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Alabama Football A-Day Countdown: Best Bama #71 of All Time
Andre Smith was an anchor on the Alabama Football offensive line from 2006-2008. One of only 4 Bama true freshman to start at the all important left tackle position, Smith was on the field in every game during his tenure with the Tide – except one. We’ll get to that later.
When Nick Saban arrived at Alabama in 2007 he inherited that Huffman High School phenom who won All Conference first team honors that year. Just a year later in 2008 he was awarded All American honors and won the Outland Trophy for being recognized as the best interior lineman in the country by the college football writer’s association.
He allowed only one sack over 334 pass plays in his college career. One sack is an impressive stat for a left tackle – one score is amazing. Watch Andre Smith catch a pass and run it in against Oklahoma State in the 2007 Independence Bowl.
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Smith was suspended from playing in the 2009 Sugar Bowl against Utah for reportedly having inappropriate contact with an agent. Alabama lost that game and I promise if the ceiling of the Superdome in New Orleans opened up and clouds parted to the sound of trumpet blasts heralding the second coming and the Lord Almighty revealed himself to my human eyes on a chariot of fire calling all sinners home to glory my jaw couldn’t have dropped any lower in awestruck wonder than it already was when we were down 21-0 to the Utes in the first 11 minutes of that game.
Andre Smith was the 6th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. Andre has played his entire NFL career in Cincinnati wearing the same number 71 he wore at Alabama. This year Smith will be changing his uniform to purple as an offensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings.
If you had to google “Ute” during the game in 2008 Sugar Bowl to figure out who was kicking our ass let me know on Facebook or in the comments.
