Draft Pick: Alex Smith
#1 - Alex Smith - Quarterback - UtahHeight: 6-3 - Weight: 212
Overview
Smith is one of those rare scholar-athletes who has excelled both on and off the football field He graduated after only two years of school with a bachelor's degree in Economics, attaining a 3.74 grade-point average, and is currently pursuing his master's degree He boasts a 21-1 record as a starter and became the first player in school history to be a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, given to college football's premier player The Sporting News' 2004 National Offensive Player of the Year also has a career touchdown-to-interception ratio of 6.1:1, best among all passers that played college football last season Smith was a two-time conference Offensive Player of the Year at Helix (Calif.) High School, where he guided the team to a 25-1 record during his last two seasons He was named a National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete, as he graduated 13th in a class of 430 As a prep senior, Smith completed 66 percent of his passes (second-highest season total in San Diego CIF history) for 1,704 yards, 17 touchdowns and four interceptions He only appeared briefly in two games for Utah in 2002, attempting one pass vs. New Mexico and completing two of four attempts for four yards and an interception vs. San Diego State Smith played behind Brett Elliott at the start of the 2003 season, but was inserted into the starting lineup the third game vs. California He went on to pick up All-Mountain West Conference second-team honors, as he ranked second in the nation with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 5:1. At one point, Smith threw 180 consecutive passes without an interception His 64.8 pass-completion percentage was the best in the MWC and the second-best season total in school history. Smith hit on 173 of 266 attempts for 2,247 yards, 15 touchdowns and three interceptions. He also gained 452 yards with five scores on 149 carries (3.0 avg.) To cap off the season, Smith also was awarded CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII honors The 2004 season was a magical one for Smith and the team, which finished with its highest national ranking in the 110 years of Utah football He ranked fifth in the nation in total offense, averaging 298.58 yards per game Only Louisville's Stefan Lefors had a better pass-efficiency rating than Smith's 176.52 among the nation's quarterbacks He gained 2,952 yards on 214 of 317 passes (67.5 percent), with 32 touchdowns and only four interceptions and was a finalist for the Walter Camp and Davey O'Brien Awards The Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year finished his career with 5,208 yards on 389 of 587 passing (66.3 percent), 47 touchdowns and only eight interceptions, setting school career records for pass-completion percentage, passer efficiency (162.7) and yards gained per completion (13.5) He also totaled 1,072 yards with 10 touchdowns on 286 carries (4.7 avg.) Only Scott Mitchell (8,836, 1987-89) and Mike McCoy (7,559, 1992-94) gained more yards in total offense than Smith's 6,280 as a Ute.
Analysis
Smith is a highly intelligent athlete who comes from a family full of football tradition His father, Doug, played at Weber State and his uncle, John L. Smith, is the present head coach at Michigan State He is a tall, lanky quarterback with excellent quickness and change-of-direction agility, but needs to add a few pounds of bulk in order to absorb punishment better at the next level Shows very good accuracy in the short-to-intermediate areas, but does not have a cannon for an arm to be a "homerun threat" on his deep throws Does a good job of squaring his shoulders and delivering the ball on target consistently, but operates mostly out of the shotgun WWhen lining up under center, he has the foot speed to get back, but shows some difficulty setting his feet (will slide out from under him at times) and is prone to throwing off his back foot, moreso than when he takes the shotgun snap Not the type that will throw the ball up for grabs, doing a very good job of scanning the field for secondary targets before tossing the ball away rather than forcing it into traffic Used to have "happy feet" at the first sign of pressure, but improved considerably in this area last season, though he is still apt to run with the ball if he spots a free lane For a player of his size and lean frame, he has been relatively injury-free during his career Shows very good ability to hit his targets in stride and is quick to see and feel the pass rush It is very rare that he will make a bad throw, but there are times when he is caught in the backfield because he held on to the ball too long (seven of his 13 sacks led to fumbles) Shows good accuracy when on the run, but does lose some velocity behind his deep tosses when rolling out Smith is a quiet leader with the toughness to take a hit Has no trouble avoiding the rush and is quick to pick up the blitz Shows alertness to make calls at the line of scrimmage and will create big plays out of nothing when forced to tuck and run with the ball However, he needs to secure the ball better, as he has had a rash of fumbles due to arm tackles Has enough arm strength to throw the 18-yard comeback and deep outs with zip and timing His scrambling ability affords him time to make the throws and he does a nice job of feathering the ball over receivers' heads On long tosses, Smith has adequate strength, but tends to throw too close to the defender rather than to the sideline side of his target Overall, he has very good upside, but he would be better served in a wide-open attack, where he is better at improvising Operating mostly out of the shotgun is a concern due to his footwork driving back from center
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