Scouting the Cats: Smith making up for lost time as one of UK's defensive anchors

It's hard to miss Za'Darius Smith.

He's that guy at the end of the Cat Walk before games bouncing around, layers of hair flying in the air, a smile brighter than the lights at Commonwealth Stadium.

"I get the chills, but it's good chills," Smith said of the pre-game ritual.

He's that guy screaming at you on his own billboard in Lexington.

"Every chance I get, I just look up every time and it puts a smile on my face," the Kentucky senior defensive end said.

Sometimes he's that guy screaming at you from a pop-up ad on your computer urging you to buy season football tickets.

He takes a screenshot every time it shows up on his monitor.

Just a few short years ago, the player who has in many ways become the face of Kentucky football's rebuilding efforts only had eyes for basketball.

Smith, at 6-foot-6, 263 pounds, had family ties to football with an older brother, Bob Meeks, who played center at Auburn and for the Denver Broncos. He had a cousin, Davern Williams, who played for the New York Giants.

But Smith, who said he "never, never played football in my life" wanted to play basketball instead. He even played briefly on an AAU team with fellow starting defensive end Bud Dupree.

Smith's basketball dreams faded in high school.

"Guys were too tall," Smith recalled. "Every rebound I went up for and couldn't get. Every shot was blocked. I told myself, 'Man, look, I'm going to go out here and try football my senior year of high school. Now I'm here.'"

It's a story that defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot has heard many times before.

"You'll find a lot of long, athletic guys growing up stick with basketball because they think their future's there," Eliot said. "And then when they switch over to football, they realize there aren't as many long and athletic guys and they have an edge."

Smith was late to the game, but he's caught on quick, excelling under defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh at East Mississippi Community College and then coming with him to Kentucky.

Smith went through the NFL Draft evaluation process during the offseason, but knew he had more to do at UK, where he finished third on the team in tackles with 59. He had six sacks and six quarterback hurries.

Smith has come a long way from the kid whose high school coach's simple instructions were: "Go to the guy with the ball in his hands."

Brumbaugh has seen Smith evolve into a technician and a teacher, even as a newcomer pulling teammates aside to explain techniques he'd learned.

"He's really gone to higher learning," the UK defensive line coach said of Smith this offseason. "He's starting to understand more formations and understand the little intricacies about splits and different things. It's really helped his game this year."

Smith spends time before practice and after practice doing extra work on the bags and sleds. But he's not the only one he's trying to improve out there.

"I take some of those young guys with me before and after practice to get extra reps," he said.

It's something that his coaches have noticed.

"Bud and Za'Darius are not only great players but they're great leaders," Stoops said of his two starting defensive ends. "They're veteran players now. Both of them, first year in the system, were learning what to do and developing themselves, and now they've taken that role on where they can develop others."

This story was originally published August 22, 2014 at 7:12 PM with the headline "Scouting the Cats: Smith making up for lost time as one of UK's defensive anchors."