Tough-Guy Smigiel Completes Odyssey : College football: Former Newbury Park star took circuitous route to Arizona, where he starts at offensive tackle.

Ask Arizona offensive lineman Joe Smigiel how his college football career is going, and he might say he’s been blindsided, leg-whipped, chop-blocked, clotheslined and just plain knocked on his rear countless times.

But he also might say he’s doing fine.

Which is the answer one would expect from a 6-foot-5, 275-pound starting tackle who will be spending New Year’s Day tangling with Miami defensive ends in the Fiesta Bowl.

Smigiel, a junior who played at Newbury Park High, has held up well while fronting the offense of the Wildcats (9-2), who he believes should be playing in the Rose Bowl.

But for a guy who’s been kicked around a bit, it’s nice to be playing--period.

Nearly four years ago, Arizona State offered him a scholarship, then pulled it.

Long Beach State came to the rescue, but nobody rescued Long Beach State. The football team disbanded, and Smigiel never played for the 49ers.

Misleading recruiters and ill-fated programs nearly crushed his career like a pancake block, but the Arizona Wildcats found a spot for him. They realized Smigiel was too tough, too ornery, too persistent not to be playing football.

“I’m not as talented as the rest of those guys--or as strong,” Smigiel said. “I have a hard time getting strong. But I’m in there biting and scratching. Whatever it takes.”

Plenty of recruiters knew Smigiel from his days as an All-Valley lineman at Newbury Park. Whether or not they believed he could make an impact was another matter.

Arizona State assistant Frank Faulks believed he could and told Smigiel the Sun Devils were holding a scholarship for him.

But Smigiel said that Larry Marmie, the Sun Devil coach at the time, had his eyes on other players.

And when those other players committed by the February, 1990 signing date, Smigiel was aced out.

As several smaller Division I schools jumped into a late recruiting fray for him, Smigiel settled for Long Beach State, where he thought he would be a standout.

But he redshirted his first year and suffered a severe knee injury his redshirt freshman year. Then the 49ers folded the program after the 1991 season.

Former offensive line coach Pat Hill, who had scouted Smigiel for Fresno State two years earlier, brought him to Arizona.

But when he finally landed in Tucson, Smigiel was considered a project by the Wildcats.

“You saw a guy who, because of his knee and the fact that he was young (age 20 in his third year of college), we figured he would have to develop,” offensive line coach Charlie Dickey said. “But he had a toughness and a mean streak in him. He loved to get after people.”

Smigiel was not quick and agile, but his attitude made him a starter this season on a line that allowed only 19 sacks in 11 games (third-lowest in the Pacific 10) and yielded no sacks in the final two games of the regular season. Over the last four games, Smigiel and his mates blocked for an offense that averaged 390 yards a game.

Smigiel’s season was a typical tough-guy performance. He played half of it with a broken toe.

“He was in a lot of pain,” Dickey said. “I was an offensive lineman myself. I know what it’s like to play in pain. I like being around him. Joe’s got a bit of meanness in him.”

It’s an image Smigiel had embraced this time four years ago. He was the power forward on Newbury Park’s basketball team, counting the days until he would sign his football letter of intent to ASU. On the court, he looked like a biker minus the boots and leather jacket. But he wore a Mohawk, with a narrow strip of black hair down to his back.

“The referees didn’t like the way I played, because I was playing offensive tackle at the forward position,” Smigiel said. “I would always be getting fouls and complaining. But I could play hoop--that was the whole thing.”

Maybe the image detracted a little, but it wasn’t enough to keep former Rams and Washington Redskins Coach George Allen from making his only in-person recruiting call to a player’s residence after becoming coach at Long Beach State.

Allen helped wash away any bitter thoughts about ASU when he visited Smigiel.

“I remember he put on his highlight film from the pros and saying, ‘I’m going to turn the program around,’ ” Smigiel said. “And he did that his first year--with misfits. We had some talent, but we didn’t have that much.”

Allen was tough and resourceful, qualities Smigiel admired. The school didn’t have lights for night practices, so one evening Allen put a dozen cars around the practice field and turned on the headlights.

With the charismatic Allen running the show, Smigiel thought he was going to be part of something big.

“I was slated to start my redshirt freshman year,” he said. “I was thinking four-year starter, first-team All-Big West my junior and senior year. Who knows what could happen?”

On Dec. 31, 1990--Smigiel’s 19th birthday--Allen died of a heart attack. Former Raider Willie Brown eventually was named his successor. Then in spring workouts, Smigiel suffered an injury to his left knee that required reconstructive surgery.

He missed the season and lost 50 pounds during rehabilitation. Then came the announcement that the 49ers were folding.

“I went to the press conference thinking, ‘Where am I going to end up now?’ ” Smigiel said. “I was hurt, I was dropping weight and, by then, I was more interested in getting asked (to play) than playing.”

Oddly, Arizona State called.

The Sun Devils flew him to Tempe and courted him again. Then they humiliated him again. This time it was line coach Dan Cozzetto telling Smigiel they would take him only as a walk-on.

The seeds for a deep hatred toward Arizona State--if not planted earlier--were certainly sown now.

He settled on Arizona, where he spent the 1992 season playing back-up and on special teams. That wasn’t enough to satisfy Smigiel’s competitive hunger. His frustration came to a head when, after Arizona’s 7-6 loss to rival Arizona State, Cozzetto approached him.

“Hey, Smigiel,” Cozzetto said. “Good job.”

“Good job on what--PAT?” Smigiel retorted, adding a few choice epithets. “I didn’t shake his hand.”

The press got wind of the exchange and wrote stories about it before the 1993 Wildcat-Sun Devil game, won by Arizona, 34-20, at Tempe.

During the week of the game, Smigiel accused Cozzetto of lying about offers made to him by ASU. Cozzetto said Smigiel should clean up his mouth. For the most part, Smigiel kept his mouth shut that week, but Dickey saw that his blocker would be ready on game day.

“Maybe what happened down there had an effect on him,” Dickey said. “He wouldn’t say anything, but you could tell. He was frothing at the mouth.”

“Every time we scored, I took my helmet off at midfield, stared right up to the coaches’ booth at (Cozzetto and made gestures),” Smigiel said. “When our fans were singing the ‘Goodby’ song, I was waving to him.”

That’s vintage Smigiel--a jeering, sneering, snorting bad guy.

“I like to get the person in front of me out of his game,” Smigiel said. “If you scratch his eyes, pinch his belly, it takes him out of his game. And Coach Dickey loves that.”

Said Dickey: “He’s done a real good job. He’s found a home. I’m really happy that he’s here. He just needs to keep working.”

Smigiel has had no choice but to keep working the past two weeks. Arizona, intent on beating Miami (9-2) in the Fiesta Bowl, has returned to its preseason regimen of two-a-day practices.

“We’re going down there to win a ballgame,” Smigiel said. “The coaches are serious, the players are serious. We’re not going to let them kick our (butts) like everybody thinks they’ll do.”

The Hurricanes--a trash-talking bunch--appear to be an ideal opponent for Smigiel.

“Whether they talk trash or not, that’ll be their business,” Smigiel said. “But I’ll be doing my game.”