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Perspectives - Jimmy Smith · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: The following presentation of the Jaguars Podcast Network is presented
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  Speaker 1: by five Star Credit. Jimmy Smith isn't a complicated man.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: His life in professional football, however, was anything but simple.
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  Speaker 1: Smith's name hangs high above the field in Jacksonville, where
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  Speaker 1: he found glory. Is one of the game's best receivers.
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  Speaker 1: How he arrived in though offered no clue of what
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  Speaker 1: was in store for the young player or the expansion franchise.
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  Speaker 1: This is perspectives, the story of the Jacksonville Jaguars first
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  Speaker 1: twenty five seasons, told by the people who built the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: franchise from the ground up. This is Jimmy Smith. He
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  Speaker 1: is the best receiver in Jaguars history. Alan Robinson has
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: more touchdowns in a single season, and who knows. D. J.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Chark may own that record before is over. But neither
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  Speaker 1: of them are in Smith's class. He's got fifty first,
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  Speaker 1: got twenty, There goes ten, but put down with Jacksonville.
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  Speaker 1: Smith was big, strong, fast, and just another guy hoping
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  Speaker 1: to find another shot at playing in the NFL. When
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  Speaker 1: he arrived in, the man who had finished his career
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  Speaker 1: with eight hundred and sixty two catches more than twelve
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  Speaker 1: thousand yards and sixty seven touchdowns, plus Pro Bowls and
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  Speaker 1: All Pro honors, made a very quiet entrance to Jacksonville. Well,
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  Speaker 1: not knowing what to expect. What to expect was That's
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: exactly what was going on with me. You know, when
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  Speaker 1: Jacksonville and Carolina were awarded their teams, you know, I
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  Speaker 1: didn't think that they were a real team, that these
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  Speaker 1: were real teams. So I wanted to go or stay
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  Speaker 1: with an established team like the Cowboys in Philadelphia and
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  Speaker 1: and uh, you know, teams who have had history. I
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  Speaker 1: didn't want to come into a situation where there was
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: I guess I should say, a revolving door where they
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  Speaker 1: going to be bringing players in and shipping them right
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: back out. And uh, that's what I thought the expansion,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: the two expansion teams were. Uh. And I had a
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  Speaker 1: conversation with my father. He's like, you know, right now,
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  Speaker 1: so you don't have a job, so you gotta go
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: down and give it your best shots. So I, Uh,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: I decided to come down to Jacksonville for for a workout.
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  Speaker 1: And I think it was about fourteen receivers. Uh, none
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  Speaker 1: of them knew knew who you know, no one knew
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  Speaker 1: who I was. I had never been on this side
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: of on this side of the country before, and I
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: put on a good workout, and uh, you know I
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: had one thing, well a couple of things going and
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: uh for me, Larry Pasquale was a special team's coach
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: uh for the Jaguars that first year, and he just
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: so happens to be the special team's coach for the
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles the year I was there. And I had
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  Speaker 1: an awesome pre season with the Philadelphia Eagles the previous
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: year under Larry Pasqually played on all all four special teams,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: ran back kickoffs, and you know, I still I was
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: still released from the team. And then there was a
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: guy named I don't want to mess up his name,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Ron Heell. I think he was a scout. He had
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: scouted me when I during my days of Jackson States,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: and uh, I was considered a first rounder, but I
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  Speaker 1: I didn't play, you know, my first couple of years
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  Speaker 1: when I was drafted by the Cowboys in the second round. So, uh,
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  Speaker 1: I had those two guys you know in my corner.
