Utah Utes football: Smith corners market on confidence

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Sean Smith is willing to share a secret, as soon as he thinks of one. As the Dolphins' 6-foot-3 rookie cornerback concedes, "I kind of put everything out there. I don't know if anything would surprise anyone ..."

Nothing? Pause.

"Oh, oh, Sean is afraid of the dark," he says.

"I need some kind of form of light going at all times. I forget what ghost movie I saw, but ever since then I've been spooked. That's my biggest secret. It's out."

Unfortunately, it's no secret. R.J. Stanford, one roommate at Utah, was suspicious, observing that Smith always slept with the TV on. Another Utah roommate, Brice McCain, had proof.

"My freshman year, we were watching 'The Grudge,' " says McCain, a sixth-round pick of the Houston Texans. "The woman popped up on the screen. And man, he went under the covers! Then he didn't sleep with covers for a couple of days. He said, 'I'm not sleeping with covers no more!' "

So while Smith had much on his mind when training camp opened last weekend, at least he can rest easy about something. He is rooming with fellow rookie cornerback Vontae Davis. "And, lucky for me, his phone is blowing up all night," Smith says. "So I get some form of light."

Why is Smith's admission significant? It might be the last time you hear the second-round pick admit to fear of any kind. He's not obnoxiously arrogant. Just playfully confident.

"Something I am not good at?" he repeats a question. "I might need a few hours to think about this."

Who keeps him humble?

"I don't think it's possible."

It's possible. Just not easy. Just ask Kevin Mills, who coached Smith for two years at Blair High in Pasadena, Calif.

"When I met him, he told me how good he was," Mills says. "I told him that couldn't be true because they hadn't won a game and he had been part of that. I told him if he wanted to reach his full potential, he needed to turn over the reins to someone and let that person guide him.

"There was resistance. When you don't have a man in the home and then a man steps in and demands things you aren't used to, you meet it with apprehension. I know for a fact that he didn't like me. He probably hated me."