Brendan Smith's younger brother, Reilly, is on the ballot for the 2011 Hobey Baker Award. The Dallas draft pick is a junior forward at the University of Miami. (Photo by Getty Images)

DETROIT – By most standards, Brendan Smith wouldn’t be considered an avid social media junkie. In other words, he’s not someone who spends an exorbitant amount of time on Twitter.

But if sending a message to his 9,000 followers can help his younger brother win the most prestigious award in the college hockey world, then so be it.

“Just trying to show some love for the little bro,” said Smith, referring to his brother, Reilly Smith, who is on this year’s preliminary ballot for the Hobey Baker Award.

Wednesday night, Brendan Smith, the only one of two player on the Wings' current roster with a Twitter account (@bssmith7), tweeted a link to the online voting page with a message that read: “Everyone vote for my little brother Reilly Smith for Hobey Baker award.”

Reilly Smith is a junior forward and the University of Miami (Ohio) and currently leads the Redhawks with 38 points, including 21 points in the team’s last 15 games.

Along with Colgate’s Austin Smith (no relation) and Minnesota Duluth’s Jack Connolly, Smith is considered to be one of the top offensive college players in the U.S.

“He’s up for the Hobey Baker and I looked at it the other day and he didn’t have as many votes as I was hoping, so I threw out a little Tweet to see if people would vote. It will be kind of cool to see some of the (Red Wings) fans throwing some votes out there and if they’ve watched him they would appreciate how he plays. He’s a very good player and I’m just trying to do show some brotherly love.”

In 2009, Reilly Smith was drafted by Dallas in the third round, so not sure how that will play among Red Wings’ fans.

“He actually grew-up loving the Red Wings which was funny, because as Toronto kids we all loved the Leafs and he was the only one in the family who loved the Wings,” Brendan Smith said. “He’s a very good player and his team is starting to play very well lately. They struggled to start, but that will always happen with a young team.”

If you’d lilke to show your support for Smith’s little bro, CLICK HERE to vote.

Follow Bill Roose on Twitter | @RooseBill