Alex Smith squinted as he looked over the auditorium, facing one of the toughest crowds he’d ever walked up on. It was made up of some 300 grade school kids at a northern Utah elementary, curious young minds who were gathered at an assembly meant to promote drinking milk and eating nutritious foods.
Now, that eager, feisty crowd got a bonus — a chance to hear from and ask a real-live NFL quarterback a couple fistfuls of questions, easy and tough ones.
Programming note: At that point in his career, Smith had done notable, improbable things, including leading the Utah Utes to an undefeated season, being named a college All-American, becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft, ascending to the position of starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers for a handful of seasons, suffering and fighting his way through difficult injuries, being called soft by his clueless coach — “That was hard to take,” he said — for figuring it was better for him not to play with a serious shoulder separation, tearing three ligaments, and, later, after he recovered, losing his starting job to a fellow named J.T. O’Sullivan, a scrub QB who had been a backup for seven different teams before stealing the wheel from Smith in San Francisco.
Questions, kids?
After being asked what he liked to do other than play football — “snowboard, bowl, watch movies and read” — and what he ate for breakfast — “Cinnamon Toast Crunch” — and what his favorite football memory was — “beating BYU my last year at the University of Utah” — and who the hardest team he ever played against was — “I’ve played a lot of hard teams in the NFL” — Smith stared down and stumbled over the most problematic inquiry of all: Why do you like playing football?
“Um … uh … Good question.”
At that juncture in his journey, a steamroller of a question.
As Smith was announced on Sunday as a part of the 2024 class of the College Football Hall of Fame, that question burrowed deep into my mind. He fumbled and bumbled around with it on that particular occasion, but Smith could have responded with a drop-dead sincere, “To set a determined example for those who watch me.”
If the best quarterback who ever played at Utah is to be remembered for anything, and there are a lot of things in college and in the pros, paramount among his attributes and achievements would be his dogged steadfastness in hacking his way through challenges — and the grace and courage it took to do so.
Alums and fans of many schools seek to find, embrace and celebrate one of their own of whom they can be proud, and Smith more than qualifies for that status among Utes.
Who can forget the way he battled back from the cruel leg injury he suffered late in his 16-year NFL career, an injury that literally could have killed the man, subsequently being named the league’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2020.
That was emblematic of the extremes Smith faced during his pro playing days, overcoming them enough to do more than throw for 35,650 yards and 199 touchdowns, earning three Pro Bowl invitations, while playing for San Francisco, Kansas City and Washington. It garnered for him lofty respect from teammates, most of his coaches, team executives, opposing players and fans. Not bad for a quarterback who initially was labeled by some critics a bust, who was the understudy of four different offensive coordinators over his first four NFL seasons, and who possessed the fortitude to fight on.
When he spoke to the elementary school kids all those years ago, he openly wondered how a game that had been so good to him at Utah could have turned its back on him, seemingly laughing at his pain, in the NFL. All as he knew he was talented enough, intelligent enough, capable enough to thrive at the highest level of football.
“It’s been hard,” he said, after the youngsters filed back to class. “When you struggle, when you’re hurt, you’re kind of out of sight, out of mind.”
Out of sorts.
It deterred and defeated him not in a manner enough to derail his intentions. He may not have lived up to his 2005 draft position, at least not the way some folks consider it, but Smith’s career passing yardage ranks him among the top 35 NFL quarterbacks all-time.
Utah — and no other school — could have known completely the vastness of Smith’s future capabilities, being the only FBS school that wanted him just more than 20 years ago, but the Utes did recognize some of his potential and most of his intelligence. Smith eventually was named to the Academic All-America Hall of Fame.
At the start of the 2003 season, Smith wasn’t even named Utah’s starter — until Brett Elliott got hurt. That’s when he launched into a memorable time at Utah, passing for 5,203 yards and 47 touchdowns, rushing for 1,072 yards and 15 scores. He still holds school records for career pass efficiency (164.42) and yards per completion (13.38). Most significantly, Smith quarterbacked the best team — in 2004 — in Utah’s football history, the team that went unbeaten and won the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1, 2005.
“I think we would have beaten anybody that year,” he said. “We executed so well. We had athletes. We were so solid. We were good, better even than the [2008] team.”
As elevated as Smith’s play was — and this says much about him as a humble soul — he said he had no clue the NFL would come calling. “It was surreal. I played that whole season in college and never had a single inkling that the NFL was a possibility.”
It was … 16 years of it.
And that span, that reach, gave Smith an opportunity to expand the example of his dogged courage and determination beyond football, starting a foundation that provides foster teens with tools necessary to transition to successful adulthood via means such as education, mentoring, advocacy, etc.
When Smith was inducted into the Utah Athletics Hall of Fame a few years back, he said: “One school gave me a chance. That was the U. and I’m grateful for it. It changed my life, shaped who I am today.”
Ahh. That pretty much satisfies the schoolboy’s long-ago question, the one regarding why Alex Smith liked playing football.
Good question then. Good answer now.