Perspectives - Jimmy Smith

In this episode of Perspectives, Brian Sexton sits down with former Jacksonville wide receiver and Pride of the Jaguars member, Jimmy Smith.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The following presentation of the Jaguars Podcast Network is presented
by five Star Credit. Jimmy Smith isn't a complicated man.
His life in professional football, however, was anything but simple.
Smith's name hangs high above the field in Jacksonville, where
he found glory. Is one of the game's best receivers.

(00:25):
How he arrived in though offered no clue of what
was in store for the young player or the expansion franchise.
This is perspectives, the story of the Jacksonville Jaguars first
twenty five seasons, told by the people who built the
franchise from the ground up. This is Jimmy Smith. He

(00:46):
is the best receiver in Jaguars history. Alan Robinson has
more touchdowns in a single season, and who knows. D. J.
Chark may own that record before is over. But neither
of them are in Smith's class. He's got fifty first,
got twenty, There goes ten, but put down with Jacksonville.
Smith was big, strong, fast, and just another guy hoping

(01:08):
to find another shot at playing in the NFL. When
he arrived in, the man who had finished his career
with eight hundred and sixty two catches more than twelve
thousand yards and sixty seven touchdowns, plus Pro Bowls and
All Pro honors, made a very quiet entrance to Jacksonville. Well,
not knowing what to expect. What to expect was That's

(01:31):
exactly what was going on with me. You know, when
Jacksonville and Carolina were awarded their teams, you know, I
didn't think that they were a real team, that these
were real teams. So I wanted to go or stay
with an established team like the Cowboys in Philadelphia and
and uh, you know, teams who have had history. I

(01:51):
didn't want to come into a situation where there was
I guess I should say, a revolving door where they
going to be bringing players in and shipping them right
back out. And uh, that's what I thought the expansion,
the two expansion teams were. Uh. And I had a
conversation with my father. He's like, you know, right now,

(02:12):
so you don't have a job, so you gotta go
down and give it your best shots. So I, Uh,
I decided to come down to Jacksonville for for a workout.
And I think it was about fourteen receivers. Uh, none
of them knew knew who you know, no one knew
who I was. I had never been on this side
of on this side of the country before, and I

(02:35):
put on a good workout, and uh, you know I
had one thing, well a couple of things going and
uh for me, Larry Pasquale was a special team's coach
uh for the Jaguars that first year, and he just
so happens to be the special team's coach for the

(02:55):
Philadelphia Eagles the year I was there. And I had
an awesome pre season with the Philadelphia Eagles the previous
year under Larry Pasqually played on all all four special teams,
ran back kickoffs, and you know, I still I was
still released from the team. And then there was a
guy named I don't want to mess up his name,

(03:15):
Ron Heell. I think he was a scout. He had
scouted me when I during my days of Jackson States,
and uh, I was considered a first rounder, but I
I didn't play, you know, my first couple of years
when I was drafted by the Cowboys in the second round. So, uh,
I had those two guys you know in my corner.

(03:36):
You know that that knew me, and uh, you know,
knew of my abilities and knew that that I was
a high round draft choice and I just hadn't had
a chance to show what I could do. Um and uh,
you know from having a conversation with Larry Uh, the
special team's coach. He he told me one day that

(03:58):
he walked into Pete's Carmichael, who's the receiver coach at
the time, Pete Carmichael's office, and uh, he asked Pete Carmichael,
what grade did you give Jimmy Smith? How did you
evaluate him? And Pete Carmichael said, well, I ave my
f He said, what are you crazy? We gotta have
this guy I needed for special teams. You know, this

(04:20):
guy played for me in Philly. And Larry told me
he left Pete Carmichael's office and walked down the conflerence
office and he he said, uh, he told me that
he told Conflin, hey, we we gotta have this guy,
Jimmy Smith. Uh. You know, he's a good player. He
will make this team. And Larry said the Conflince said, well,

(04:44):
if if he's so good, Larry, why is he sitting
at home? Which was a good point. And you know, fortunately, uh,
you know, everybody knows the story about the book that
my mom put together, the notebook with all my press
slipping from college, all my accomplishments being a you know,

