Senior Feature: Brian Smith
9/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 29, 2006
Editor's Note: This feature ran in the Sept. 2 (Murray State) game program.
by Mustafa Mohammad, MU Media Relations Student Assistant
The mere sight of 6-4, 230 pound, defensive end Brian Smith might not exactly put fear in an opposing quarterback's eyes.
The undersized senior, dubbed Smitty, has more than made up for his size disadvantage with his speed and effort on the field, proving himself as one of the top defensive ends in the nation, but said it takes time to adjust to the level of play.
"My freshman and sophomore years in high school and also my freshman and sophomore years in college, I was at a disadvantage," Smith said. "In my junior year of high school, I had 28 sacks and I forget how many tackles, but I had lot of tackles. My freshman and sophomore year of college everyone was saying I was too small, and my junior year, I finally got the sack record. I'm used to playing at this weight."
The Denton, Texas, native awed the nation with his explosiveness, tallying five sacks in his first three games and ending up with eight on the season to lead all freshmen.
Smith said the sacks helped build his confidence and helped the transition from high school football to college football.
|
|
"It was a big confidence builder. Coming from high school you don't know if your level of play at high school will play out at the college level," Smith said. "Everybody's bigger than you, so I was kind of scared at first, but when I got those sacks, I was like, man, this is just like high school. You just have to play hard and make plays. It was an adjustment, but its something everybody has to go through."
Smith continued his blistering pace with seven sacks his sophomore year and nine as a junior, setting the Missouri sack record with 24 and passing current Cincinnati Bengal Justin Smith.
"It's an honor, especially since a cat like Justin Smith had it before me," Smith said. "A lot of people are expecting a lot of big things out of me since I've done that. I just take it as a challenge to do bigger and better things this year. You don't want to take a step backward, you've got to move forward and do better than you did before."
Head Coach Gary Pinkel expects Smith to keep up his current pace and praises his effort on the field.
"He'll do a good job, he's done an excellent job and he's very competitive," Pinkel said. "Smitty's got a great motor, and that's allowed him to excel the way he has, and that's not going to ever change. He loves to play and he's a good leader on the field."
Smith hopes to lead his team to the Big 12 Championship and a BCS Bowl this upcoming season.
"As a team, I'm expecting to go to a BCS Bowl," Smith said. "I'm expecting to win the Big 12 North. That's what I'm expecting. You just have to get everybody on the same page. Once everybody gets that idea in their mind and knows what we're playing for, it's attainable."
While Smith said he would have put on more weight his freshman year if he could, he said nothing should hold back a player who feels too small for football.
"Just go out there and have a big heart. Play with your heart and don't let anybody tell you you can't do anything," he said. "People were telling me I wouldn't be able to play defensive end when I first came here. They told me I was going to play receiver and I was like: `Well, wait until we get on the field.' When you go out there, you know you have to play harder then everybody else."
Pinkel said the game of football allows players of different weight to play on the same field.
"That's the beauty of football. You can weigh 170 pounds or weigh 320 pounds and you can play on the same field. Just don't let the 320-pound guy get near the 170-pound guy," Pinkel said.
Smith, who is majoring in Psychology, isn't looking too far ahead, taking everything as it comes. Ranked the No. 20 defensive end in the nation by The Sporting News, Smith has one more season to help his team.
"I'm just taking it one day at a time," Smith said. "You never know what's going to happen in the season. I don't want to foreshadow anything. I just want to take things one day at a time, take these games one game at a time, and hopefully at the end of the season, there'll be some light."
Looking back at his collegiate career, Smith remembers one play early on in his freshman year fondly.
"My first sack was my most enjoyable moment," Smith said. "I think we were playing Middle Tennessee State, and I sacked the dude. I was feeling so good, I was feeling happy. I was loving it."
