Akili Smith, Oregon and walking in a father’s footsteps

SAN DIEGO – The communication between Akili Smith and Akili Smith Jr. began as it often does – crystal clear without a word being uttered.

With football practice finally finished one day in early December, the younger Smith – a quarterback at San Diego Lincoln High and a top college recruit – was eager to head home, but he had seen that look on his dad’s face before. Senior’s wry smile and approving nod signaled to junior that his work wasn’t finished, reminding the 18-year-old standout to bring the same energy to a photo shoot he was featured in that he showed on the practice field.

Yet again, junior delivered, respectfully complying with everything asked of him throughout a lengthy process. Standing nearby as photographers directed his boy in myriad poses, Smith’s feelings were as obvious as the talent his namesake displays while playing the most important position in sports.

“Man, I’m just so proud of him. So proud of the kid he is, the student he is, the character he has,” said the elder Smith, his voice cracking as he held back tears. “Everything he faces, any challenge, he just makes the right decisions. He wants to set the right example. He puts in the work. He’s a leader. This is his time now – and he’s ready for it.”

Junior’s next chapter is already underway.

After completing his high school coursework, he enrolled early at Oregon on Dec. 26 as part of the football program’s top-ranked recruiting class. KJ (short for ’Kili Junior), as he’s known to family and friends, chose Oregon over offers from, among others, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Miami and Michigan.

During the recruiting process, Oregon had an inside man.

More than two decades ago, senior starred for Oregon en route to becoming part of the groundbreaking 1999 NFL draft, in which he was one of three Black quarterbacks selected in the first round. Smith’s love for the university where he achieved fame never waned, and KJ’s passion for the Ducks grew quickly during numerous family trips to the picturesque Eugene, Oregon, campus.

Father and son plan to be in attendance today at the Rose Bowl as No. 1 Oregon (13-0) plays Ohio State (11-2) in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal (5 p.m. ET, ESPN). While beginning his own journey at the highest level of the college game, KJ is continuing one for his family, too.

For as long as he can remember, it’s what he has wanted.

“With everything my dad accomplished there, with as often as I’ve been there since I was a little kid, it really has always felt like home. But it’s even more than that,” KJ said. “There’s this little competition between me and him to see who has the better career at Oregon. I’m trying to make my legacy better than his. That’s my goal.”

He’ll have his work cut out for him with that one.

Three young quarterbacks sat together during the final week before the 1999 NFL draft, reveling in having a rare moment of free time. A scheduling glitch put them all in the same place for the first time in a long stretch, and Smith, Daunte Culpepper and Donovan McNabb seized the moment.

For starters, there was catching up to do. They shared stories about their experiences interviewing with clubs throughout the pre-draft process, about their seemingly never-ending media commitments and, most importantly, about their hopes and dreams.

What made that meeting most meaningful to them, however, was what came next: a discussion about how, together, they could help change the NFL for the better. Before Smith, Culpepper and McNabb were selected in 1999, three Black quarterbacks had never been selected in the first round of an NFL draft. Not to mention, three other Black signal-callers – Shaun King, Aaron Brooks and Michael Bishop – were selected in later rounds of the 1999 draft.

That seminal event signaled to the world that Black quarterbacks had finally overcome a narrative that never fit the facts. For most of the game’s history, Black passers were not considered smart enough, tough enough or courageous enough to lead. Now, they run the NFL. During each of the past two drafts, Black QBs were selected first overall, and three were picked in the opening round.

Smith was at the forefront of change.

“It was very different back then,” Smith recalled. “The three of us were really ahead of our time and maybe helped to open some doors for others with the things we did in college.”

While at Oregon, Smith kicked down many doors.

He arrived on campus after also shining for Lincoln High in his native San Diego (Pro Football Hall of Famers Marcus Allen and Terrell Davis are also among the school’s notable alumni). Smith was named a Parade Magazine All-American, and many colleges pursued him. Ultimately, Smith signed a letter of intent to attend San Diego State, but he didn’t receive a qualifying score on standardized college tests.

His dreams dashed of starring for his hometown Aztecs, Smith, after flirting with a career in baseball, eventually landed at Grossmont College in nearby El Cajon, California. Out of high school, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Smith in the seventh round (206th overall pick) of the 1993 Major League Baseball draft and signed him for $103,000.

The Pirates converted Smith from a catcher to an outfielder, and he later moved to first base. Smith gave up baseball after batting .177 with four home runs and 20 runs batted in while playing 62 games in the low minor leagues.

What prompted Smith to end his attempt to reach the big leagues?

“Curveballs,” Smith said, punctuating his self-analysis with a hearty laugh. “I just couldn’t hit ’em. But even when I was [playing baseball], I always knew I wanted to be an NFL quarterback. That always stayed with me.”

As a sophomore at Grossmont College, the strong-armed Smith was a junior college All-American and again a highly coveted recruit. At 6-foot-3 and about 220 pounds, he was an outstanding overall athlete to boot, possessing the speed to escape the pocket if necessary.

