News

On a cool spring day at McMahon Stadium, Kabisa Akili Maradufu Smith, wearing a black jersey with the number 17 on it, is throwing footballs to a group of receivers he has just met.

The passes are hard, tight and smack on the money. He doesn't look out of place for a 31-year-old quarterback who hasn't played a game in two years nor set foot on a Canadian Football League-sized field until now.

Then again, Akili Smith has always looked good — strong and athletic, poised and promising. If he had performed anywhere near as well as he practised, Smith would still be in the National Football League instead of in Calgary, where he participated yesterday in a Stampeders free-agent camp and confirmed he was signed for the coming season.

"My desire is still to play," he explained of his venture into the CFL. "My agent called and said Calgary was interested in me. I wanted to take the opportunity."

Eight years ago, Smith was one of the biggest names in football. He had starred at the University of Oregon, throwing for 32 touchdowns in just 11 starts. With his size and seemingly unlimited potential, he had NFL scouts drooling after him.

On draft day in 1999, he was the third player chosen overall and the third quarterback picked behind Tim Couch (Cleveland Browns) and Donovan McNabb (Philadelphia Eagles). His new team was ecstatic. Smith was almost certain to give the Cincinnati Bengals the push they needed to become a playoff contender, perhaps even a Super Bowl challenger.

And then all that was good began to sour.

Smith got into a contract dispute with the Bengals. By the time he signed — and pocketed a bonus of $10.8-million (U.S.) — he had missed a chunk of training camp and preseason and was slow to catch up. In four years with Cincinnati, he started just 17 games and underperformed in many of them before being released.

After unsuccessful tryouts with the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Smith was out of football and selling real estate in his hometown of San Diego.

He asked himself, "What's wrong with me?"

He wondered whether he was being deliberately scorned by the NFL since other failed quarterbacks (David Klingler, Cade McNown, Heath Shuler, Andre Ware, Rick Mirer, Jim Druckenmiller and Ryan Leaf) had got second chances and he hadn't.

Why?

"I never got the answers," said Smith, who once told a San Diego newspaper that "part of me doesn't want to believe that I'm getting blackballed, but I'm starting to believe that."

So what did he think went wrong in Cincinnati?

"I didn't play well," Smith said. "We didn't play well. As a quarterback, you always get too much praise and too much heat."

The truth from those who watched him play was that Smith and the Bengals were a bad fit. He was too reliant on his athletic skills and didn't grasp the offensive game plan. Some of his teammates said Smith didn't watch enough game film or study hard enough in his rookie year.

It also didn't help that the Cincy attack was rookie-laden at key spots — especially receiver.

Stampeders general manager Jim Barker acknowledged those points and Smith's shortcomings and admitted: "Truthfully, guys like that who come up to this game are not successful [such as Tim Rosenthal, Todd Marinovich, Quincy Carter and Ware]. But we wanted to bring him in and take a look at him. He's got a calm about him. He's matured."

Barker insisted Smith is a healthy 31 since he hasn't been physically pounded in games during the past two seasons. As for Smith's ability to throw a football, Barker happily noted, "His arm strength is as good as it has ever been."

No doubt there. Smith can still zip them short and deep. He is youthful looking, a fit 220 pounds, and seemingly more accepting of where he is and what he's facing.

"It just didn't work out for me," he said of the NFL. "Right now, I'm worried about the CFL level. … [The Canadian game] is wide open, wider field, the end zones are longer. There are more players on the field. I'm excited, especially as a quarterback. It suits my game."

Tomorrow, the NFL will hold its 2007 draft with two new quarterbacks tagged as early first-round picks. Maybe they'll be the lucky ones and have long NFL careers. Or maybe they'll end up a few years from now asking what went wrong.

For now, Akili Smith is content. He has a chance to compete and play, and another chance is all he's wanted.