The Cardinal Countdown: 42 Days Until Kickoff

#42 Allen Smith

Class: RS Freshman

Ht/Wt: 6-2/230

Position: Linebacker

Hometown: Loganville, GA

Twitter: @allensmithjr

Thoughts: If you read the Day 44 posts earlier this week when I covered Dorian Jones, you’ll notice Allen Smith is in a similar situation. Smith was a talented recruit who warranted a shot at early PT last year on the outside. Smith ended up getting some live reps against both Boston College and Kentucky but appearing in those two games only kept him under the four game limit and the staff could apply a redshirt.

Smith was a former UNC commit that Cort Dennison scooped up amongst the chaos of the new staff over in Chapel Hill last year. Smith has good size and it appears per the official release they will likely try and play him on the outside, similar to where he played in high school. If you look at the roster both outside positions are projected to be filled with upperclassmen at all four spots on the two deep. Players like Smith, Geathers, Kam Wilson, and Zay Peterson are the next in line and could use 2020 as a springboard into taking over a lot of those reps from Burns, Abdullah, Okeke, etc in 2021 and beyond.

Since we’ve seen such limited action of Smith at the collegiate level we can look back on some high school film to get a feel as to what he brings. I like his speed although he was around 210 in the clips and is listed at 230 now, he’s not shy about sticking his nose into some trouble and getting physical with guys in open space, and as we see multiple times over he is not a liability out in coverage as he even lined up against the slot a few times and held his own. The one thing I noticed (it obviously worked out for the good on highlights) is he was peeking quite a bit at the QB or in the backfield, and that can get you burnt at this level. The pros on Smith outweigh the freshman cons and I think Smith will be a two deep player by next season and be fighting for significant time in a couple years.

Sweet Tweet:

I’ve done something like this before but figured it would spark some convo or an all out brawl in the comments....either is acceptable. Feel free to drop your own below. Here goes nothing…

NFL: Bears

NBA: Never had a team

MLB: Cubs

NCAA: Cards/Boilers