He's not just another Smith

We're talking about West Rowan High's Chris Smith here, another guy who made a splash at last Sunday's Scout.com combine in Charlotte.

It took awhile for Smith to get much attention, and one recruiter said that was because this 6-foot-1, 219-pound athlete has been playing DE in high school, and colleges pay little attention to 6-1 DEs.

So Sunday, Scout.com regional scout Chad Simmons asked Smith to do some of the linebacker drills. Smith readily accepted, with a quick, "yessir!"

Not long after that, he also turned in one of the best 40-yard dash times of the day, clocking 4.57 seconds on a slow and bumpy grass course. Linebacker speed. Big-time linebacker speed.

Later, an impressed Simmons had plenty to say about Smith.

"He’s a defensive end who I think is kind of out of position. He should probably be a strongside linebacker. But he has a great build, he's very fluid in space. There were some linebacker drills that he did because we asked him to, even though he had never played the position before. And he stepped up and held his own. I thought he did an excellent job."

Schools are noticing as well. Smith has offers from Duke, East Carolina and Virginia, he said. He's also stirring up interest at Clemson, Georgia, North Carolina, N.C. State and Wake Forest, among others.