He has the second most-popular name in Steelers history, yet might as well wear a bag on his head as a helmet.
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Aaron Douglas Smith, shown here at last year's training camp, has kept a low,but very productive profile with the team. (Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette) |
He's the Unknown Steeler, Mr. Anonymous. He was the team's third-leading pass rusher last season and he doesn't even have a sack dance.
Meet the most productive unsung Steeler of them all -- Aaron Douglas Smith, a defensive end who wouldn't know how to toot his own horn if it came on a bicycle.
There have been 14 players called Smith who have played for the Steelers (one fewer than the Williams clan) and only two named Aaron and, by chance, Aaron Smith and Aaron Jones played the same position. That's where the similarities end.
Jones came to the Steelers as a first-round draft choice in 1988 with all the popularity that goes with it, and turned into a flop. Smith came to them as their sixth pick in the 1999 draft, a fourth-rounder from Division II Northern Colorado with all the anonymity that goes with that.
Then he went out as a rookie and recorded one assisted tackle to further his oblivion. But last season, free-agent acquisition Chris Sullivan had back surgery and Coach Bill Cowher had little choice but to throw Aaron Smith into the lineup at left defensive end.
Smith responded by starting 15 games, leading the line with four sacks, and making Cowher's jaw drop.
"He was probably the most pleasant surprise of anybody we had last year," Cowher said. "He's a big, strong guy, a great leverage player who can run. He's put on probably 10 pounds since he first came here and hasn't lost any quickness, any agility, any balance. He was a real consistent player for us."
Smith helped save the season for the team by playing his best game in Jacksonville Oct. 1. The Steelers were 0-3 and losers in 10 of their past 11 games when they played the Jaguars in a stadium where they had never won. Smith, who switched to right end during the game, had eight tackles and two sacks, chasing down Mark Brunell around All-Pro tackle Tony Boselli. The Steelers won, 24-13, to begin a stretch of nine victories in 13 games.
But while everyone talks about the expected improvement along the Steelers' defensive line because of the addition of first-round rookie Casey Hampton at nose tackle and the switch of Kimo von Oelhoffen to end, Smith hardly gets a notice outside of his own team.
"Since I've been here, he's probably the hardest worker on defense," von Oelhoffen said. "He's gotten bigger, stronger, put on 10 pounds since last year and still blew his 40 time away. He's willing to learn. He's going to be a very good player. I would say right now he's playing as good as me. He's coming on strong."
Appropriately, Smith has big goals this season.
"My goal is mainly to make the team," he said.
After that?
"To be a starter in the opening game."
"He is very modest," von Oelhoffen said.
Smith prefers to call it humble, which is how he describes growing up in a trailer park in Colorado Springs, Colo., the son of a nurse and a construction worker. His father died from diabetes when Aaron, the youngest of four boys, was 16. "We didn't have whole lot of money and stuff."
He didn't have a whole lot of football scholarship offers either as a high school defensive end who weighed only 205. He went off the beaten path to Northern Colorado, where he blossomed into the All-North Conference's most valuable defensive lineman after setting a school record with 44 career sacks.
That, however, came as an end in a 4-3 defense. He is an end in the 3-4 defense, but it's an entirely different position. He learned how to play it as a rookie with the Steelers behind Orpheus Roye.
Smith, who stands 6 feet 5, grew from 280 pounds at the end of his rookie camp to 285 at the end of camp last year to 300 today. He is no longer a stop-gap measure at end because of injuries. The job is his, and the Steelers expect even bigger things from him this season.
"Absolutely," declared defensive coordinator Tim Lewis. "He's put on some strength, his agility is better and he actually is rushing the passer better.
"It's funny, you take guys like him you can see being molded and he's one who was like a soft piece of clay, and [line coach John Mitchell] worked with him and worked with him and turned him into a good run-stopper, a good technician, a guy who understands the defense. And now, mentally, he's taking him into the pass rush mode."
It has been 15 years since a Steelers' defensive lineman has registered as many as 10 sacks. Smith has that kind of ability, although playing on the left or strong side does not afford as many opportunities. Besides his four sacks, Smith had the satisfaction of playing in front of Jason Gildon, who led all NFL linebackers with 13 1/2 sacks in 2000.
"I love this style of football played here," Smith said. "I just love playing the physical type of football we play here with a lot of blitzing and stuff like that. I like getting after offenses."
Friends have been after him to be more demonstrative on the field to attract attention, which is like getting a mime to talk.
"I've never been one of those glory guys," Smith said. "I'm a team guy who just wants to win games. I don't really miss being that key guy, that big-time all-star player. My focus is to win games. That's all I want.
"I don't think I'm an exceptionally talented person. Maybe other people think different. Mostly what got me where I am is my drive and my heart.
"I'm just happy playing football. I don't know how a man can complain being an NFL player, making the money we make and doing something you did as a child."
The Unknown Steeler: Smith's play was surprise, now expected 
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