Andre Smith
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Andre Smith (born Andre D. Smith on January 25, 1987 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an offensive lineman playing the tackle position for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide in the NCAA college football tournament. Smith is considered to be one of the most dominant offensive lineman in college football. With his quick feet, strength, and impressive technique, Smith is more than capable of protecting his QBs or punching some holes on the D-line for his RBs. In fact, Smith left Alabama as one of the most recognized offensive linemen in his class, claiming the Outland Trophy and a bunch of All-American and All-SEC recognitions in his final season as a Crimson Tide.
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[edit] Personal Life
Andre is the son of Andre, Sr. and Nesa Smith. His younger brother Christian Smith also plays football as a wide receiver and cornerback at Hampton University. One other relative who has played on the gridiron is his cousin Dominic Lee, who suited up as a defensive lineman for Alabama.
As a kid, Andre was raised to someday be in the field of racing. His father once drove race cars and the family would travel to drag-racing events around the Southeast. His uncle, Xavier, also races. But Andre, although a huge drag racing spectator, never really got the hang of driving himself.
[edit] High School
Smith went to Huffman High School-Magnet in his hometown of Birmingham, Ala., where he was a three-year starter for head football coach Curtis Coleman. As a senior, Smith became one of the most decorated offensive lineman in the state after recording 88 pancake blocks for the Vikings. He was named as the Class 6A Lineman of the Year and the Alabama Sports Writers Association's Mr.Football in the state of Alabama, to become the first and only offensive lineman to ever win the honor. The Birmingham News, who also named him as Mr.Football, tabbed him as the state's No.1 collegiate prospect. In addition, he was the recipient of the 2005 Bobby Dodd Award and was in the running (one of four finalists) for the Walter Peyton Award, given to the best prep player in the nation. The two-time All-State pick was also named a USA Today and a U.S. Army First-Team All-American. In January of 2005, he was named as the most outstanding player at the U.S. Army All-American Combine.
[edit] College
As evidence of how sought after Smith was out of Huffman, three teams from the SEC (Alabama, Florida, and LSU) and one from the Pac-10 (Southern Cal) went after the services of the five-star rated prospect. In the end, he chose to remain in-state and play for the Crimson Tide. During his announcement, Smith pulled out a Paul "Bear" Bryant signature houndstooth hat as a symbol that he would sign with Bama.
[edit] 2006
As a true freshman, Smith got the nod as the team's starting left tackle, joining an elite club with the likes of Larry Rose (1985, OT), Jon Stevenson (1991, RT), Terry Jones, Jr. (1988, TE), Dante Ellington (1999, OT), Saleem Rasheed (1999, OT) and Tim Castille (2003, FB) as the only true freshmen to start the season opener. He made his collegiate debut against Hawai'i and allowed only a 2-yard sack as the Tide collected 253 passing yards and a touchdown in the 8-point win. The following week against Vanderbilt, the line only permitted a sack and allowed the offense to generate 207 passing yards and a TD in another close win. Against Louisiana-Monroe, the O-line allowed only a 1-yard sack as the offense collected 225 yards through the air in the lopsided win. In the road-opener at Arkansas, Smith logged a season-high 80 snaps but the line gave up a season high 5.0 sacks for 38 yards, although the offense still had 243 passing yards and a season high 3 TDs through the air as Bama suffered a 1-point overtime loss. At No.5 Florida, the line allowed 3.0 sacks in the 15-point setback. Against Duke, Smith led the team in knockdowns and helped the line minimize the sacks (2.0 for 19 yards) to help the offense create 220 yards passing and 2 TDs in the 30-14 win. Against Mississippi, the offense threw for over 200 yards for the 7th straight game while allowing only a pair of sacks in the overtime win. At No.7 Tennessee, Bama gave up three sacks while being limited to only 158 passing yards without a touchdown in the 13-16 defeat.
Against Florida International, he recorded a team-high in knockdowns while helping the line give up only an 8-yard sack in the lopsided win. Against Mississippi State, the offense got blanked in a 16-24 defeat. At No.12 LSU, he led the team in knockdowns for the third time and helped his offense manufacture a season high 291 passing yards and 2 TDs but the line in general gave up 4.0 sacks in the 14-28 loss. In the regular season-finale against Auburn, the offense got 252 passing yards and 2 TDs while the line allowed a pair of sacks in the 15-22 defeat. In his postseason debut at the Petro Sun Independence Bowl, Smith scored his first career touchdown on a lateral from quarterback John Parker Wilson that tied the game at 31. The Tide lost that game via a last second field goal. He finished the season leading the team with 831 snaps (one of five players to play over 800 snaps), playing atleast 65 snaps in 10 of 13 games and was in on more than 70 snaps five times. He also led the offensive line in knockdown blocks, collecting 62 in 13 appearances (all starts). His performance got him listed into several Freshman All-American teams, including The Sporting News' and Rivals'.