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  Speaker 1: You know that that knew me, and uh, you know,
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  Speaker 1: knew of my abilities and knew that that I was
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  Speaker 1: a high round draft choice and I just hadn't had
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  Speaker 1: a chance to show what I could do. Um and uh,
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  Speaker 1: you know from having a conversation with Larry Uh, the
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  Speaker 1: special team's coach. He he told me one day that
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: he walked into Pete's Carmichael, who's the receiver coach at
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the time, Pete Carmichael's office, and uh, he asked Pete Carmichael,
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  Speaker 1: what grade did you give Jimmy Smith? How did you
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: evaluate him? And Pete Carmichael said, well, I ave my
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: f He said, what are you crazy? We gotta have
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: this guy I needed for special teams. You know, this
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: guy played for me in Philly. And Larry told me
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  Speaker 1: he left Pete Carmichael's office and walked down the conflerence
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  Speaker 1: office and he he said, uh, he told me that
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: he told Conflin, hey, we we gotta have this guy,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Smith. Uh. You know, he's a good player. He
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  Speaker 1: will make this team. And Larry said the Conflince said, well,
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  Speaker 1: if if he's so good, Larry, why is he sitting
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  Speaker 1: at home? Which was a good point. And you know, fortunately, uh,
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  Speaker 1: you know, everybody knows the story about the book that
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  Speaker 1: my mom put together, the notebook with all my press
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  Speaker 1: slipping from college, all my accomplishments being a you know,
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  Speaker 1: all American and you know, all conference player when I
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: was at Jackson State, and apparently that was instrumental. And
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: uh and and Coughlin couflin bringing me in. You know,
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  Speaker 1: he didn't know my history, so that was key, I
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  Speaker 1: think in me getting an opportunity, too, proved that I
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  Speaker 1: could be on this team. He was a special teamer,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: a backup, a guy filling a roster spot for most
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: of that expansion season. During a seven game losing streak,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: he wondered if he'd ever get a chance, if he
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: couldn't break through on this bad football team. The chance
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: arrived in mid December in Denver, near the end of
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: the season. Everyone involved was just hoping would end because
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Coughlin was he was hard to play for a lot
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: of veteran guys gave up and that gave the the
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: younger guys an opportunity to step in. And that's and
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: to get to that that Denver game, from what I
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: can remember, uh, late in the season, and I just
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: knew that that was my opportunity, you know too, springboard
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: in my career, I guess I should say, because I
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: hadn't caught balls my rookie year. I hadn't caught any
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  Speaker 1: balls my sophomore year in Dallas, and uh you know
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  Speaker 1: here I am and I didn't catch any balls in Philly,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: so here I am in Jacksonville. So I'm like, this
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  Speaker 1: is my last time trying to make a football team,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: and uh you know here here's December, and uh, you know,
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  Speaker 1: that was an awesome game. You know, I struggled with
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: one thing that sticks. I struggled with asthma all my life,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: and being in an altitude, it was a struggle just
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: trying to get through that game. You know, Kauughlan knew it.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the training staff knew it because every time
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: I went on the field and came off, I had
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: used myn healer um. But the game, uh, we matched
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: up against Denver for some reason. You know, early in
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: our Jaguar year is pretty good and uh, I think
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: I think I can remember it was a tight game.
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  Speaker 1: At first touchdown, I think it was a block punts
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  Speaker 1: um by Harry Colin, who played defensive back for safety.
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  Speaker 1: Came up through the right the left side and I
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: came up to the right side and he blocked it.
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  Speaker 1: It took a couple of bounces and it was bouncing
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  Speaker 1: around in the end zone and I just happened to
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  Speaker 1: to jump on the ball and uh, you know, corral
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  Speaker 1: the ball before we went out the back of the
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  Speaker 1: end zone. That was the first touchdown. The second touchdown
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: they called. We had been working on this, uh, this
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  Speaker 1: reverse pass where I kick our return team. Desmond Howard
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: was I kick our return, and he was a man
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: and he brought the Heisman trophy and uh and uch again,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: so everybody was keen on him. And I kicked out
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  Speaker 1: return and I was pretty much the guy who was
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: blocking for Desmond. So we ran the return pass where
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Desmond called the ball, ran to the right side of
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: the field and I read to the left side of
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: the field. He runs about ten yards stop and laterals
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  Speaker 1: the ball back to me and uh, you know one
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: thing and I never said, is Desmond made an incredible
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: throw about thirty yards across the field lateral about you know,
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  Speaker 1: two yards behind them, and uh, I caught the ball.
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  Speaker 1: It timed up grade, you know, plays like that, after
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  Speaker 1: time up grade with the with the blocking, it timed up.
