Dallas Cowboys NT Mazi Smith doesn’t like football. What does he like about the game?
It’s all about the fundamentals and the technique for Dallas Cowboys first-round pick Mazi Smith.
There are no questions about his strength and power.
The 6-foot-3, 325-pound nose guard’s weight room exploits at Michigan are legendary. He says he bench presses somewhere between 450 and 500 pounds.
And his attitude is perfect for playing defense in the NFL.
“I don’t do no talking,” Smith said. “We get straight after it. Nah, I’m trying to hit you. I don’t got nothing to say.
“I don’t even like football. I like hitting people.”
That’s why Smith’s indoctrination to the NFL game starts now.
After a week of training camp ramp up with shorts, T shirts and helmets, the Cowboys had their first of 10 padded practices on Monday.
“Yeah, this football. I don’t know about other stuff is,” Smith said.
So you excited about getting ready hit somebody?
“Yeah, that’s what they pay me for,” Smith said.
That’s why the Cowboys drafted him. To hit somebody and occupy double teams in the middle of the defense as a wide body run stuffer.
It starts with the getting the technique down in practice getting used to the power of the NFL.
“He’s a rookie, he needs it. He needs to feel the double-teams and all of those things,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “Just playing the technique, adhering to the technique. I don’t want Mazi to be concerned about everything that goes with the first-round pick. I just want him to be himself and really focus on how we’re playing and the techniques, obviously the alignments that we’re asking them to do.
“Let’s make no mistake about it. He was brought here to command the A gap.”
Said Smith: “I just want to be on the field. Whatever it takes. If they want me to be a big run stuffer, it is what it is.”
For Smith, it’s all about strength, technique and making is presence felt.
He’s learning in practice against Pro Bowl left tackle Tyron Smith, whom he calls “a 7-star general,” and against guard Tyler Smith. He know he won’t win every play in practice or the game in the NFL.
“I need to get off the ball. Simple as that. I am slow off the ball some time,” Mazi Smith. “But the emphasis in on physicality. You can get off as fast as you want to but when you get there, if you ain’t striking the block, you’re in trouble. So I’m trying to make sure that I get off with the same intensity, ready to strike and destroy blocks.”
Mazi Smith refuses to label himself as the strongest guy on the Cowboys. He gives that title to Tyron Smith. He says defensive tackles Neville Gallimore and Osa Odighizuwa are also strong.
And where he is on the list?
“I’m up there,” Mazi Smith said. “I’m a big, powerful guy. No. 1 freak.”
Smith learned at Michigan that it’s not about what you do in the weight room.
“It’s all about what you do on the field,” Mazi Smith said. “The weight room stuff is fun, love it. But doesn’t matter. It’s about what you do on the field.”
On the field, he likes to hit people.
