Smith spent his career facing the ACC's top receivers, including Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson, Maryland's Darrius Heyward-Bey and North Carolina's Hakeem Nicks.
He thinks he might have gotten an advantage over them by practicing in the offseason in Florida against Arizona Cardinals star Anquan Boldin, older brother of high school and Wake Forest teammate D.J. Boldin.
We were out on the field doing one-on-ones, Smith recalled.
And Anquan was like, If I don't catch it with one hand, it doesn't count.' So it started then. I used to talk back to him and he'd talk back to me. Like, You have no idea.'
Facing that kind of challenge helped Smith. His 21 career interceptions broke the record of North Carolina's Dre Bly.
He returned one for 100 yards and a touchdown against Maryland, a play widely regarded as turning around a season that was rapidly deteriorating for the Deacons. He forced seven fumbles in four seasons. He didn't allow a touchdown in '08, an occurrence so rare he remembers the last time it happened (My junior year. Florida State.).
