When he was a youth, Abram Smith wanted to give up football because getting tackled wasn’t fun.

His mom told Smith that he should be the hammer and not the nail.

Smith went to play at Baylor and now excels for the undefeated D.C. Defenders in the XFL.

On Saturday, Smith kept hammering St. Louis as D.C. won its fifth straight, 28-20.

Smith rushed for 217 yards and 3 touchdowns. Smith had 62- and 5-yard scoring runs in the second quarter as the Defenders built a 14-3 lead.

He added a 70-yarder in the third quarter.

The Defenders went ahead 28-12 in the fourth quarter on a D’Eriq King 10-yard run.

St. Louis cut the deficit to 28-20 on a 50-yard AJ McCarron touchdown pass and 2-point conversion with 4:19 left.

The Battlehawks got a chance to tie — or win — the game with two minutes left.

On a third-and-2, McCarron was sacked and the Battlehawks faced a fourth-and-10 with 1:20 left.

McCarron found Brian Hill by the sideline and the running back ran down the sidelines before stepping out with a first down.

Hill then caught another pass for 11 yards and another first down.

However, the Battlehawks’ comeback died on the next play when Defenders DB Michael Joseph made his fourth interception of the season.

Up next for the undefeated Defenders is a home game a week from Monday against the 4-1 Houston Roughnecks.