After signing with Oregon, Smith split time with another quarterback as a junior. He finished the season with 13 touchdown passes and seven interceptions, and he directed Oregon to a victory over Air Force in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Before his senior season at Oregon, Smith earned the starting job outright and emerged as a star. He led the NCAA Division I-A (now the Football Bowl Subdivision) in yards gained per pass attempt at 10.2, and he tied for first in yards gained per completion at 17.3.

Additionally, Smith topped the Pacific-10 Conference with 3,763 passing yards and 32 passing touchdowns. In 371 passes, he had only eight interceptions. For his efforts, Smith was selected the conference’s 1998 co-offensive player of the year. 

In the run-up to the 1999 NFL draft, the Cleveland Browns considered taking Smith with the No. 1 overall pick. The Browns selected Kentucky’s Tim Couch instead. Smith ended up going third overall to the Cincinnati Bengals. Pro scouts had him rated highly in so many areas, Smith was able to overcome his missteps at Oregon that likely would have torpedoed the draft stock of a lesser prospect.

Inside of two weeks, two brushes with the law in Oregon almost derailed Smith’s breakthrough senior season before it began. He was arrested by police officers summoned to break up a bar fight and cited for driving under the influence. Then-Ducks head coach Mike Bellotti suspended Smith.

For Smith to rejoin the team, Bellotti required him to improve his grades, resolve his legal issues and continue his workout regimen away from the team. Not only did Smith meet Bellotti’s terms, but he also impressed the coaching staff with his resolve to overcome adversity and become the Ducks’ leader.

The Bengals envisioned Smith being their next franchise quarterback. Smith joined a club that went 39-89 in the previous eight seasons, losing 13 games four times, and team officials were hoping for a quick return on their major investment in him: a seven-year, $56-million contract that included a $10.8-million signing bonus.

That’s where Smith’s football story took a turn for the worse.

In Cincinnati, Smith never found a good match. Released by the Bengals in 2002, he went 3-14 as a starter for them. What’s worse, Smith was labeled as being lazy.

The word around the league was, Smith didn’t spend enough time in the film room. Supposedly, he struggled to grasp the Bengals’ playbook. He simply didn’t care enough about his craft, his detractors said. Smith, they whispered, wasn’t sharp enough to make it in the NFL.

For any young quarterback, such a poor assessment of his first few seasons in the league would likely scare away other clubs from providing a second chance. Sure enough, Smith would never play in another NFL regular-season game. He attempted to revive his career in the Canadian Football League, but pro football was done with him.

Now 49, Smith has the benefit of maturity as he reflects on his time in the NFL, “and I definitely made some mistakes,” he said. “When I think about it, there are some things I wish I would have done differently.”

In hindsight, perhaps the Bengals should have taken a different approach as well.

A quarterback as athletic as Smith would have benefitted from an offense designed for him to utilize his legs as well as his passing arm. But clubs in Smith’s era preferred to have quarterbacks remain in the pocket.

“It’s not like today, where so many guys get to use all of their tools,” Smith said. “Back when I played, they [NFL coaches] were really adamant about developing the pocket passer, keeping everyone in the pocket. You only left the pocket if you had no other choice, and if we [Black passers] ran we were criticized. They said we ran because we couldn’t read defenses.

“Now, none of us were running 4.2 [in the 40-yard dash] like Lamar [Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens]. But we could have been doing the RPO stuff [run-pass option], some of the zone-read stuff way back in 1999. All of the time, I think about how things could have been different if they [coaches] would have done for me what I see Baltimore did for Lamar.”

Another one-time Bengals player believes Smith’s career may have turned out much better had the quarterback served a longer apprenticeship.

Former NFL wide receiver and kick returner David Dunn was a fifth-round pick of the Bengals (139th overall) in the 1995 draft. Also reared in San Diego, Dunn grew up near Smith and was KJ’s high school coach at Lincoln.

Although Dunn left the Bengals and moved on to other NFL teams before Smith’s rookie season in Cincinnati, he kept tabs on Smith. Once the Bengals’ plan for Smith became clear, Dunn envisioned problems.

“I always tell him that he didn’t get a fair shot in the NFL. He didn’t get a chance to come in, play behind a guy for a couple of years and really learn how to play quarterback in the NFL,” said Dunn, who played for the Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns and Oakland Raiders in his seven-year NFL career. “Yeah, he had a really good career in college – but it was really only one year.

“Then he was thrown into a position where he had to come and start in the NFL and he probably … he wasn’t ready for that. He didn’t get a chance to be [mentored] and really get the time to sit and watch. I get that a lot of people don’t look at it that way. They figure if you’re expected to be the savior, you have to go out there right away and be the savior. But in a lot of situations, it doesn’t work that way.”

Out of football, Smith was aimless.

“I was in a dark place,” Smith said. “Man, it was bad.

“KJ … he saved me.”

Sept. 28, 2006, is always front of mind for Smith. That’s the day Akili Smith Jr. entered the world.

Like most expectant parents, Smith and his wife Tiesha were both hopeful and nervous about the arrival of their first born. After KJ’s birth, Smith got it together quickly.