(05:05):
all American and you know, all conference player when I
was at Jackson State, and apparently that was instrumental. And
uh and and Coughlin couflin bringing me in. You know,
he didn't know my history, so that was key, I
think in me getting an opportunity, too, proved that I

(05:30):
could be on this team. He was a special teamer,
a backup, a guy filling a roster spot for most
of that expansion season. During a seven game losing streak,
he wondered if he'd ever get a chance, if he
couldn't break through on this bad football team. The chance
arrived in mid December in Denver, near the end of
the season. Everyone involved was just hoping would end because

(05:53):
Coughlin was he was hard to play for a lot
of veteran guys gave up and that gave the the
younger guys an opportunity to step in. And that's and
to get to that that Denver game, from what I
can remember, uh, late in the season, and I just
knew that that was my opportunity, you know too, springboard

(06:17):
in my career, I guess I should say, because I
hadn't caught balls my rookie year. I hadn't caught any
balls my sophomore year in Dallas, and uh you know
here I am and I didn't catch any balls in Philly,
so here I am in Jacksonville. So I'm like, this
is my last time trying to make a football team,
and uh you know here here's December, and uh, you know,

(06:41):
that was an awesome game. You know, I struggled with
one thing that sticks. I struggled with asthma all my life,
and being in an altitude, it was a struggle just
trying to get through that game. You know, Kauughlan knew it.
You know, the training staff knew it because every time
I went on the field and came off, I had
used myn healer um. But the game, uh, we matched

(07:06):
up against Denver for some reason. You know, early in
our Jaguar year is pretty good and uh, I think
I think I can remember it was a tight game.
At first touchdown, I think it was a block punts
um by Harry Colin, who played defensive back for safety.

(07:28):
Came up through the right the left side and I
came up to the right side and he blocked it.
It took a couple of bounces and it was bouncing
around in the end zone and I just happened to
to jump on the ball and uh, you know, corral
the ball before we went out the back of the
end zone. That was the first touchdown. The second touchdown
they called. We had been working on this, uh, this

(07:50):
reverse pass where I kick our return team. Desmond Howard
was I kick our return, and he was a man
and he brought the Heisman trophy and uh and uch again,
so everybody was keen on him. And I kicked out
return and I was pretty much the guy who was
blocking for Desmond. So we ran the return pass where

(08:11):
Desmond called the ball, ran to the right side of
the field and I read to the left side of
the field. He runs about ten yards stop and laterals
the ball back to me and uh, you know one
thing and I never said, is Desmond made an incredible
throw about thirty yards across the field lateral about you know,
two yards behind them, and uh, I caught the ball.

(08:34):
It timed up grade, you know, plays like that, after
time up grade with the with the blocking, it timed up.
I got a block from Dave Thomas, and uh, once
I got that block from Dave Thomas, I was down
the left sideline and that was the second touchdown, the
third touchdown. Uh, I started playing getting in rotation more,

(08:56):
uh from special teams, but I gotta start getting in
the rotation on offense more. Uh. In the second half
of the game, and it was late in the game,
and I think we were still down, but we were
trying to score. We may have been down ten points
or something like that. But UH, I remember Steve Burlin
being the being the quarterback and we had the ball

(09:19):
in in the red zone and trying to score on
Denver and uh, they called my number. It was a
double slant. Well they didn't call my number. What they
called the play double slanting and you know, Steve just
happened to to to come my way with the ball
and uh, I called the ball broker tackle and uh
and the ends and I went and that that seemed

(09:40):
to be in my career in ninety five a springboard
for the following year because I was on a one
year contract, so I needed to have, um, you know,
some good games, you know, and I hadn't had the
opportunity and all the ninety five other than special teams
too to proved that I could, that I belong, and

(10:01):
that I was worthy of coming back the year of
So that game really sticks out as the game the
supreme board in my career. I remember talking to Jimmy
in the locker room after that game. He knew he
wouldn't make a better case for his future in Jacksonville
than that day at Mile High Stadium. Still, the Jaguars

(10:23):
weren't sure. They offered former Chicago Beart Washington Redskin and
Cleveland brown Keenan McCardell's a very healthy deal in the
spring and signing enigmatic Andre Risen in the summer. Smith
endured as the Jaguars rose and fell through their second
season until one fateful day in November when he walked
into the locker room to get dressed for practice and

