Steven Sipple: All-time Husker great Neil Smith tells his son Keelan Smith, “Be better than me.” Wouldn’t that be something?
Neil Smith has re-materialized in a significant manner in the Nebraska football realm.
Brings back memories, doesn’t it?
Wonderful memories for many of a certain age.
Don’t be surprised if you see Smith hanging around Lincoln more and more in coming years. Yes, perhaps you’ve heard, the all-time Husker and NFL great has a son who plans to play for dear ol’ NU.
Keelan Smith on Friday verbally committed to Nebraska.
Great memories? Well, Neil Smith was an All-American defensive tackle in 1987, playing alongside fellow All-American defenders Broderick Thomas (1987-88) and Danny Noonan (1986).
“I think Keelan, high school-wise, is probably a little bit better player than I was,” Neil Smith told HuskerOnline on Friday.
“He has the passion for it. He has a love for the game — always did, ever since he was a kid. Keelan’s development has been good, but he still has a lot more growing to do.”
“He can run pretty well,” Neil added. “He’s got good feet. Big hands, long arms, built a lot like me.”
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Neil Smith became an NFL legend with Chiefs
Here come the memories flooding back. A native New Orleans, Neil Smith was listed at 6-foot-5 and 260 pounds at the end of his college career. His arms seemed impossibly long. He seemed impossibly quick and fast for someone his size.
Of course, that’s why he became the second overall pick in the 1988 NFL Draft, by the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City is where he became a professional star, where he led the NFL in sacks in 1993, and where he lives now. He’s a significant part of Chiefs lore, a member of the NFL’s 1990s all-decade team alongside the likes of Reggie White and Bruce Smith.
That’s right, NFL all-decade team. That tells you almost all you need to know about the level of play achieved by 57-year-old Neil Smith — who readily supplies a nice scouting report on his son.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Keelan Smith, who stars for Liberty North (Missouri) High School, is a three-star recruit who could end up playing on either side of the ball.
“He likes to catch it and run with it,” Neil Smith said. “He’s not the fastest of the fast, but he makes things happen. He’s got a little swag to himself now, more than I had at that age. I just came in quietly. He’s a confident kid, and that’s what you need to have.
“We’ll see what happens.”
Neil Smith said his son has never lifted weights in the manner he will encounter as a Nebraska player.
“When I went up to college, Nebraska’s coaches threw me in at d-tackle and I was like, ‘Wow,’” the elder Smith recalled. “I came into college weighing about 215. I started learning about training and loving the weight room. I found out that those weights were going to save me.
“Once you start seeing your body develop, you start getting into it more and more. I think Keelan will do the same thing. I think he’ll feel the same way I felt when I was in Lincoln.”
Neil Smith can teach his son importance of patience
His dad can counsel Keelan on the importance of patience and keeping an open mind as far as what position to settle in.
“When Nebraska put me at tackle, that kind of threw me for a little bit of a shock,” Neil said. “I was an edge rusher. I told (former Husker defensive coordinator) Charlie McBride that. I told coach (Tom) Osborne that. They were like, ‘No, this is where we need you. You’ve got to learn this.’”
It obviously worked out well for all parties.
“The good thing for me was, the Big Eight back then was a running league, and I had a lot of fun learning how to play the run,” Smith said.
The elder Smith notes that his son received more recruiting attention than he did. Keelan Smith chose Nebraska over scholarship offers from Missouri, UCLA, Kansas State and Iowa.
“He was recruited way more than me, actually,” Neil Smith said. “I was strongly considering entering the service. My father and grandfather were Marines.”
Which explains why Neil Smith often wore camouflage fatigues and combat boots to UNL classes. He also wore those boots in Nebraska’s weight room. He ran sprints with them on. They became a trademark. They were comfortable, he said, and supplied good support.
They were kind of like the blanket you get used to, he said with a laugh.
As a college player, Smith kept growing and getting stronger, which was precisely what Nebraska’s coaches envisioned. Smith was recruited to NU by the late Jack Pierce, the most dynamic recruiter on Osborne’s staff for a period.
Smith describes Pierce as his “founding angel.”
“I got the last scholarship from Nebraska in 1984, the last one they gave out that year,” Smith recalled. “It’s all because Jack Pierce came down to my high school (McDonogh 35 in New Orelans) looking at a quarterback.
“I got a phone call from Nebraska saying they were trying to get an offensive lineman to commit, and if he committed, I could come to Nebraska as a walk-on.”
Keelan knows his dad’s story well
That offensive lineman ended up committing to Oklahoma, paving the way for Smith to receive a scholarship.
“I ended up with the last scholarship that year,” he said. “It almost didn’t happen. Just by the grace of God and prayers, it happened. I was one call away from going to be a Marine.
“I’ve been a sleeper all my life.”
Rest assured, Keelan knows his dad’s story. He’s watched the film. He knows how hard his dad played the game.
“It’s about patience,” the elder Smith said. “It’s what I teach Keelan. You have desire and you’ve got to find yourself. You’ve got to find out how good you can be, with no exceptions. I think Keelan has that attitude. He wants to be the best.
“I told Keelan that I made a commitment to myself: Never take a play off.”
“He’s never wanted to fail — he doesn’t want any part of that,” the elder Smith added. “He would say, ‘I want to be like you.’ I’d say, ‘No, be better than me.’”
Speak it into existence, Neil tells his son.
Oh, yes, here come the memories again.
The younger Smith can make some of his own.
The post Steven Sipple: All-time Husker great Neil Smith tells his son Keelan Smith, “Be better than me.” Wouldn’t that be something? appeared first on On3.
