By the way, for all this talk about having a program that helps kids make it to the next level, keep this in mind:
Andre Smith is one talented but very lucky guy: I was glad to see that after a series of bad decisions that could have cost him dearly, Alabama OT Andre Smith was the No. 6 player picked in the draft by the Bengals.
Not long ago it looked like Smith, the Outland Trophy winner, had blown his chance at becoming a wealthy man. He was suspended for the Sugar Bowl after it was determined that he or someone connected to him had had contact with an agent’s representative. He shows up at the NFL combine out of shape and then doesn’t work out. He then leaves the combine without telling anybody and gets a ton of well-deserved bad press.
Smith got his bacon saved because he fired his first agent and hired a pro in Rick Smith. Andre is also lucky because Alabama coach Nick Saban went to bat for him with the NFL teams who wanted the real skinny on this kid…
Say what you like about Saban, but that’s going to come across extremely well to an eighteen-year old on the recruiting trail.
And does anybody think that Junior’s got the gravitas to pull off something like that?
Get The Picture 
Is it a surprise that two of the guys with off-the-field concerns — Andre Smith & Rey Maualuga — end up in Cincinnati? Some things never change.
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Best of all is what I read about the Bengals’ sixth round pick, who evidently managed to get himself kicked off his high school team and one of his college teams for hitting a coach.
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Maybe Marvin Lewis hired Odell Thurman as the Bengals draft day character consultant. The only disappointment for the Bengals is that they didn’t get a chance to draft Percy before the Vikings selected him.
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HAHA, I knew there was a Kiffin reference in there somewhere 😉
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You’ve got to play to your audience.
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Any, and all, gravitas possessed by Lanie was used up when he out kicked his coverage in the matrimony department.
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As someone who knows MULTIPLE people who played and someone who coached under Saban, he is EXTREMELY helpful to all his players even those he does not like.
Smith will be a very good NFL player and even though he isn’t the sharpest tool of the shed, he is still someone who never got into trouble at Bama and is a GREAT OL
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