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  Speaker 1: I got a block from Dave Thomas, and uh, once
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  Speaker 1: I got that block from Dave Thomas, I was down
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  Speaker 1: the left sideline and that was the second touchdown, the
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  Speaker 1: third touchdown. Uh, I started playing getting in rotation more,
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  Speaker 1: uh from special teams, but I gotta start getting in
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  Speaker 1: the rotation on offense more. Uh. In the second half
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: of the game, and it was late in the game,
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  Speaker 1: and I think we were still down, but we were
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  Speaker 1: trying to score. We may have been down ten points
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  Speaker 1: or something like that. But UH, I remember Steve Burlin
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  Speaker 1: being the being the quarterback and we had the ball
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  Speaker 1: in in the red zone and trying to score on
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  Speaker 1: Denver and uh, they called my number. It was a
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: double slant. Well they didn't call my number. What they
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: called the play double slanting and you know, Steve just
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  Speaker 1: happened to to to come my way with the ball
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  Speaker 1: and uh, I called the ball broker tackle and uh
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: and the ends and I went and that that seemed
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  Speaker 1: to be in my career in ninety five a springboard
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  Speaker 1: for the following year because I was on a one
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: year contract, so I needed to have, um, you know,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: some good games, you know, and I hadn't had the
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: opportunity and all the ninety five other than special teams
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  Speaker 1: too to proved that I could, that I belong, and
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: that I was worthy of coming back the year of
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  Speaker 1: So that game really sticks out as the game the
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  Speaker 1: supreme board in my career. I remember talking to Jimmy
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: in the locker room after that game. He knew he
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: wouldn't make a better case for his future in Jacksonville
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: than that day at Mile High Stadium. Still, the Jaguars
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: weren't sure. They offered former Chicago Beart Washington Redskin and
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Cleveland brown Keenan McCardell's a very healthy deal in the
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: spring and signing enigmatic Andre Risen in the summer. Smith
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: endured as the Jaguars rose and fell through their second
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: season until one fateful day in November when he walked
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: into the locker room to get dressed for practice and
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: realized everything was different coming in on that uh Wednesday. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: I just remember Andrew Risen always got to work late.
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  Speaker 1: It was always one of the last players coming in,
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  Speaker 1: So you know, I got there my usually time, usual time,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: and I was surprised to see Andre Rising there and
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: I glanced over and some sitting in his locker and
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: he had a couple of players uh around him, and
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: I'm like man, what's going on? So I kind of said,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: what's uping and kind of just went to my locker
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: and uh, uh, someone said, you know, they just cut
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Andre Andre Rising. Um. I was shocked. I was shocked,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: So you know, I went over and just kind of
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: told Andrey, I'm sorry, man. You know, I'm glad, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and I learned a lot from you. You always be
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: my my guy. Um. And but for me, for him
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  Speaker 1: to get released, they gave me a chance to be
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: the starting, well, you know, one of the starter, starting receivers,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: you know, over the weeks the first half of the season,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: I'm like, man, I'm I'm leading in yardage, you know,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm up there. I got I'm halfway through the season,
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  Speaker 1: I'm leading the a f C in yard is and
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: I'm not even a starting receiver. But I was a
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: starting receiver because I was going in as in the
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: starting spot when I went in the game, and uh,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: you know that Pittsburgh game came where we're uh, Andre Rising,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: you know, ran a post route when he was supposed
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: to running an out route and we was in a
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: battle with Pittsburgh and we needed to win. And uh
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  Speaker 1: that was like when he ran that route and Mark
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: bret New through the interception to DN figures that was
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: like the last strong for Andrey Rising, because you know
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: he had done a lot that didn't sit well with
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Kaughlin or or really uh help us win. Now. Credit
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: to Andre he brought a lot to the table early
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: on leadership, that swag or that belief that we could
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: go out and beat some teams, because we didn't have
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  Speaker 1: that prior to him being here. Um he always talked
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: about I used to hear him all the time and say, hey,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: I got three d and sixty five moves off the
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: line of scrimmage. I used to hear him say all
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: of that, and uh, you know, saying that that's what
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: you need as a I didn't know at the time,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: even though I played in Dallas and played behind Michael Irvian.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: But you gotta have that sef motivation, whatever it takes,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: if it takes you know, talking yourself up, or whatever
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: it takes, you gotta do that in order to perform
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: in this league. And and that's what Andre Rising brought. Um.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: So he was cutting and after the Pittsburgh and I
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: think we played Baltimore up in Baltimore again. We needed
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: we needed to we couldn't lose another game, I don't
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: think or we you know, there was no shot of
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: us getting to the playoffs. And uh, I remember Keenan
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: coming to me before the game. He said, okay, man,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: you were started now, all right, so we gotta work
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: together as a tandem to make this offense go because
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: we had a running game, we had two solid backs,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: we had Natron manas James Stewart, and we just needed
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: you know, we we always found ourselves coming back. That's
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: why we had such great numbers because we were always behind.