(10:44):
realized everything was different coming in on that uh Wednesday. Uh.
I just remember Andrew Risen always got to work late.
It was always one of the last players coming in,
So you know, I got there my usually time, usual time,
and I was surprised to see Andre Rising there and

(11:05):
I glanced over and some sitting in his locker and
he had a couple of players uh around him, and
I'm like man, what's going on? So I kind of said,
what's uping and kind of just went to my locker
and uh, uh, someone said, you know, they just cut
Andre Andre Rising. Um. I was shocked. I was shocked,

(11:30):
So you know, I went over and just kind of
told Andrey, I'm sorry, man. You know, I'm glad, you know,
and I learned a lot from you. You always be
my my guy. Um. And but for me, for him
to get released, they gave me a chance to be

(11:51):
the starting, well, you know, one of the starter, starting receivers,
you know, over the weeks the first half of the season,
I'm like, man, I'm I'm leading in yardage, you know,
I'm I'm up there. I got I'm halfway through the season,
I'm leading the a f C in yard is and
I'm not even a starting receiver. But I was a

(12:13):
starting receiver because I was going in as in the
starting spot when I went in the game, and uh,
you know that Pittsburgh game came where we're uh, Andre Rising,
you know, ran a post route when he was supposed
to running an out route and we was in a
battle with Pittsburgh and we needed to win. And uh

(12:34):
that was like when he ran that route and Mark
bret New through the interception to DN figures that was
like the last strong for Andrey Rising, because you know
he had done a lot that didn't sit well with
Kaughlin or or really uh help us win. Now. Credit

(12:54):
to Andre he brought a lot to the table early
on leadership, that swag or that belief that we could
go out and beat some teams, because we didn't have
that prior to him being here. Um he always talked
about I used to hear him all the time and say, hey,
I got three d and sixty five moves off the

(13:15):
line of scrimmage. I used to hear him say all
of that, and uh, you know, saying that that's what
you need as a I didn't know at the time,
even though I played in Dallas and played behind Michael Irvian.
But you gotta have that sef motivation, whatever it takes,
if it takes you know, talking yourself up, or whatever

(13:38):
it takes, you gotta do that in order to perform
in this league. And and that's what Andre Rising brought. Um.
So he was cutting and after the Pittsburgh and I
think we played Baltimore up in Baltimore again. We needed
we needed to we couldn't lose another game, I don't

(13:59):
think or we you know, there was no shot of
us getting to the playoffs. And uh, I remember Keenan
coming to me before the game. He said, okay, man,
you were started now, all right, so we gotta work
together as a tandem to make this offense go because
we had a running game, we had two solid backs,

(14:20):
we had Natron manas James Stewart, and we just needed
you know, we we always found ourselves coming back. That's
why we had such great numbers because we were always behind.
But this was a chance and I never forget Keenan
telling me this. He was like, this is a chance
for us to really, uh show what we can do.

(14:41):
And that was great leadership coming from from Keenan at
the time because I wouldn't have start. I'd never been
a starter before and he was. He was, you know,
the primary receiver at the time, and uh he received
all the double coverage when I came in the game
if there was any double coverage, and I just had
single coverage, and it was easy for me to go
out there and light it up. And that went on

(15:05):
throughout the remainder of the season. Started having bigger and
bigger and bigger games because teams hadn't had a lot
of film on me as a starting receiver. They had
film on me as a you know, coming into a
third receiver. But you know, and I had a knack
for getting off the line, exploding down the sideline, saving

(15:26):
real estate on the sideline, not letting the defensive back
squeezed me to the sideline. And Mark been a left
hand quarterback. For some reason, we just started connecting. We
you know, we you know, we just started seeing things
on the field that we could, we could, we could, uh,
we could, we could accomplish and be good together. You know.

(15:49):
There were some routes to go route the hitches. The
out route was almost incredible, almost impossible to stop because
he was excellent and throwing the out route and I
was excellent at running it. And we kind of got
by with those three routes, and the rest is history.

