Nov. 15, 2005

The greatest quarterback in Missouri history refuses to take credit for the pulse-quickening, jaw-dropping touchdown runs that have become his hallmark.

A shake of the head and one finger pointed to the sky indicate where Brad Smith believes the praise is due.

"It's not me, it's Him," is the message No. 16 wants the 60,000 on lookers in Memorial Stadium to understand. Sometimes that's hard to do.

In the dorm rooms and academic buildings of the University of Missouri, his name is spoken as if something that was experienced in a dream. Students discussing Brad Smith usually aren't talking about the easygoing, personable young man that he is, but the legendary quarterback they've seen destroy defenses in the Big 12.

Smith says his success isn't that different from the goals other students try to accomplish.

"Football is something I love to do, and I want to be great at it," he says. "It's just like anybody else that wants be great at their job. I'm just going out and trying to be the best that I can be, to get my work done."

That work has been spectacular ever since his first game under center for Missouri, stepping in as an untested redshirt freshman against Illinois in 2002. With 152 passing yards, 138 rushing yards, and a 33-20 victory in a regional telecast on ABC, Smith had already become a part of Tiger folklore.

Halfway through the season the 6-2, 205-pound quarterback introduced himself to the rest of the Big 12 by gaining 391 yards of total offense against an Oklahoma defense ranked No. 10 in the nation. Ever since that day the rest of the conference has spent the weeks leading up to contests against the Tigers trying to figure out how to stop one of the best dual-threat athletes in the nation.

As a sophomore he fully established his legend by producing arguably the greatest Tiger victory in a decades, scoring four touchdowns in a 41-24 upset of Nebraska, who came into Columbia riding a 24-game winning streak against Missouri. Many of the fans in the stands that day weren't even alive since the last time a Mizzou team had beaten the Cornhuskers.

Several weeks later he exploded for 291 yards on the ground against Texas Tech and later led the Tigers to an Independence Bowl showing against Arkansas. All together, his sophomore totals of 1,406 rushing yards and 1,977 passing yards set a new Missouri record for total offense and vaulted him into perennial Heisman consideration.

Such accolades make it harder to see the young man that emerges when the helmet is off. With some athletes, the ones that make headlines for questionable comments and bad behavior, that's not a problem. To forget about Brad Smith's personality, however, is to forget one of the better role models in collegiate sports today.

The game against Nebraska in 2003 produced Smith's defining moment on the football field, but once the game had ended and a jubilant Mizzou crowd stormed the field, his abilities as a person were given time to shine as well.

A Nebraska player knocked one of the students to the ground, stunning him as a huge mass of people swarmed around him. Fresh off a huge victory, at the height of personal success, Smith's thoughts turned to someone else in need. The quarterback helped up the student on the ground, an act as indicative of his greatness as the 303 yards of total offense he had accumulated on the day.

`I think anybody else would have done the same thing," Smith said. "I just happened to be there at the time. I've always believed that if there's a situation that needs to be fixed, I should do what I can if it's in my power to do so."

One of the aspects of playing quarterback for a Division I football team is that an individual is to some degree expected to fix a team's problems, and for some the scrutiny is hard to deal with. For Smith, however, such attention is an opportunity to grow as a person. Although he has spent four years in the spotlight, the Tigers leader says that though sometimes the attention is too much whether the team wins or loses, it has given him the ability to handle himself in such situation, along with the influence of his mother.

"Sometimes I put too much pressure on myself, but my mom always tells me just to go out there and have fun," Smith says. "I started playing football when I was seven, when my mom got me into the game, and ever since then she's always told me to just go out and have fun."

Another person who's had a big impact on No. 16 is wide receiver Sean Coffey, who roomed with Smith as a freshman. Their abilities coincide well on the field, and after the final whistle blows they've been a great help to each other during their time at Mizzou, but Smith says that everyone in the program has helped him in some way. However, when asked about his focus and strength, he points to the same one he recognizes in his end zone celebration.

"It's not me, it's Him."

A deeply held conviction in his faith is what drives Brad Smith.

"That's where I live my everyday life, it's what I'm all about," says Smith, who attends church on Sunday and Wednesday, as well as bible study sessions with Athletes In Action on Tuesday.

"It's where I get my strength from, what I'm focused on. It's who I am."

His involvement with church even affected the recruiting process that brought Smith to Mizzou. Although Smith took a laid-back approach to the process, the story goes that the leaders of his church in Youngstown, Ohio, sat Gary Pinkel down for a long conference, grilling him about every possible aspect of the school. Tigers fans are glad Pinkel passed the test, which brought arguably the best player in Tiger history to Columbia.

With just two games left in his senior season, the opportunities for Missouri spectators to watch their hero in action are numbered, and so far he's performed up to expectations in his senior campaign. To this point he leads the Big 12 in rushing and has the Tigers on the cusp of their second bowl berth in three seasons at 5-4.

Along the way he has dramatically rewritten the record books, setting new career records for passing and rushing yardage at the University of Missouri, and against Colorado last Saturday, he passed Antwaan Randle El of Indiana for the most rushing yards by a quarterback in NCAA history (3,907 entering today's game). With just 93 more yards, he'll become the first player under center to accumulate 8,000 yards passing and 4,000 yards rushing in his career.

Along the way he has thrived in Pinkel's spread offense, including a 480-yard outburst against Nebraska this season. For some reason Smith's greatest moments seem to come against the famed Blackshirts, of whom this year's edition entered the game ranked No. 1 in the nation defending the run. Smith amassed 246 yards rushing and 234 passing, as well as scoring three touchdowns on the ground and tossing another one to Tommy Saunders.

Smith has graduated (he earned his degree in business administration last May and is currently taking graduate coursework) and will take to Faurot Field for the final time today, meaning that next year someone other than number 16 will be taking snaps for the Tigers.

In his time at Mizzou, Brad Smith has proven that he's not exactly just like everyone else. The funny thing is, it has nothing to do with football. -by Joel Erickson