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  Speaker 1: But this was a chance and I never forget Keenan
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: telling me this. He was like, this is a chance
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: for us to really, uh show what we can do.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: And that was great leadership coming from from Keenan at
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: the time because I wouldn't have start. I'd never been
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: a starter before and he was. He was, you know,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: the primary receiver at the time, and uh he received
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: all the double coverage when I came in the game
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: if there was any double coverage, and I just had
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: single coverage, and it was easy for me to go
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: out there and light it up. And that went on
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: throughout the remainder of the season. Started having bigger and
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: bigger and bigger games because teams hadn't had a lot
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: of film on me as a starting receiver. They had
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: film on me as a you know, coming into a
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: third receiver. But you know, and I had a knack
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: for getting off the line, exploding down the sideline, saving
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: real estate on the sideline, not letting the defensive back
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: squeezed me to the sideline. And Mark been a left
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: hand quarterback. For some reason, we just started connecting. We
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: you know, we you know, we just started seeing things
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: on the field that we could, we could, we could, uh,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: we could, we could accomplish and be good together. You know.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: There were some routes to go route the hitches. The
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: out route was almost incredible, almost impossible to stop because
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: he was excellent and throwing the out route and I
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: was excellent at running it. And we kind of got
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: by with those three routes, and the rest is history.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: You know. We went on and we ran off I
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: don't know how many games we're in seven seven straight games.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: We read off seven straight games and got our shot
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: to go to the playoffs against Buffalo. Well, let me
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: back up in a minute. You know, after beating Atlanta
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: to advances to the playoffs, and then they gave us
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: new life. And still we we we didn't think we
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: had a shot, you know, in the back of our minds,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: but we were going to being coached by Tom Copston,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: we were going up there and giving it a good
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: you know, giving giving ourselves a chance to win the
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: ball game. And uh you know, and that's when Natron
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Means came alive. And that's what we needed, a solid
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: running game because we could throw the ball because we
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: were always behind, and but we just needed to be
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: able to run the ball. And they trying Means started
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: lightening up and that's all We were unstoppable as a team.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: It was just like a dream comes true. It was,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: you know, going through that, you know, you didn't have
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: any time to sit back and recollect. You know, it
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: was just, uh, man, I'm living a dream and you
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: know it's it's not stopping, you know, you know, you
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: know it was one game. Then you know, you can't
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: celebrate the one game because you got to prepare for
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: the next game. And uh, I remember, you know, going
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: up to New England for the SC Championship game. You know, man,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: we were one game away from the Super Bowl. And
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: we're playing the great New England. They weren't great then,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: but you know we're playing playing New England Patriots and uh,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: you know we gave a good shot. Uh we had
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: that one and over and going down to score and
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: that that that was the NF our run. More perspectives
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  Speaker 1: insured by n c U. A Smith McCardell and quarterback
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Mark Burnell emerged as a powerful offense during the Jaguars
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: run to the a f C Championship that season. Over
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: the next six seasons, which we include the playoffs, in
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: no quarterback or wide receiver standing in the NFL would
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: put up the numbers that the Trio did. They powered
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: a team that burst onto the scene and was one
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: of the best units in the league for the next
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: three seasons. Listen to any of the three men today
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: and their appreciation for one another and what they were
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: able to do is to hear how short that time
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: period actually was. There is remorse for what they left
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: on the table when the salary cap caught up with
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: the Jaguars after two thousand one. And we'll put in
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: a lot of work for the end like that. You know,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: we put in a championship season. A lot of people say, oh,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: they had a week schedule. There's no such things that
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: we schedules when it comes down to it in the
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: NFL week on paper, but when you go out there
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: every Sunday, you can be beat by anyone. And we
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: went fourteen in two and uh we lost of the
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Titans three times that year, you know, twice in a
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: regular season and that last dreadful a f C championship game,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: and um, that was a remarkable year. But cause that
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: was that year that that was the best football team
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: that that I played on. And I'm talking when I
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: think about the cowboy teams that I played on in
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: the early nineties. You know, I take man for man
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: and I would take that Jaguar team over that Cowboys
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: team that was winning those Super Bowls any day. They
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: had Emmon Smith. We had Fred Taylor, and in my mind,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Fred Taylor was a more electric, exciting back than Mitt Smith.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: In my mind as I played with both of them.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: UH had better receivers and we had a better quarterback.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Our defense was just as good, UM, But we just
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: didn't finish the deal. And that was going to a
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Super Bowl and have an opportunity to become the world
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Championship Bowl, world champion. UM. But it was an exciting
