Cairo's Miguel Smiley wraps up a Westover running back in a game at West Thomas Stadium.

No matter if it’s offense, defense or special teams, Cairo coach Tom Fallaw wants his best players on the field.

No wonder it’s hard to get Miguel Smiley off of it.

“He’s one of those program kids that we preach about all the time that really is invaluable,” Fallaw said. “He can do so much for us.”

Smiley’s football skills can be found on offense at running back, on defense at corner back and on special teams as a kickoff returner. What makes Smiley really stand out, though, is his attitude, on and off the field.

“He’s always around the ball. He hustles. He’s coachable,” Cairo defensive coordinator Jeff Littleton said. “Coach (Brian) Hill does a good job with him and gets him in the right place. Miguel, he’s really coachable. He never has a harsh word to say to anybody. He just does his job and does it full speed at 100 percent.”

When he’s on the field, Smiley produces. Against Eastside last week in the second round of the Class AAA playoff, Smiley provided the Syrupmakers offense a spark off the bench. Against a tough defensive front, Smiley ran for 69 yards. Smiley also proved his worth on defense with a terrific interception in the Syrupmakers’ territory, halting an Eastside drive.

“He’s very valuable,” Littleton said. “Along with him and (John) Holt, both are seniors, they’ve kind of anchored down those corner spots for us.

“We can lock them on some people and feel good about it.”

Fallaw added, “He does a good job for us. He’s a kid that can come in and definitely change the pace. He’s a kid that also plays pretty much every play on defense. He’s a kid that’s been banged up this year. He’s battled a deep thigh bruise. Anybody that knows anything about a deep thigh bruise, you don’t want those things to get (worse) by repeated hits on it. It’s really tough for a kid that runs the ball.

“He was slowed down a little bit with that. He’s also been banged up with his shoulder the last couple of weeks. He’s had two injuries, as a running back that you really don’t want to have.”

Despite Smiley’s injuries this year, that hasn’t slowed his production or changed his attitude. It’s a big reason the Syrupmakers are in the third round of the Class AAA playoffs Friday against Carrollton.

“Miguel’s a competitor. He’s not going to let you know that he’s hurt,” Fallaw said. “We just know in practice, he has a tendency to re-aggravate it because he plays the game so hard. If you give him the ball, he’s going to run a million miles an hour. You’ve got to limit him a little bit because he has been banged up.”