A confident Smith steps up as leader

Alex Smith said it's like night and day.

A year ago, he spent training camp battling Brett Elliott and Lance Rice for Utah's starting quarterback job. He felt the jitters each day, especially at the end of practice when the offense went against the defense.

Now, he explained, those feelings have been replaced by confidence.

"It's a dramatic difference in the quarterbacking. I've obviously taken a role, where last year I was just a young buck with two veterans," said Smith. "It's a complete 180 now. I'm the guy teaching the offense. I'm the guy giving advice."

Elliott and Rice are gone, leaving Smith as Utah's lone quarterback with Division I experience. It's not a bad thing, considering the Utes won nine of his 10 starts in 2003.

Though hesitant to apply any extra pressure on his starter, Utah coach Urban Meyer said Smith is as good as any quarterback he's worked with in his career.

"And I've been around some good quarterbacks," he said while praising Smith's development.

In Friday's practice, Smith and Paris Warren connected on a pass play that Meyer said epitomized continuity and chemistry that didn't exist last year.

"What is it, Day 5? And we're throwing the ball like we did, probably, at midseason last year," said Meyer. "So, we're way ahead of the game."

Credit Smith, who knows the offense and his receivers better this year.

"Last year it was a new system and kind of hard for us to get our timing down," said Warren. "This year we've been through it already, and everything is just down pat."

Unsupervised offseason workouts between quarterbacks and receivers are paying off. Smith said they threw a ton this summer in an effort to get better. Besides building a stronger, more accurate arm, the junior worked toward a goal of getting bigger (in a bid to stay healthy this season) and faster.

And that's not all.

Smith is also determined to expand his leadership role.

"I think I need to step up when it is needed ," said Smith. "I think I need to say things and lead by actions as well. That's a big thing for myself."

The opportunity to do so was recently enhanced. Smith's teammates elected him a team captain, the only underclassman with a leadership post.

"Obviously it's a huge honor," said Smith. "It means a lot to me."