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: year on both sides of the ball. We had players
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: and we had a lot of talent. Our defense was
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: outstanding in ninety nine. Our offense, I think we led
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: in rushing or passing that year. UM, And that was
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: our year. And for us to to lose in the
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: ANFC Championship game considering that, you know, coming out that
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: second half of the game, they had about three or
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: four starters that were out of the lineup and we
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: just couldn't again, we just couldn't finish to advance us
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl. You get that combination of among
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: us three me, Keenan and Mark. You've got three guys
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: that we shared similar stories you know, Keenan was cut
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: five times, and you know Mark was the backup with
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Brett Farve, and we were all warning our our chance
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: to shine and in and fail and make a market
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: you know in the NFL. We we didn't know what happened,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: but we knew that this was on our opportunity with
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: all three of three of us starting. And we used
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: to have conversations, you know, you know we you know,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: and we and we were all around the same aging
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: and we grew together. That's one thing. Um. And I
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: know Keenan's history. You know, he had some struggles, you know,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: was trying to stick on teams, and I had struggles
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: trying to hang in their own teams. And uh, you
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: just had three guys who share similar uh, who had
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: the same kind of history of struggling trying to hang
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: on hanging there for the NFL that had their shot
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: to finally make their market in NFL. You know that
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: salary cap really uh heard us because it cost me
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: my running buddy, which is Keenan, you know, because we
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: worked so well together. You know, he ran the intermediate
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: out something ran the deep rows and we were good
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: at it. And losing coach Coughlin. Uh, even though it
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: was tough to play for when you look back at it,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: that's what it took for us to be successful, like
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: we were to have a coach like Tom Coughlin. Losing
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: him was devastating. Uh. And to tip it off, you
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: know a year after that, you know, to to lose
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Mark Burnell, which is uh, you know my you know,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: we grew, we grew together, so it was like starting
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: all over again. And Uh, that feeling of a new
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: coach like Jack del Rio and I was talking about
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: this last night to uh, it's no started with a
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: new coach. Mostly coaches come in they want to bring
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: in their own people. And you know, we were kind
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: of so to speak on pins and needles because we
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: didn't know what was going to happen, even though it
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: beene Fi Pro Bowls. Uh. To feel the energy, you
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: know when once you talk to someone that you really
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: not wanted there, no matter how great I was. I
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: knew that I was great, I knew that fans loved me.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: I knew that I would probably be here. But when
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: you feel energy from a person that they really don't
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: want you on the team, they wanted to bring in
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: their new guys and start fresh. Guys could feel that.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: And when you hear statements in the locker room that
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a lot of turnover, or you
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: hear you know, you hear the head coach says it's
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of turnover, guys, you know, we
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: started looking at each other. You know, God, we're we're
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: the coughling guys. He's trying to get us out of here.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: And uh, whether you said that to motivate us or what,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: you know, it was just, Uh, it wasn't the right
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: kind of energy that we were accustomed to when Coplom
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: was here. One thing, we may have had one winning,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: two winning seasons or something like that, and uh, that
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: olden arrow was was you know, you know, we were
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: reaching back for the golden era. Once we we lost
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: we lost Coughlin. Most folks will remember Jimmy's off the
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: field issues with substance abuse. It's water under the bridge
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: by now. Few though we'll recall the other off the
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: field issue. It's Smith brought with him in. Smith had
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: an emergency appendeck to me while with the Dallas Cowboys
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: in and lingering issues compounded by the gruel and physical
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: demands and professional football re emerged. In two thousand one,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Smith returned to football and his remarkable career, but for
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: a time, he lay in Baptist Hospital at the Beaches
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: and was closer to losing both his career and his
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: life than anyone knew. You know, I had had this
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: issue before with having UH had to have an emergency
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: appendic to me, I had a ball obstruction. I had
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: to get my pennace taken out. But complications developed during
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: the surgery, and you know it, the surgery didn't go well,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: and uh, it cost me my my season, my second
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: season in Dallas. Not knowing that I would probably have
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: another episode later on in my career, which uh, which
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: did happen in two thousand one, I believe, And I
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: was like, oh man, here will go again. I just
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: started developing stomach cramps. You know. It was the off season,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: I believe, Yeah, it was the off season. I went
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: to the hospital and uh, you know, it was one
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: thing after another, one thing after another, and you know,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: I had a battle of structure and they had to
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: cut six inches of my small intestins out and it
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: was just one complication on top of another. And I
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: was in the hospital for three months, and it wasn't
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: about even though I was saying, hey, I gotta get
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: back on I gotta get back to the field. It
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: got to the point to where it was about me