[edit] 2007
Before the season, Smith cut off 25 pounds from his frame, making him faster. In his sophomore season, Smith continued to be the Tide's go-to-guy at the left tackle spot.
In Alabama's first three wins, the line only allowed an average of 1.3 sacks per game, while helping the offense produce 575 yards of total offense and 7 total TDs in the season-opener agains Western Carolina, 371 yards and 2 TDs at Vandy, and 450 yards and 3 TDs in the 3-point win over the 16th ranked Razorbacks. His performance against the Dores, where he helped running back Terry Grant rush for 173 yards, was rewarded by the team with a co-Player of the Week recognition. In the overtime loss to UGa., they only allowed a 3-yard sack while manufacturing 349 yards and 2 TDs on offense. In the 1-TD loss to Florida State, he assisted as the Tide got 240 yards and 2 TDs through the air but the line allowed 3.0 sacks for 16 yards total. Against Houston, he helped the Tide score 21 first-quarter points while giving up only a 1-yard sack in the homecoming win to claim his second co-Offensive Player of the Week honors. At Ole Miss, the line surrendered 4.0 sacks but the offense still gained 378 yards total to help the team escape with a 27-24 win. Against No.20 UT, he allowed only one sack on 46 pass attempts enroute to 363 yards passing and 3 TDs in the 41-17 win.
Versus No.3 LSU, the offense had a dismal performance with only 20 rushing yards while allowing the Tiger defense a season high 7.0 QB sacks in the 34-41 loss. At Mississippi State, he shared the UA Offensive Player of the Week for the third time after allowing only a sack and helping the team rush for 153 yards in the 12-17 setback. He was also acknowledged as the UA Offensive Co-Player of the Week when the Tide did not surrender a sack and the offense gained a total of 409 yards in the 14-21 upset loss to Louisiana-Monroe. In the regular season finale at No.25 Auburn, the line allowed a pair of sacks while the team collected only 225 yards of total offense in the 10-17 loss. In his second straight Independence Bowl game, Smith only allowed an 8-yard sack while helping his team rush for 132 yards and pass for 256 more with 3 TDs in the 30-24 win. He ended the year as the only player on the O-line other than Mike Johnson to start every game. Bama finished the year 7th in the SEC and 75th in the nation in total offense, 6th in the league and 59th in the nation in passing offense, 8th in the conference and 60th nationally in rushing offense, and was tied with several teams in terms of sacks allowed per game (1.92).
His performance that year merited several accolades, including the team's Up-Front and Offensive Player of the Year Awards, a first team All-SEC honors from the league coaches, and a share of the league's Jacobs Blocking Trophy with Arkansas' Jonathan Luigs.
[edit] 2008
Smith was tabbed as a co-recipient of the Paul Crane Offensive Lineman Award with Johnson for his performance during spring practice. Also during the preseason, he was selected as a Preseason All-SEC and All-American by a number of media publications and was listed into the Playboy All-American team and into the Football Writers Association of America's Outland Trophy watch list. In the season-opener against No.9 Clemson, Smith helped the offense garner 239 yards rushing and 180 yards passing while preventing any sack in the 34-10 upset win. However, he sustained a sprained MCL against the Tigers which forced him to sit out the following game.
