P.J. Smith a likely candidate to step up at Safety

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All-American
Friends and family back home in Louisiana can ask all they want if he’ll be a starter this fall.
But they should know by now they aren’t going to crack P.J. Smith.

“I just tell them, ‘I’m having fun. I’m just working hard. If I get the job, I get it,’” Smith said.

He knows that isn’t the answer people want, but that’s the one they’ll get.

You should know the sophomore safety is not the type to take matters for granted, whether that be a spot on the first string or the whole experience of going to college and playing big-time football.

The latter has sometimes been an emotional experience for Smith.

Just rewind to the game against Louisiana-Lafayette. There were tears in Smith’s eyes as he took the field as a captain.

“I was sitting there like, ‘I’m a captain? What did I do?’” Smith said. “It was very emotional because, for one, I never thought I’d be here playing college ball. Just to be out there and look around and be the captain, it just got me.”

Smith said he used to be a hothead. Didn’t pay attention.

“I didn’t want to listen to anyone,” Smith said. “I had a lot of friends the same way. They stayed in the ’hood doing nothing. I’m out, having fun playing ball, getting an education.”

And he’s listening now. You better believe that.

Smith is the first to say he still has plenty to learn, but here’s one thing he believes he’s figured out: When he listens to Bo Pelini’s advice, good things tend to happen.

“Coach is right on everything he says,” Smith said. “No matter what.”

It helps the learning process that Pelini used to play Smith’s position at Ohio State.

“He’ll come sit down by you and say, ‘Look, if I were that safety right here, I’d be doing this and that and this,’” Smith said. “He just breaks it down that much easier because he knows the position and tells us, ‘Look at it this type of way.’”

Smith’s name is often first to surface when fans and media talk about leading candidates to replace Larry Asante and Matt O’Hanlon at the safety spots.

People can say what they want, Smith said, but he views it as an even competition. He praises the efforts of Rickey Thenarse, Austin Cassidy and Courtney Osborne.

Pelini hasn’t been shy when speaking about Smith’s potential but said now is the time for him to take that next step.

“I want him to take control back there and make his calls and make sure he’s very dependable in what we’re asking him to do,” Pelini said. “I think his understanding is better. Now you just have to keep working on the little things.”

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Smith played in all 14 games last year but saw his playing time limited as Nebraska relied mostly on the seniors Asante and O’Hanlon.

He finished with 15 tackles and one pass breakup. It was Smith who blitzed on fourth down late in the Holiday Bowl and knocked down a pass, making sure Nebraska’s shutout of Arizona was complete.

There have been some frustrations along the way, sure. It wasn’t easy getting his head around Pelini’s defense when he arrived in the fall of 2008. He redshirted that fall.

“It was very overwhelming,” Smith said. “I got upset with myself many times because I felt like I should be knowing it. And coaches were telling me, ‘Don’t worry about it, you’re young, it’s your first year in the system. It’s going to come to you.’”

Turns out they were right.

“It’s coming to me now,” Smith said.

Asante said Smith is a smart football player who is real aggressive once he diagnoses a play.

According to Asante, there shouldn’t be any concern about Nebraska’s safety position this year.

“They’ll do great. As a matter of fact, I think they’ll do better,” Asante said. “Every year, Coach Bo just gives you more tools to work with.”

Smith won’t pat himself on the back, but he isn’t lacking confidence when the topic comes to the defense as a whole.

After Monday’s practice, a reporter mentioned something about Nebraska striving to be a top-five or top- 10 defense again this year.

Smith offered a correction.

“We don’t think we can be top-five,” he said. We feel like we can be No. 1.”

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Should be interesting position battles at safety this fall. I think Gomes and Smith will be the guys but we'll see a lot of Thenarse.

 
I like where Smith's head is at, it seems like he's really buying into what the coaches are selling.

 
Quote:

After Monday’s practice, a reporter mentioned something about Nebraska striving to be a top-five or top- 10 defense again this year.

Smith offered a correction.

“We don’t think we can be top-five,” he said. "We feel like we can be No. 1.”

Fan-frickin-tastic!!!! Got to love this attitude.

 
I guess I'm not sure how Smith isn't one of the top runners for the safety position. He replaced Asante at key points during the season last year and there was no noticeable slack from that position. He seems to have a good grasp of the position and has the athletism.

I would say, barring any injuries, that Smith is a lock for one of the safety positions.

 
I can't think of a time in my life where there has seemed to be so much depth across a defense as a whole. People need to start making those "We don't rebuild, we reload" signs again.

 
The way the coaches are talking I think they're expecting that they're going to need a second LB on the field. Now that there is no Suh to take up space and act as a LB at times, I expect there to be a little drop off in our run defense. But I fully expect a year similar to Bo's 2003 defense where we ended up with like 30 ints for the year (if Gomes starts at FS I fully expect him to produce 7-10 ints).

 
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