Smith anchors strong Alabama offensive front

It’s easy to take Andre Smith for granted.

The 6-4, 340-pound junior left tackle has anchored Alabama’s offensive line for the past three years.

His consistency and his excellence are such a given that it’s news when he makes a mistake — and expected when he dominates an opponent.

For instance, he gave up a sack against Kentucky on a technique error and took responsibility for it the next week.
“It was something I shouldn’t have done,” he said. “Coach (Joe) Pendry’s been telling us from day one, saying you’re going to be beat on it. It actually showed.”

But asked for specifics, Smith said, “I can’t disclose it.”

The junior All-American candidate is much more comfortable talking about his teammates than himself. But he’s so accomplished, plenty of people can’t stop talking about him.

“He does such a good job sometimes I’ve got to ignore it,” running back Glen Coffee said. “Lot of times you want to run over there from the start of the play, but you still gotta go through your progressions, your reads, and you still gotta get the linebacker to run over the top. He does such a good job sometimes we forget about our reads.”

Alabama’s ground attack, ranked second in the Southeastern Conference just under 200 yards per game, has taken heat off quarterback John Parker Wilson. Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom said it’s evident the Crimson’s Tide biggest improvement is up front.

“I think they’ve got one of the best offensive lines in the country,” Croom said. “They’ve got two players on their offensive line that are truly, truly great players. They’ve had some outstanding players there at Alabama, guys like Dwight Stephenson and John Hannah. Their center, (Antoine) Caldwell, and their tackle Andre Smith, rank right up there with those two individuals – and that’s saying a lot.”

Caldwell took the compliment on behalf of his teammate.

“I didn’t know he said that, but yeah, I take pride in what I do and I know Andre does, too,” the senior said. “This whole offensive line does. I think that’s been a lot of tools of our success this season. We take a lot of pride in our jobs, what we do. We’ve just got to keep grinding like we’ve doing all season.”

Smith jokes about the anonymity of the offensive line. He relishes it, actually.

“It’s better to be 71 (his number) than 14 (Wilson’s),” he said. “If a kid doesn’t know who I am, I tell him I’m John Parker.”

Has that ever worked?

“Nah, not at all,” Smith replied.

The tackle had the quote of the year in preseason camp when asked about protecting Wilson’s blind side.

“I look at John Parker like I look at my mother,” he said. “You don’t want a person to hit your mother. You’ll do anything to protect her.”

Something else has stayed with him over the course of the season. He adopted Saban’s challenge of “finishing” and taken that to heart.

“In the beginning of the season, we got a lot of knocks about not being able to finish the game, things of that nature,” Smith said. “Since we’ve been getting that, we put the hat on our head and instead of slowing down halfway through practice, get even more intense … and make sure you finish and focus.”

Don’t think Saban hasn’t noticed.

“He’s done really well all year long,” Saban said about his left tackle. “I really can’t say enough about the consistency that he’s played with. He’s worked hard this year, he worked hard on his weight, he worked hard on his conditioning, I think his ability to sustain is better. …

“It’s hard for me to think that anybody could’ve played much better at his position — though I don’t see them all play and I’m not making comparisons — but he’s played about as well as, I think, anybody could.”

Smith has put off talk about the NFL until after the season. However, it is almost certain he would be an early first-round pick. He may have a tough decision to make. On the other hand, it may not be a tough decision.

For now, Alabama will run behind the left side of the celebrated line when it needs a tough two yards.

“I don’t want to give up any future strategy, but when you have a left side of the line like ‘Smitty’ and (guard) Mike Johnson and Caldwell, they do a pretty good job of blocking them. That’s what makes you a pretty good coach,” Saban said.