Harrison Smith Forgoing Usual Costume Game for…

Smith is known as a fairly reserved, low-key guy, but all bets are off when it comes to Halloween.

“He really does [go all out],” linebacker Eric Kendricks said. “When I came to the Vikings in 2015, it was totally unexpected. It was like, ‘Oh, OK, we’re doing Halloween. This is a thing.’

“It’s always been really fun,” Kendricks added. “There was karaoke involved, we had treats. I definitely miss that.”

Smith also enjoys the tradition of welcoming trick-or-treaters, who can expect a high-level sugar rush from the safety. He only gives out full candy bars, he emphasized – no fun-sized Snickers allowed.

Though he won’t be able to answer the door this year, Smith doesn’t want to disappoint the pint-sized princesses and superheroes who come through the community.

“I’ll put some candy out for the neighborhood kids,” he said. “But the problem is, when you put out a bowl of candy, the first group of kids takes all of it. It happens like almost every year, but, you know, whatever.”

He smiled when ribbed by a reporter who questioned, “You give out full-size candy bars and are surprised they disappear?”

“I’m not surprised. I’m not surprised,” Smith said, shaking his head. “I’m getting exactly what I asked for.”

Though he doesn’t plan to costume up this year ahead of the Vikings game, Harrison remains proud of some of the costumes he and Madison have unveiled over the years.

“I’ve had some good ones. We went as the characters from [Disney’s] Up once, so I [had] a cane, the old guy,” Harrison recalled. “I was a big [Robin Hood] guy. We went as the American Gladiators once.

“I had long hair in college,” he added, “and I went as Jack Sparrow. It was money. Those were good ones.”