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: just staying alive. You know, football was just second, well
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: probably even more than that. You know, it was my health.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: It was family members worrying about me, teammates worrying about me,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: and you know, and it was something to see, even
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: though it was uncomfortable at the time doing whileut doing
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: my hospital my three month hospital stay, it was very
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: special to see coach Coughlin leave the mini camps that
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: they were having here and drive over and sit by
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: my bedside. That was That was very That was that
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: was something because he didn't have to do that. He
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: could have come one time and visit, you know, but
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: he came every day. I would be looking out my
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: window with twos running all all through my body. I
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: didn't really know what was going on. Doctors couldn't figure
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: out what was going on, and that made it real scary.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: And for coach Complin to show up, if not every day,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: it was every other day. And uh man, that that
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: meant a lot and a lot of people don't know
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: that he was making that trip to the hospital as
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: often as he was, and uh, it wasn't about football.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: It was about you know, man, I just want you
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: to stay alive because no one knew it was wronging man.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: I didn't have a clue. I was medicated all the
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: time and just hanging on a limb, just trying to
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: stay alive. So you know that it's always been an
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: emotional point in my life because, uh, you know, you know,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: having Keen and come, having you know, Mark come, you know,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: all these guys coming and visited, you know it. You
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: know it was real special. More perspectives following this from
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• 29:00
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• 29:03
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• 29:23
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• 29:26
  Speaker 1: A Smith's time in Jacksonville was marked by some incredible
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: highs and some very painful loads, both on and off
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: the field. Smith wouldn't trade it, though, for a number
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: of reasons and one special man. Yeah, that's my buddy. Man,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: that's my buddy. Actually we were suppose I have a
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: cigar when I came into town, but I'm like, how
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: are you gonna do that? You gotta game, dude, But
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: I'm tell me it's it's always special when you know
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: we reach out to one another. Word this meek, you know,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: reaching out to him, on him reaching out to me.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: You know, you know he I could be down one
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: day for whatever reason. We all get down from days
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: and days, and I make it a call from him
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: and then a light up my week my next two weeks. Man,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: my boy gave me a call. And that's what friendship
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: is all about. Man. You know, we don't talk every day,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: but we love each other and every time, you know,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: we see each other as a special energy. Whether you
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: know we were here a couple of weeks ago for
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: the gala and uh, nothing playing. You know, I'm just
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: gonna see him. Hey, buddy would talk a little bit,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: but we didn't leave each other's side the whole gala,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: now that I think about it, when he walked in
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: the door, we were just together there entire time. We
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: didn't walk around do any of that, but we just
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: stayed in one spot together. So and my mom always said,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: you know, you two like brothers, and uh, I guess
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: you could really say that we're we're like brothers because
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: we we share uh struggles in our NFL career that
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: were similar. We had the same agent, we had the
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: same upside downs, so trying to stick with the team. So, um,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: that's that's my best friend. These days. Jimmy splits his
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: time between Mississippi and Dallas, and between his business interests
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: and his kids. He doesn't put his feet on the
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: ground in Jacksonville often, but he's never too far from
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: the place where he lived a life that felt to
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: him like a dream, one that came true. It makes
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: me feel greatly appreciated and everybody, everybody needs to feel
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: appreciated during their lives. But you know, like I said,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: well I'm having a bad day or whatever, I can
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: always think, hey, my name is in the stadium. People
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: in Jacksonville loved me, and that's because I've always treated
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: you know, when I was in Dallas. I used to
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: see certain players not signed an autograph or you know,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: because they thought they were too big. I said, you
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: know what, I don't want to be that guy. You know,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: if there's a kid, there's an or anybody, I'm gonna
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: take time and acknowledge that person, you know, because you
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: never know what that person is going through. You think
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: I'm having a bad day, that person could be having
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: a bad day. And just the fact that I acknowledge
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: that person, they change that or may do something in
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: their lives and make them a better person. And that's
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: what kind of guy am you know. And uh, Jacksonville
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: and these fans have showed me appreciation for being that
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: type of guy, taking the time out to say hello,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: throw a kid a glove, or just shake someone's hand.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Even today, you know, I was in the car with
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: two Jets fans and they were so appreciated. They just
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: they said, we paid for the camp fair, we're just
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: happy to write with you. And just a handshake and
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: a picture was all those guys needed. And they were
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: so happy. I don't it just I just looked back
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: at them and they were just bumble bundle of joy.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: And I like when I get the chance to make
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: someone's day or spread and enjoy. You know, I enjoy
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: doing that for for a personal Yeah, and I love
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: this town.