Charlie Strong Says Marcus Smith Isn’t Strong at the Point of Attack
Alex Dunlap, RosterWatch.com

Well, apparently we caused a ruckus … again.

On Tuesday, at University of Texas media availability with head coach Charlie Strong, I asked the former Louisville coach to compare Texas soon-to-be-senior DE Cedric Reed to NFL draft prospect Marcus Smith in Austin, Tx. and then all hell broke lose in Louisville, Ky.

The reason for the question was simple curiosity. We saw Marcus Smith live at the Senior Bowl, the NFL combine and at his Louisville pro day as we were bringing you our unmatched offseason coverage here at RosterWatch.

Our general impressions were that Smith’s lack of production at the Senior Bowl had to do with the Senior Bowl’s inherent nature as a “tweener nightmare.” That is to say, the lack of creativity associated with involving edge-threats during such a quick and remedial install of base NFL defenses usually results in rushers not appearing as dynamic in team drills as they may eventually look in concepts tailor-made to accentuate their unique skillsets at the NFL level.

Why Smith’s performance at the Senior Bowl worried us, though, went beyond typical “tweener nightmare” disparities. While Smith, an ex-quarterback turned edge monster, appeared unstoppable as the lynchpin of college football’s best statistical defense in 2013, he was constantly coming downhill freely, seemingly put in great position time after time to load up his gaudy 14.5-sack production numbers.

Something has to be said for bend and vision and athleticism – the traits necessary to constantly wiggle and dance into such advantageous spots. And Coach Strong said that Smith had all of that. But it was the comparison to Reed on the other side of the coin that stirred up a hornet’s nest.

When I reported on Twitter that Coach Strong said that Cedric Reed was a strong player at the point-of-attack while Marcus Smith wasn’t, it didn’t take long for ex-Louisville players such as Bills center Eric Wood among others to start bashing Charlie Strong for throwing an ex-player under the bus this close to the draft. Radio stations started calling us for interviews, and even our friends at the Louisville athletic department starting pinging us for answers about the quote.

On its request, I emailed the iPhone audio clip I had taken of the question to Louisville’s newspaper, the Courier-Journal, who came to the very sane and reasonable conclusion that everyone needed to chill out as the quotes were taken out of context.

And even so, Charlie Strong says Marcus Smith isn’t strong at the point of attack. It’s the number one worry we’ve had about a player we are having a tougher time reconciling as an NFL prospect than we have had in quite some time. On the tape, he is an absolute beast and athletic menace. He is everywhere and a clear force. What can’t ever be seen is Smith’s ability to clearly set an edge and hold his own to funnel plays inside or to wreck opposing right tackles with throw moves or swats that will be required game-in and game-out at the next level.

NFL teams have five weeks to reconcile Marcus Smith and decide where he falls on their draft boards, and we wish them good luck. We’re having an awfully hard time with it, clearly.