Jets Know, They Must Pay Close Attention to Smith

Jimmy Smith had speed, desire and a homemade press kit when he came to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a workout in 1995.

Smith, once a second-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys, hadn’t played a down of football in two years. A broken leg and infection resulting from an emergency appendectomy had seen to that. Smith pretty much knew the expansion Jaguars were his last shot, and apparently so did his mother, Etta.

So when he left home, she handed him a three-ring binder filled with more than 30 pages of articles and pictures of his career. On the cover, Etta had written, “All I need is a chance.” And then she made Smith promise to give it to the Jaguars coaching staff.

Jaguars wide receivers coach Pete Carmichael still keeps that binder in his office. And Smith, recently named to his second Pro Bowl, still can’t believe how far he has come.

“I’m just loving life right now,” said Smith, whose team meets the New York Jets today in a divisional playoff game. “Even now, I still sometimes look around this locker room and think I’m dreaming.”

Smith’s dream has been a nightmare for many defensive backs.

Take the last time the Jets played the Jaguars, in 1996. Smith scorched cornerback Ray Mickens, and to a lesser extent Aaron Glenn, by making five catches for 135 yards and one touchdown. In last Sunday’s wild-card win over the New England Patriots, Smith burned Pro Bowler Ty Law for a 37-yard touchdown catch.

“Jimmy is one of our big weapons, someone defenses have to account for on every play,” Jacksonville quarterback Mark Brunell said. “With him, there’s always a threat of a big play happening.”

Before the Cowboys’ fourth preseason game in 1993, Smith began complaining of severe stomach cramps. The team trainers pumped him full of antacids and sent him to San Antonio for a game against the Houston Oilers. A few days later, after driving himself to the hospital, Smith underwent an emergency appendectomy.

He nearly died. The operation led to an infection that required stomach surgery two weeks later. Then Smith needed an ileostomy, which left him bedridden and unable to eliminate his own wastes. His body shrunk from 205 pounds to 169.

By June of 1994, Smith had recovered. Insulted when the Cowboys tried to get him to play for the league minimum salary, Smith jumped to the Philadelphia Eagles, who cut him after training camp.

It was Smith’s father, Jimmy Sr., who snapped him out of his depression. Jimmy Sr., who had been an All-America linebacker at Jackson State, drove Smith to a veterans hospital in Jackson, Miss. They talked to the patients there--people without limbs, without eyes--people with much bigger problems than the fact they couldn’t play professional football.

And so when the Jaguars called in that summer of 1995, Smith arrived in Jacksonville with his little black notebook.