Playing nice

Missouri's budding star QB is an upstanding BMOC

KANSAS CITY -- As it turns out, Youngstown, Ohio's most famous eligible college football player doesn't know LeBron James, hasn’t engaged in any public spats with his university and, as far as we know, is not the subject of any investigations.

To the contrary, Missouri’s quiet but engaging quarterback Brad Smith can often be found visiting hospitals, signing autographs and saying "Yes, sir" and "No, sir" so often, "you just want to tell him to shut up," says his coach, Gary Pinkel.

"I think God sent him down as an angel, I swear," said Tigers center A.J. Ricker. "He doesn’t party. The amount of community service he does is incredible. And he’s like that 24/7."

Two years ago, when Smith took his official visit to Mizzou, Pinkel actually worried he "was a little too nice." He wondered whether the quarterback had the kind of mean streak necessary to be a successful college quarterback.

All such concerns were quickly alleviated last season when Smith, then a redshirt freshman, burst onto the scene with a 138-yard rushing day in his first start against Illinois, later burning Oklahoma’s vaunted defense for 213. Smith went on to become only the second quarterback in I-A history to passing for 2,000 yards and run for 1,000, no to mention throwing only six interceptions in 366 attempts.

And if you didn’t think the quarterback of a 5-7 team couldn’t be famous, one need only have watched the spectacle that enveloped Smith Thursday at Big 12 media day.

A complete unknown in recruiting circles coming out of high school, anonymous outside the Missouri program as recently as a year ago, Smith commanded every bit as much attention as such stars as Texas' Roy Williams, Oklahoma State's Rashaun Woods or Oklahoma's Teddy Lehman, and with good reason. He's the conference's preseason first team all-league quarterback and the single biggest reason why a Tigers team that hasn’t been to a bowl in five years is suddenly showing up in preseason top 25 polls.

"Watch out for Missouri," said Colorado coach Gary Barnett. "Brad Smith -- he’s that good a player."

While that seems to be clearly evident now, it apparently wasn’t when Smith was coming out of high school in the booming football hotbed that is Youngstown. Jim Tressel, having coached in Smith’s backyard at Youngstown State, didn’t press him to become a Buckeye. Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, a Youngstown native, admits he passed on Smith.

Truth be told, if Pinkel hadn’t been recruiting him for Toledo before getting the Mizzou job, Smith, who at 165 pounds back then was easy to overlook, would probably never have found his way to the Big 12.

"Really, I had no idea about the school before Coach Pinkel got there,” said Smith, now 6-3, 201. "The only thing I thought of with Missouri was that it’s big."

Two years later, Smith is the biggest man on that big campus, one who’s had to adjust to the constant double takes from onlookers, not to mention their suddenly lofty expectations. The Tigers only won two conference games last season, yet there’s a sense that anything less than the school’s first bowl trip in five years would be considered a disappointment.

As the quarterback, co-captain and undisputed face of the program, Smith bears the brunt of those expectations.

"The people around Columbia are very excited, they’re counting on us to bring them to a bowl game," said Smith. "We’re feeling that pressure, but it’s a good pressure."

"Getting his 2,000 yards passing, 1,000 rushing, all that stuff’s great," said Pinkel, "but Brad will ultimately be judged by winning football games, and he understands that."

To do that, he’ll need some help, particularly from a defense that allowed 450.3 yards per game last season. And new No. 1 receiver needs to emerge in place of departed star Justin Gage.

On the positive side, however, all five starters return on the offensive line, as does starting tailback. The schedule is favorable -- Beat Illinois in the opener and Mizzou could easily be 6-0 headed into an Oct. 11 game against Nebraska.

But perhaps scariest of all, Smith is only now entering his second season and with a year under his belt should be able to improve significantly on his 53.6 percent completion rate.

"Things will slow down considerably for Brad Smith this season,” said Pinkel. "He’ll be able to see more. Well be able to give him more options. That pressure you can put on defenses running the ball is remarkable, but if he can become a 70 percent completion guy, he can produce a lot more big plays."

There’s a few Big 12 opponents who probably feel he produces plenty already.

Grin and Bear it

Guy Morriss is a laid-back Texan with a slow drawl and cool demeanor. His preferred hobbies include raising cattle and going for a spin on his Yamaha Road Star.

His is the ideal personality for navigating turbulent waters, which, when you happen to be starting your first season as a school’s football coach right next door to one of the biggest scandals in college sports history, should figure to come in handy.

"It’s an atypical situation, I think it could happen on any campus in the country," Morriss said of Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy's murder, allegedly at the hands of teammate Carlton Dotson. "It’s unfortunate we have to deal with it."

Despite their campus being overrun by news cameras and satellites, Morriss insists his team has managed to remain fairly isolated. There is the reality that competitors will use the incident against Baylor in recruiting, but then again it’s not like Morriss had an easy sell to begin with.

Morrris plans to hold a team meeting when fall camp opens Tuesday to give players the chance to ask questions, express concerns and receive counseling if necessary. After that, it’s on to the business at hand: Rebuilding the Big 12’s least competitive program.

Having gone through a similar situation at Kentucky, where the Wildcats improved from 2-9 to 7-5 his second season, Morris knows well what he’s up against.

"Were going to have to overachieve, play over our heads sometimes," said Morris. "It’s going to be similar to our situation at Kentucky."

Live from Manhattan

Bill Snyder’s gawky relationship with the media added another chapter Thursday. The Kansas State coach, claiming he couldn’t attend media days due to the Wildcats’ early opener against Cal (fall camp opened Wednesday), instead appeared via an awkward satellite set-up.

After spending the first few minutes explaining his rationale and apologizing for the inconvenience, the actual question-and-answer portion wasn’t that unusual. The losers in the situation, as usual, were his players, in this case purported Heisman candidates Ell Roberson and Darren Sproles. While the league’s other all-star candidates were in attendance this week and spent upward of two hours with media, Roberson was squeezed in for four minutes just before the satellite feed expired, while Sproles did not appear at all.

Not that the media doesn’t know these guys already, but in an age where image is more important than ever, Snyder continues to pay no heed.

Stewart Mandel covers college sports for SI.com.

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