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Smackdown: Smartest Player

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By ANWAR RICHARDSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 28, 2007

Smackdown Results: Offense 3, Defense 1

Some measure the intelligence of an NFL player by his ability to make decisions on the football field. Others on what he scored on a Wonderlic test.

Then there are those who never tackled anyone, dissected a Cover 2 defense and completed a pass, or comprehended Jon Gruden's playbook. They measure intellect by grade point average, the number of years spent in college, the amount of books a person reads and their eagerness to watch PBS.

Despite the ''dumb jock'' stereotypes many athletes face, there are football players who have read something other than ''By My Brother's Side,'' a kids' book by Ronde and Tiki Barber. Some actually have sought out the political section of a bookstore to read up on U.S. and world history, or enjoy reading about medical research.

This week's Smackdown pits tight end Alex Smith against defensive lineman Kevin Carter in a battle for academic supremacy. Winner inspires teachers across the Tampa Bay area to keep educating and encourages parents to monitor their child's report card closer than his football statistics.

Alex Smith, Tight End

Bucs receiver Michael Clayton gives the most reasonable argument to support Smith's academic aptitude.

''He went to Stanford, man,'' Clayton said. ''He knows about everything - everything in the world. He's an intelligent guy. He went to Stanford, man.''

For those who do not know Stanford is actually a city in California, it might be hard to comprehend how impressive Smith's degree from that university really is.

Consider this: There have been 18 astronauts who graduated from Stanford. Vinton Cerf, co-author of Internet protocol; Ray Dolby, who designed noise reduction systems; and Brent Townsend, inventor of 56K modem, also attended Stanford.

On the football field, John Elway, Jim Plunkett, James Lofton and John Lynch are also Stanford men.

''Makes me wish I paid a little more attention in school,'' Smith said. ''All the resources I did have could have really set me up with a future after football. Some of the people that come out of that school and graduate are making seven figures now straight out of college. Those are the guys you went to parties with and never paid much attention to, but they are making lots of money right now.''

Smith, entering his third NFL season, is not exactly clipping coupons from Sunday's paper because he needs to save money. He was member of the National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society and graduated from Mullen High in Denver with a 4.0 GPA.

Smith's biggest hobby has been winning Madden video game tournaments, even though he desires to enter the real estate business. But everyone knows how smart he is.

''He knows about everything. Everything. He's just a smart guy,'' Clayton said. ''For his age, he's smart and in tune. He stays into it and always reads. He's a pretty intelligent guy.''

Kevin Carter, Defensive Lineman

There is not a day that passes when Carter stops reading offensive schemes during practice and comes home to study one of his many books.

Carter, who enjoyed reading ''The Grapes of Wrath'' by John Steinbeck and ''Deception Point'' by Dan Brown, gave two thumbs to ''The Audacity of Hope'' by Barack Obama, which is currently on his must-read list.

''My parents were always big on education. They thought it was the most important thing to have in life,'' said Carter, who majored in zoology at the University of Florida. ''My mom and dad were very big on self-improvement. Being the best you can be, improving yourself. Academics were something they taught me from when I was small and that no matter what, education is the one thing people cannot take away from you.''

Carter does not take his necessity to be mentally stimulated lightly.

He keeps graphic novels of The Incredible Hulk and Conan in his locker, yet his post football desire is to work in the medical science field.

Carter never anticipated having a 13-year NFL career and aspired to become a doctor when he entered college. He still hopes to apply his determination and hard work from the football field to the medical profession after his NFL career is over.

''Theoretically speaking, if I didn't have football and I had to find myself working and doing something I really wanted to do, it would be working in a lab doing medical research. That kind of stuff intrigues me,'' Cater said. ''Slides, doing case studies, taking tissue samples. Lab stuff. Finding a cure for diseases.

''That's high level stuff and I'm so far away from being able to work on that, but theoretically speaking, that would have been the ideal job I would have liked to have done.''

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