(16:11):
You know. We went on and we ran off I
don't know how many games we're in seven seven straight games.
We read off seven straight games and got our shot
to go to the playoffs against Buffalo. Well, let me
back up in a minute. You know, after beating Atlanta
to advances to the playoffs, and then they gave us

(16:32):
new life. And still we we we didn't think we
had a shot, you know, in the back of our minds,
but we were going to being coached by Tom Copston,
we were going up there and giving it a good
you know, giving giving ourselves a chance to win the
ball game. And uh you know, and that's when Natron

(16:53):
Means came alive. And that's what we needed, a solid
running game because we could throw the ball because we
were always behind, and but we just needed to be
able to run the ball. And they trying Means started
lightening up and that's all We were unstoppable as a team.
It was just like a dream comes true. It was,

(17:13):
you know, going through that, you know, you didn't have
any time to sit back and recollect. You know, it
was just, uh, man, I'm living a dream and you
know it's it's not stopping, you know, you know, you
know it was one game. Then you know, you can't
celebrate the one game because you got to prepare for

(17:35):
the next game. And uh, I remember, you know, going
up to New England for the SC Championship game. You know, man,
we were one game away from the Super Bowl. And
we're playing the great New England. They weren't great then,
but you know we're playing playing New England Patriots and uh,
you know we gave a good shot. Uh we had

(17:59):
that one and over and going down to score and
that that that was the NF our run. More perspectives
following this from Bistar Credit Union advis Star. We believe
in better, better convenience, so members can bank anyway they want,

(18:22):
whether it's at a branch, on a mobile device, or
at one of more than twenty thou fee free a
t M s across North America. We believe that people
have better things to do with their time. If you
believe that convenience is better, Join by Star. We never
forget that it's your money. All loan subject to approval,
insured by n c U. A Smith McCardell and quarterback

(18:48):
Mark Burnell emerged as a powerful offense during the Jaguars
run to the a f C Championship that season. Over
the next six seasons, which we include the playoffs, in
no quarterback or wide receiver standing in the NFL would
put up the numbers that the Trio did. They powered
a team that burst onto the scene and was one

(19:08):
of the best units in the league for the next
three seasons. Listen to any of the three men today
and their appreciation for one another and what they were
able to do is to hear how short that time
period actually was. There is remorse for what they left
on the table when the salary cap caught up with
the Jaguars after two thousand one. And we'll put in
a lot of work for the end like that. You know,

(19:30):
we put in a championship season. A lot of people say, oh,
they had a week schedule. There's no such things that
we schedules when it comes down to it in the
NFL week on paper, but when you go out there
every Sunday, you can be beat by anyone. And we
went fourteen in two and uh we lost of the
Titans three times that year, you know, twice in a

(19:52):
regular season and that last dreadful a f C championship game,
and um, that was a remarkable year. But cause that
was that year that that was the best football team
that that I played on. And I'm talking when I
think about the cowboy teams that I played on in

(20:16):
the early nineties. You know, I take man for man
and I would take that Jaguar team over that Cowboys
team that was winning those Super Bowls any day. They
had Emmon Smith. We had Fred Taylor, and in my mind,
Fred Taylor was a more electric, exciting back than Mitt Smith.
In my mind as I played with both of them.

(20:38):
UH had better receivers and we had a better quarterback.
Our defense was just as good, UM, But we just
didn't finish the deal. And that was going to a
Super Bowl and have an opportunity to become the world

(20:58):
Championship Bowl, world champion. UM. But it was an exciting
year on both sides of the ball. We had players
and we had a lot of talent. Our defense was
outstanding in ninety nine. Our offense, I think we led
in rushing or passing that year. UM, And that was

(21:18):
our year. And for us to to lose in the
ANFC Championship game considering that, you know, coming out that
second half of the game, they had about three or
four starters that were out of the lineup and we
just couldn't again, we just couldn't finish to advance us
to the Super Bowl. You get that combination of among

(21:43):
us three me, Keenan and Mark. You've got three guys
that we shared similar stories you know, Keenan was cut
five times, and you know Mark was the backup with
Brett Farve, and we were all warning our our chance
to shine and in and fail and make a market

