Students donned Jake Delhomme and Julius Peppers jerseys as  More than 1,770 cans lined the hallways of Catawba Elementary School on Friday.

The cans are to be picked up by the Eastern Catawba Cooperative Christian Ministry, and are part of the school's "Souper" Bowl collection effort.

But according to the NFL's Vinson Smith — who won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys in 1992 — the real winners are the students.

"Understand that you can do what you want to do," Smith said. "I see doctors and lawyers all over the place that have all the money in the world, but they're not happy. You have to love what you do."

Smith said that love came at birth, when God blessed him with a body built to play linebacker for his 12 years in the NFL.  Smith went to Statesville High School with Vermel Moore, the principal at Catawba Elementary.

    "(The students) get a kick out of knowing that we grew up together," Moore said, adding that Smith has also served as a D.A.R.E. speaker.

    "Vermel used to be better than me until I went to college," Smith joked.

    Their Statesville High School assistant principal, Marlin Tate, accompanied the pair from room to room on Friday, and stopped on the sixth-grade hall, where students collected 408 cans for the Ministry.  

    Tate said he joins Smith on his school visits at several area schools.

    "(The students) say, if he can do it, then I can too," Tate said about Smith's local appeal. "He's telling them that he's just like people, just like everybody else. And if you try hard and work hard, you can accomplish whatever you want."

    And again, while on the sixth-grade hall Smith showed his love for the game of football, drawing out his injuries like a grocery list. "All things you can fix," he said.

    The idea for the "Souper" Bowl came from the school's PTO group, which sponsors a monthly Spirit Day. This year the school allowed students to show the spirit of their favorite teams, and     students throughout the school showed their school pride.

Vinson Robert Smith (born ,  in ) was an  , who spent 12 years in the  after graduating from . Smith won one Super Bowl as a member of the .

    Smith was a standout for Statesville High School before graduating and attending . Undrafted, Smith started out with the  in 1988, and played with the  before landing with the  in 1990. A special teams star, Smith replaced an injured , in the playoffs and won game MVP honors against the Falcons on the trail towards the Cowboys' Super Bowl victory in . He would not enjoy two more rings as the other Cowboy players of that era did because he joined defensive coordinator  with the  after the glorious '92 season.