Smith's absence was clearly felt in the 20-6 victory against the Green Wave where the offense only gained 99 yards rushing and 73 yards passing with the line also allowing 4.0 sacks. Against Western Kentucky, Smith returned to help Bama record a season high 557 yards of offense without a sack in a 41-7 victory. In wins at Arkansas and at No.3 Georgia, the line allowed only a sack each while helping the team amass 402 and 334 yards of total offense, respectively. In close victories over Kentucky and Ole Miss, the line gave up an average of 2.5 sacks a game, but Smith helped the team average 357 yards of total offense a game. In the 20-point win at UT, the Tide had 178 yards rushing and 188 yards passing with 3 scoring runs and no sacks allowed. In the mid-season Smith was named as a First Team All-American by CBSSports, SI.com, Phil Steele, and CFN. Against Arkansas State, Smith and the rest of the O-line helped the Tide gain 205 yards on the ground and 152 more through the air in a 35-point shut-out victory. Bama also scored on four scoring runs vs. the Red Wolves, two of which came from Mark Ingram that allowed the freshman to set the school record for rushing TDs by a rookie. For his efforts, Smith was named as one of the coaches' offensive player of the week. At #15 LSU, he helped the team prevent any sack, cleared the way for junior running back Glen Coffee to rush for 126 yards, and assisted his teammates on scoring three rushing TDs in the 27-21 win. Against MSU, he provided solid blocking and created path for his rushers to average 4.1 yards per carry enroute to a 198-rushing yard game for the Tide in the 32-7 win over the Bulldogs. At the Iron Bowl, he helped an anchor an offensive line that allowed the Crimson Tide to run the ball 50 times for 234 yards and three touchdowns in the win over arch-rival Auburn. The team averaged 4.7 yards per carry against the Tigers with Coffee norming 7.2 yards on 20 rushing attempts. In the SEC championship game against Florida, Smith helped the top-ranked Tide gain 323 yards in total offense, score a pair of rushing touchdowns, and record 147 yards on the ground, but his efforts were not enough as Bama came up short, 20-31.
During the postseason, Smith was honored as one of 4 Tides included in the American Football Coaches Association's 25-man All-American team. He also received the same All-American accolades from Walter Camp and the AP, but perhaps the most important honor for Smith came via the Outland Trophy, winning the prestigious award over Duke Robinson (Oklahoma) and Michael Oher (Mississippi). At the 75th Allstate Sugar Bowl, Smith was suspended for violating team rules and his absence was clearly felt by the team as the Tide only gained 31 yards rushing on 33 attempts in the 17-31 defeat to Utah. For the season, Smith helped Alabama averaged 184.64 rush yards per game (30th overall, 8th in the SEC), 171.1 pass yards per game (97th overall, 6th in the SEC), and allow only 1.79 sacks per game (56th overall).
[edit] Post-Alabama
On Jan.5, 2009, Smith declared his intentions to forego his senior season and enter the 2009 National Football League Draft. He was projected as the No. 2 overall pick in a mock draft by ESPN's Todd McShay and was #1 in Scout Inc.'s Top 32.
[edit] Highlights
| Andre Smith catches a TD pass vs. the Pokes at the 2006 Independence Bowl. |
[edit] Achievements
[edit] 2008
- AFCA Coaches' All-America Team
- Alabama Coaches' Offensive Player of the Week (vs. Arkansas State)
- Alabama's Offensive Player of the Year Award
- Alabama's Up-Front Award
- All-SEC First Team (Associated Press/Coaches)
- Associated Press First Team All-America
- Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook Preseason All-Big Ten
- CBSSports.com Midseason All-America Team
- CollegeFootballNews.com First Team All-America
- Collegefootballnews.com Midseason All-American First Team
- Collegefootballnews.com Preseason All-American First Team
- Collegefootballnews.com Preseason All-SEC First Team
- Collegefootballnews.com's No.1 Preseason Tackle in the Nation
- CollegeFootballNews.com's No.3 Preseason Player in the SEC
- FWAA First Team All-America
- Outland Trophy
- Paul Crane Offensive Lineman Award
- Phil Steele Midseason All-American First Team
- Phil Steele Midseason All-SEC First Team
- Phil Steele First-Team All-America
- Phil Steele First-Team All-SEC
- Playboy Preseason All-America team
- Pro Football Weekly First Team All-America
- Rotary Lombardi Award Finalist
- SEC Coaches Preseason All-SEC Team
- SEC Media Preseason All-SEC First Team
- SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week (vs. Arkansas)
- SI.com Midseason All-American First Team
- The Sporting News Midseason All-American Team
- The Sporting News First Team All-America
- Walter Camp All-American Team
[edit] 2007
- Alabama's Up-Front and Offensive Player of the Year Award
- CollegeFootballNews.com All-SEC Team
- Collegefootballnews.com Preseason All-American Honorable Mention
- Collegefootballnews.com Preseason All-SEC First Team
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #3 Offensive Lineman in the SEC
- Collegefootballnews.com's #6 Preseason Tackle in the Nation
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #11 Preseason Player in the SEC
- Outland Trophy Watch List
- SEC's Jacobs Blocking Trophy
- SEC Coaches First-Team All-League
[edit] 2006
- All-SEC Coaches selection
- Rivals.com Freshman All-American
- The Sporting News Freshman All-American