“You know that feeling [in the hospital] when they hand him to you one second, and then it feels like they’re kicking you out of the hospital the next second,” Smith said, the experience more than 18 years ago still vivid in his mind. “I just knew there was [so much to look forward to].”

Smith paused and was quick to emphasize he loves all of his children equally (the couple’s daughter Sariah, 16, is a standout volleyball player at Lincoln, and Smith has two older daughters). It’s just that having a son provided a pathway to new experiences as a father.

As soon as KJ was old enough to play organized sports, Tiesha figured her husband would have him on a field, somewhere. But football would have to wait. Soccer was up first.

“When he was very small, he had a lot of energy, so we just threw him into everything,” Tiesha said. “Soccer … he dominated the field. It was him with the ball all the time.”

From watching KJ thrive in soccer (“He would just get the ball and score all the goals,” Smith said), Smith determined his son could be a gifted athlete. KJ’s performance in youth football provided confirmation. “Even at 8 or 9, you could see he had the talent,” Smith said. “And the most important part was that he loved it. You need that passion to really do it, and he’s always had it.”

Since his playing days ended, Smith has coached at the high school and college levels, run youth camps for quarterbacks and has served as a private QB coach. Not surprisingly, KJ has been his favorite client, and one won’t find a stronger father-son bond.

They’ve spent countless hours together on practice fields, refining KJ’s throwing mechanics, footwork and decision-making. And they’re of like mind about the effort required for KJ to keep rising.

“He’s been working with me my whole entire life, making sure I’m taking the necessary steps to get where I want to be,” KJ said. “We’ve been working together so long, and he’s taught me so much, we really don’t even have to talk about anything anymore. I can just look at him and know what I need to do in certain situations. It’s just like an understanding we have. But he doesn’t expect any more of me than I expect from myself. I want this.”

Around the time KJ discovered his love of football, he also fell hard for Oregon.

The scenic, 295-acre campus is an arboretum of more than 4,000 trees, according to the university’s website. And there are definitely worst places to attend a college football game than the 54,000-seat Autzen Stadium.

By the time KJ entered high school, he had his sights set on being the next great Oregon quarterback in his household. Succeeding at Lincoln would be the bridge to that goal.

In three seasons as a high school starter, KJ completed 64.7% of his passes for 7,341 yards with 78 passing touchdowns and 20 interceptions. Listed at 6-5, 225 pounds, KJ now has a couple of inches on his old man. On the ESPN 300 ranking of high school football players in the class of 2025, KJ is listed as the nation’s 87th overall prospect and the sixth-best quarterback.

This season, he led Lincoln to its second California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division 1-AA state title in three years. The Hornets (12-2) accomplished the feat despite being football nomads, having no home practice field or stadium and practicing at five fields during this championship season. The road-weary team stayed on the move because of extensive water damage to Lincoln’s stadium and home field.

Lincoln’s players viewed the adversity as a character-building exercise, and KJ was a rock of stability, Dunn said.

“KJ is very smart, and he handled adversity well this year,” Lincoln’s head coach said. “He’s a big kid with a big arm, and he can be a really good [college] quarterback.

“But one of the main things I’ve noticed this year is just his growth mentally. When you’re the son of a former player, there are a lot of expectations. That can be a lot of pressure. So that [continued] mental growth is gonna be important for him.”

After playing for Lincoln and now being at Oregon, KJ has continued to walk in his father’s footsteps. Literally. Is mama OK with all of this?

“At first, I did have some concerns about KJ going to Oregon, because he’d always be in his father’s shadow,” Tiesha said. “He’s one of the great Oregon Ducks, and you kind of want your children to step out on their own and have their own path.

“But he has been there frequently, and we’ve all been there. Just the beauty of Oregon, how green it is, and the environment on campus … you fall in love with that. He had taken a couple of college [recruiting] trips, but he just kept always going back to Oregon. Just knowing him, I kind of knew it was going that way.”

Smith had different thoughts.

Although confident KJ could handle any comparisons to him as a player, Smith wondered whether some observers would unfairly criticize his son for mistakes Smith made in his youth. Obviously, KJ will face more scrutiny playing for Oregon than he would at other schools.

Watching KJ navigate, well, everything, has allayed his father’s potential fears.

“He has handled being Akili Smith Jr. so well,” Smith said. “He’s just done everything perfectly. So the pressure of my career, or people saying he’s gonna end up like his dad, or not have the talent like his dad, or not make the right decisions like his dad, I’m not concerned about any of that [weighing] on him.”

The photographers are almost done with KJ’s shoot, which is good, because other teams are waiting to use the practice field at San Diego State. A few of KJ’s Hornets coaches and teammates have hung around to watch, as well as a handful of Aztecs students.

Smith has remained in the background, beaming the whole time, but now it’s his turn to join in. The photographers want him and KJ together.

After the final shot, the Smiths thank the photographers for their time. The elder Smith looks at KJ, smiling and nodding again, before the teenager leaves with his friends. An on-looker asks Smith if he told KJ he was proud of him for being engaging during the shoot despite being exhausted.

“No need,” Smith said. “He knows.”