(22:03):
you know in the NFL. We we didn't know what happened,
but we knew that this was on our opportunity with
all three of three of us starting. And we used
to have conversations, you know, you know we you know,
and we and we were all around the same aging
and we grew together. That's one thing. Um. And I
know Keenan's history. You know, he had some struggles, you know,

(22:26):
was trying to stick on teams, and I had struggles
trying to hang in their own teams. And uh, you
just had three guys who share similar uh, who had
the same kind of history of struggling trying to hang
on hanging there for the NFL that had their shot
to finally make their market in NFL. You know that

(22:47):
salary cap really uh heard us because it cost me
my running buddy, which is Keenan, you know, because we
worked so well together. You know, he ran the intermediate
out something ran the deep rows and we were good
at it. And losing coach Coughlin. Uh, even though it

(23:08):
was tough to play for when you look back at it,
that's what it took for us to be successful, like
we were to have a coach like Tom Coughlin. Losing
him was devastating. Uh. And to tip it off, you
know a year after that, you know, to to lose

(23:28):
Mark Burnell, which is uh, you know my you know,
we grew, we grew together, so it was like starting
all over again. And Uh, that feeling of a new
coach like Jack del Rio and I was talking about
this last night to uh, it's no started with a
new coach. Mostly coaches come in they want to bring

(23:50):
in their own people. And you know, we were kind
of so to speak on pins and needles because we
didn't know what was going to happen, even though it
beene Fi Pro Bowls. Uh. To feel the energy, you
know when once you talk to someone that you really
not wanted there, no matter how great I was. I
knew that I was great, I knew that fans loved me.

(24:14):
I knew that I would probably be here. But when
you feel energy from a person that they really don't
want you on the team, they wanted to bring in
their new guys and start fresh. Guys could feel that.
And when you hear statements in the locker room that
it's going to be a lot of turnover, or you
hear you know, you hear the head coach says it's

(24:34):
gonna be a lot of turnover, guys, you know, we
started looking at each other. You know, God, we're we're
the coughling guys. He's trying to get us out of here.
And uh, whether you said that to motivate us or what,
you know, it was just, Uh, it wasn't the right
kind of energy that we were accustomed to when Coplom
was here. One thing, we may have had one winning,

(24:54):
two winning seasons or something like that, and uh, that
olden arrow was was you know, you know, we were
reaching back for the golden era. Once we we lost
we lost Coughlin. Most folks will remember Jimmy's off the
field issues with substance abuse. It's water under the bridge

(25:15):
by now. Few though we'll recall the other off the
field issue. It's Smith brought with him in. Smith had
an emergency appendeck to me while with the Dallas Cowboys
in and lingering issues compounded by the gruel and physical
demands and professional football re emerged. In two thousand one,
Smith returned to football and his remarkable career, but for

(25:36):
a time, he lay in Baptist Hospital at the Beaches
and was closer to losing both his career and his
life than anyone knew. You know, I had had this
issue before with having UH had to have an emergency
appendic to me, I had a ball obstruction. I had
to get my pennace taken out. But complications developed during

(25:57):
the surgery, and you know it, the surgery didn't go well,
and uh, it cost me my my season, my second
season in Dallas. Not knowing that I would probably have
another episode later on in my career, which uh, which
did happen in two thousand one, I believe, And I

(26:19):
was like, oh man, here will go again. I just
started developing stomach cramps. You know. It was the off season,
I believe, Yeah, it was the off season. I went
to the hospital and uh, you know, it was one
thing after another, one thing after another, and you know,
I had a battle of structure and they had to
cut six inches of my small intestins out and it

(26:40):
was just one complication on top of another. And I
was in the hospital for three months, and it wasn't
about even though I was saying, hey, I gotta get
back on I gotta get back to the field. It
got to the point to where it was about me
just staying alive. You know, football was just second, well

(27:03):
probably even more than that. You know, it was my health.
It was family members worrying about me, teammates worrying about me,
and you know, and it was something to see, even
though it was uncomfortable at the time doing whileut doing

(27:23):
my hospital my three month hospital stay, it was very
special to see coach Coughlin leave the mini camps that
they were having here and drive over and sit by
my bedside. That was That was very That was that
was something because he didn't have to do that. He

(27:44):
could have come one time and visit, you know, but
he came every day. I would be looking out my
window with twos running all all through my body. I
didn't really know what was going on. Doctors couldn't figure
out what was going on, and that made it real scary.
And for coach Complin to show up, if not every day,

(28:05):
it was every other day. And uh man, that that
meant a lot and a lot of people don't know
that he was making that trip to the hospital as
often as he was, and uh, it wasn't about football.
It was about you know, man, I just want you
to stay alive because no one knew it was wronging man.

