnati defensive back decided to transfer to Michigan State to be close to his mother, Gala Gilliam, and the rest of the family. He didn't want to be too far in case his family needed something or his mother's condition worsened.

So when Gilliam's health was deteriorating this year, it proved to be the right move. And when she passed away in August, he knew he needed to step up for his family.

According to a story he recently shared on Twitter, Smith is taking legal guardianship of his siblings and he's doing his part to be the head of the household in the wake of his mother's passing. He's being there for his young siblings.

Smith became the legal guardian of four of his siblings on Sept. 11. His sister, Aleion, is taking care of the siblings while he's taking classes and going through football activities every day for about 12 hours, but he's trying to find a way to get her to start taking classes when he has more time to be with the younger siblings.

That's a heck of a lot on the Michigan State defensive back's plate.

Most college kids don't have to worry about taking care of siblings after a mother's passing but Armorion is not only doing that with four siblings, but he's looking after his sister who is helping out big-time while trying to be a successful student-athlete and grieving all at the same time. He doesn't have time to be a normal college kid anymore.

This is just a heartbreaking story and hopefully the Michigan State community can step up to help out.

Here is the GoFundMe for Smith that he created for his mother and it's raised about $115,000 of a $200,000 goal. Let's try to hit that goal by the end of the season and help Smith raise his siblings.

It takes a village.