Roquan Smith recalls Kirby Smart saying he was too small for LB at Alabama: 'I'll never know the official truth'

Many players have their origin stories of a time they were told they weren’t good enough and it motivated them to prove the doubters wrong. For Roquan Smith, that moment might have been with Kirby Smart when he took a visit to Alabama as a high schooler.

Smart, who was then the defensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide, allegedly made comments about Smith being “too small” to play linebacker. Smith later wound up committing to play for Georgia, where Smart would later become the coach in his sophomore season in 2016.

Speaking recently on the Pardon My Take podcast, Smith, now in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens, opened up on his initial reaction to that comment from Smart. The linebacker explained that though he never heard Smart tell him that directly, he did catch wind of it and figured it was for the best he didn’t attend Alabama.

“I’ll never know the official truth behind that, but I did know that it was said that I was too small to play linebacker there,” Smith said. “It was like, ‘Cool.’ I didn’t really like Bama anyway, truth be told. I just wanted to go for the experience and see what it was all about. People was like, ‘It’s a really dope environment’ and things like that. So I wanted the experience from it more so. Because, honestly, I never would have went to Bama and granted, they probably didn’t want me either. So it made the two of us.”

But when Smart arrived in Athens to take over as head coach, Smith then went on a mission to prove himself. That same player that Smart allegedly once called too small ended up leading the team in tackles during the coach’s inaugural season.

“When I got to Georgia, I was a Georgia boy, so it was like, ‘Hey, I’m here,'” Smith said. “At the end of the day, you can’t deny me if I’m the best guy out there. I just proved that day in and day out and obviously it’s been showing.”

Smith, listed at 6-foot-1 during his final season at Georgia, would go on to be named SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2017. He again led the Bulldogs with 137 total tackles (14 for loss) and 6.5 sacks in addition to two fumble recoveries. Georgia also made the national championship that season, but ended up losing to none other than Alabama.

In the end, it all worked out for Smith, who was a first-round selection in the 2018 NFL Draft and has gone on to make three Pro Bowls. Perhaps he can credit some of that extra motivation to Smart, who has admitted since that he didn’t give Smith the look he deserved out of high school.