UTE CRUSADE

There isn’t much ordinary about Utah quarterback Alex Smith, other than his last name.

Last week, that last name was on an express-mail letter sent to Utah by the Downtown Athletic Club notifying Smith he is a candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

He can put the letter alongside another piece of paper that makes him a rare college junior -- the diploma he received in May when he graduated with a degree in economics after only two years in college.

Smith, a nephew of Michigan State Coach John L. Smith, leads an undefeated Utah team that is No. 7 in the Associated Press poll. But until recently, the most prominent AP in Smith’s life was Advanced Placement.

He enrolled at Utah with 64 credits after taking college-level courses in high school. In academics he was essentially a junior the first day he stepped on campus.

“English language, English literature, statistics, calculus AB and calculus BC, U.S. history, computer programming, U.S. government, foreign government, microeconomics and macroeconomics,” said Smith, now pursuing a master’s in economics.

Early blooming as a scholar, Smith was a late-blooming athlete. High school teammate Reggie Bush -- a Heisman candidate himself -- and high school principal Doug Smith -- Alex’s father -- can attest.

“He was a great throwing quarterback, the kind who didn’t make a lot of mistakes. But we started teasing him just because he was one of the slower athletes on our team,” said Bush, the USC running back who was a year behind Smith at Helix High in La Mesa, outside San Diego. “Now I don’t know what he has done, but he’s fast.”

As the quarterback in a spread offense that incorporates a considerable option attack, Smith averages almost as many yards rushing (48.8) as Bush (62.1), though that doesn’t take into account Bush’s versatility as a kick returner and receiver.

Smith’s father vouches for Smith’s athletic shortcomings in high school. He recalls Alex at 14, about 5 feet 8 and skinny.

“He looked like a cross-country runner,” Doug Smith said.

By 16 1/2 , Alex was 6-4.

“That left him behind the curve of coordination. It’s part of the process when you grow that fast,” Doug Smith said. “He had a lot of catching up to do. That’s happened.”

Utah Coach Urban Meyer agrees, citing a 40-yard dash time that has dipped from above five seconds to around 4.8.

“He’s going to have a future in the NFL now,” Meyer said. “By pro timing day in a year or so, he’ll be able to run a 4.6 40. He’s getting faster every week.”

Meyer didn’t have much confidence in Smith when the new coaching staff took over after Smith’s freshman season.

“When we first got here, he was third on the depth chart, and he was third because we only had three,” Meyer said. “He’s extremely intelligent, and unless he’s confident he knows what’s going on, he’s paralyzed. He will not throw the ball. When we got here in the spring, it was bad. We actually went and recruited junior college quarterbacks with Alex Smith at No. 3, and if we had found one, we would have signed him.”

Smith has long since conquered the offense, masterfully finding the open receivers in Utah’s methodical short passing game. Meyer has begun touting him as “the best quarterback in college football,” and though it’s questionable whether Smith can make the grade in a crowded Heisman field, he’d get Meyer’s vote.

Still, he remains an outsider. No player from outside the six power conferences has won the Heisman since Brigham Young’s Ty Detmer in 1990, when Detmer put up such phenomenal numbers he was an obvious choice.

Smith’s statistics hold up well among the quarterbacks in this season’s Heisman race -- Oklahoma’s Jason White, USC’s Matt Leinart and California’s Aaron Rodgers -- though there are Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson and Bush to contend with as well.

Smith leads the nation in passing efficiency, as well as “points responsible for,” a category that combines passing touchdowns and points scored. Smith has passed for 24 touchdowns and rushed for eight.

He ranks 15th in passing yardage, but he leads White, Leinart and Rodgers in that category.

He has thrown only two interceptions, fewer than any other contender, and has only one fewer touchdown pass than White’s 25.

“No one gets into a position like this alone,” Smith said, crediting his teammates and coaches for helping him become a Heisman candidate. “Obviously, it’s a huge individual honor, the biggest there is in the sport.”

Ivy League schools sought Smith and, at one point, he wanted to play for his uncle, then the coach at Louisville.

“But my uncle said he wasn’t sure he was going to be there much longer,” Smith said, which proved true.

That led Smith to Utah, his only other Division I prospect. Now he is trying to help the Utes become the first team from outside the bowl championship series conferences to make a BCS bowl game. At No. 7 this week, they are one spot out of a guaranteed bid.

“I hope they do get their chance. He deserves it. He’s worked hard,” said Bush, who remembers Smith as the cream of the crop in high school. “Everybody knew he was really smart, at the top of his class. He was like the perfect child, the perfect son.”

Like other teammates before and since, Bush noted that despite Smith’s obvious intelligence, there were occasional gaps.

“He doesn’t have any common sense. He’s not someone who’s street-smart,” Bush said. “He has classroom-smarts.” Smith’s father understands.

“The cellphone issue -- I don’t know how many cellphones he’s lost,” Doug Smith said. “I ask him, ‘Why is it so hard to keep track of these?’ ”

Then there are the domestic issues.

“He’s got a habit of leaving the iron on,” said punter Matt Kovacevich, one of Smith’s roommates. “I was going to put it away and it burned me on the wrist, so I put up signs.

“He’s the only one who uses it, to tell the truth. He irons his jeans and everything.”

A college guy who irons?

That Alex Smith is an extraordinary fellow indeed.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Call Him Mr. Smith

A look at the passing statistics for Utah quarterback Alex Smith:

*--* Year CMP ATT YDS CMP% YPA TD INT SACK RATING 2004 152 229 2,196 66.4 9.6 24 2 13 179.8 2003 173 266 2,247 65.0 8.4 15 3 16 152.3 2002 2 4 4 50.0 1.0 0 1 2 8.4

*--*

* No. 1 in the nation in passing efficiency.

* No. 1 in the nation touchdown-to-interception ratio.

* No. 1 among the Heisman candidates in passing yards.

* No. 1 among the Heisman candidates in total offense (292.8 ypg).

* No. 1 in the nation in points responsible for (21.3 ppg).