(28:27):
I didn't have a clue. I was medicated all the
time and just hanging on a limb, just trying to
stay alive. So you know that it's always been an
emotional point in my life because, uh, you know, you know,
having Keen and come, having you know, Mark come, you know,
all these guys coming and visited, you know it. You

(28:49):
know it was real special. More perspectives following this from
Vice Start Credit Union Advice Start. We believe in better,
especially in helping build a better financial future for our members,
so we reviewed our offerings from the ground up. We've
lowered or eliminated over half our fees and enhanced our
already competitive rates, saving members more than a million dollars

(29:13):
this year, in addition to the millions we saved them
every year. If you believe that saving money is better,
joined by Star, We never forget that it's your money.
All loan subject to approval, insured by n c U.
A Smith's time in Jacksonville was marked by some incredible
highs and some very painful loads, both on and off

(29:36):
the field. Smith wouldn't trade it, though, for a number
of reasons and one special man. Yeah, that's my buddy. Man,
that's my buddy. Actually we were suppose I have a
cigar when I came into town, but I'm like, how
are you gonna do that? You gotta game, dude, But
I'm tell me it's it's always special when you know
we reach out to one another. Word this meek, you know,

(29:59):
reaching out to him, on him reaching out to me.
You know, you know he I could be down one
day for whatever reason. We all get down from days
and days, and I make it a call from him
and then a light up my week my next two weeks. Man,
my boy gave me a call. And that's what friendship
is all about. Man. You know, we don't talk every day,

(30:20):
but we love each other and every time, you know,
we see each other as a special energy. Whether you
know we were here a couple of weeks ago for
the gala and uh, nothing playing. You know, I'm just
gonna see him. Hey, buddy would talk a little bit,
but we didn't leave each other's side the whole gala,
now that I think about it, when he walked in

(30:42):
the door, we were just together there entire time. We
didn't walk around do any of that, but we just
stayed in one spot together. So and my mom always said,
you know, you two like brothers, and uh, I guess
you could really say that we're we're like brothers because
we we share uh struggles in our NFL career that

(31:06):
were similar. We had the same agent, we had the
same upside downs, so trying to stick with the team. So, um,
that's that's my best friend. These days. Jimmy splits his
time between Mississippi and Dallas, and between his business interests
and his kids. He doesn't put his feet on the
ground in Jacksonville often, but he's never too far from

(31:27):
the place where he lived a life that felt to
him like a dream, one that came true. It makes
me feel greatly appreciated and everybody, everybody needs to feel
appreciated during their lives. But you know, like I said,
well I'm having a bad day or whatever, I can
always think, hey, my name is in the stadium. People
in Jacksonville loved me, and that's because I've always treated

(31:50):
you know, when I was in Dallas. I used to
see certain players not signed an autograph or you know,
because they thought they were too big. I said, you
know what, I don't want to be that guy. You know,
if there's a kid, there's an or anybody, I'm gonna
take time and acknowledge that person, you know, because you
never know what that person is going through. You think
I'm having a bad day, that person could be having

(32:12):
a bad day. And just the fact that I acknowledge
that person, they change that or may do something in
their lives and make them a better person. And that's
what kind of guy am you know. And uh, Jacksonville
and these fans have showed me appreciation for being that
type of guy, taking the time out to say hello,

(32:33):
throw a kid a glove, or just shake someone's hand.
Even today, you know, I was in the car with
two Jets fans and they were so appreciated. They just
they said, we paid for the camp fair, we're just
happy to write with you. And just a handshake and
a picture was all those guys needed. And they were

(32:55):
so happy. I don't it just I just looked back
at them and they were just bumble bundle of joy.
And I like when I get the chance to make
someone's day or spread and enjoy. You know, I enjoy
doing that for for a personal Yeah, and I love
this town.