BREAKUP ARTIST

He’s a Husky, but Jermaine Smith patrols the Washington secondary with the speed, power and grace of a jaguar, silently stalking his prey until it’s time to strike.

“He has the ability to be a vocal kind of guy, but I think he goes about his business pretty quietly,” said Chuck Heater, cornerbacks coach for Washington.

Smith has always led by example, said Gene Uebelhardt, Smith’s coach at Royal High in 1993 and ’94.

Embarking on his fourth season as a starting cornerback at Washington, and coming off an injury-riddled junior season, Smith is probably the most experienced college defensive back you’ve never heard of.

Sportswriters in the Seattle area wrote more about Smith when he was a vulnerable freshman, particularly before his first start against Arizona State in the 1996 season opener.

“We were expected to get eaten up by [quarterback] Jake Plummer and [wide receiver] Keith Poole,” Smith recalled. “And Poole didn’t even have a catch in that game.”

Smith intercepted a Plummer pass late in the fourth quarter to help the Huskies stay close. Arizona State prevailed, 45-42, but Smith helped limit Plummer to 16-of-30 passing for 186 yards.

With that performance, Smith became a fixture in the Husky secondary. He started nine of 10 games as a redshirt freshman, finishing with 30 tackles and sharing the team lead with eight pass deflections.

It was an admirable rookie season, but it ended on a sour note against Colorado in the Holiday Bowl.

Heater, who was then coaching at Colorado, remembers it well.

“[Colorado receiver] Rae Carruth just ran by [Smith],” Heater said. “I like to remind him of that sometimes.”

Carruth, who now plays for the Carolina Panthers, burned Smith for a 76-yard touchdown reception in the Buffaloes’ 33-21 victory.

“That’s in the past,” Smith said. “[Carruth is] in the NFL anyway, so I’m not trippin’.”

But Smith took it hard at the time and spent the following summer training in Seattle. The extra workouts paid off and Smith enjoyed an impressive sophomore season.

He started 11 games, making 33 tackles--including 27 solos--and breaking up a team-best nine passes.

The highlight of the 1997 season came when Smith stepped in front of Arizona quarterback Ortege Jenkins and intercepted a Keith Smith pass on a trick play, returning it 91 yards for a touchdown. It is the second-longest interception return in Washington history.

“I saw it coming,” Smith said. “I saw [Jenkins and Keith Smith] being a little sneaky out there.”

Smith’s instincts and aggressiveness come in handy during pass coverage.

“He’s mean as a junkyard dog,” Uebelhardt said. “Not dirty, mean. He’s a perfect defensive player.

“We’ve had a lot of Division I guys come out of [Royal], and from the first day he got here [from Faith Baptist], there was no question that he was one of those guys. [And] there’s no doubt he’ll be our first player in the National Football League.”

With 17 pass deflections, Smith needs seven to set the career record at Washington. (The statistic has been kept since 1977.)

Smith was a Times’ All-Ventura County selection as a Royal senior in 1994, when he had nine pass deflections and one interception.

Still, Smith said he is “shocked” that he has only two interceptions in 26 starts for Washington.

He had hoped to double or triple that number last season, but he suffered a knee injury in the fourth game against Arizona and sat out the next five games.

Without Smith, who did not require surgery for a partial tear of the medial cruciate ligament, Washington clearly wasn’t the same team on defense.

With Smith on the field, opponents averaged 198 yards passing per game. Without him, the Huskies allowed an average of 332 yards passing.

Smith returned to the lineup with a vengeance against UCLA, recording six tackles. The Huskies allowed 233 yards passing, 60 fewer than the Bruins’ average.

Although UCLA won, 36-24, quarterback Cade McNown went without a passing touchdown for the only game last season.

That statistic is not lost on Coach Rick Neuheisel, beginning his first season at Washington.

“It’s comforting to come in as a new coach and have a guy who has experience and talent at a position,” Neuheisel said of Smith. “It’s one less thing to worry about.”

After returning from his knee injury, Smith played two games before injuring his foot during practice before the Oahu Bowl, limiting his playing time in the Huskies’ 45-25 loss to Air Force.

His foot continued to bother him throughout spring practice.

But Smith, who spent the summer in Seattle to train after graduating in June with a degree in sociology, is poised to make his senior year special.

“He’s had a great summer,” Heater said. “I’m kind of excited about his future. I feel like this is going to be his best year yet.”

Heater won’t get an argument from Smith.

“Stay healthy and everything will fall into place,” Smith said.

Staff writer Steve Henson contributed to this story.