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At Stanford: One of the team leaders on defense, Tim Smith will move from free to strong safety for the 1999 season ... At 6-4 and 230, he is a hard-hitter who has the ability to make the big play ... Very strong tackler ... The move to strong safety will better utilize his ability to play the run ... After missing most of the 1997 season with a knee injury, Smith came back in '98 to start all 11 games at strong and free safety and further establish himself as one of the best in the Pac-10 ... He has great size and athletic skills for a safety and the knack for being around the ball ... He has 10 career interceptions, which ranks him tied for sixth on Stanford's career chart ... Tim came to Stanford in 1995 as one of the most heavily recruited quarterbacks in the nation ... He spent his freshman season as a redshirt quarterback, but was then moved to wide receiver at the beginning of spring practice in 1996 ... By the end of spring practice, Tim was moved to free safety ... An honors candidate in 1999.
The 1998 Season: Returned to the starting lineup after knee surgery ended his 1997 season ... Tim started the first two games of the year at strong safety, then moved to free safety where he started the final nine games of the season ... He led the team with 109 tackles and was third in the Pacific-10 Conference, averaging 9.9 tackles per game ... He also led the Cardinal and the Pac-10 and was fifth in the country in interceptions, averaging .55 per game (6 total interceptions / 11 games) ... The six interceptions tied him for seventh on Stanford's single season chart ... His 109 tackles were the most on The Farm since Jono Tunney had 155 in 1988 ... Placed his name in the record book in game #10 vs. Washington State when he intercepted three passes, joining a group of four others in Cardinal history to pick off at least three passes in a game ... His other interceptions came against Oregon State, UCLA and Cal ... Had a career-high 15 tackles vs. Oregon State ... Recorded 12 tackles vs. Arizona State and Oregon and 11 tackles against North Carolina and Arizona ... Named honorable mention All-America by Football News ... Also named honorable mention All-Pac-10.
The 1997 Season: Tim entered the '97 as Stanford's starting free safety - one of the key players on the Cardinal defense ... But, late in game #2 at North Carolina, he suffered an ACL injury to his left knee on a special teams play ... The injury forced him to miss the entire season ... He finished the year with four unassisted tackles and two pass break ups.
The 1996 Season: In his first season as a defensive back, Tim became one of the great surprises of the '96 Cardinal defense ... He began the year as a backup to Josh Madsen at free safety, but as the season progressed it became obvious that Smith had to be on the field even more ... He showed the ability to not only make the big hit, but he had a knack for coming up with big plays and being around the ball ... He finished the year as the team leader in interceptions with four ... He also had 28 tackles, three quarterback sacks, three tackles-for-loss, five pass breakups, one forced fumble and one blocked kick ... Against Washington State, Tim had six unassisted tackles, one sack, one tackle-for-loss, one caused fumble, one interception and two pass breakups ... He sacked WSU QB Ryan Leaf and caused a fumble, which was recovered by Stanford at the Cougar 17-yard line ... On the next series, Smith intercepted a Leaf pass and ran it back 31 yards before being tackled on the one-yard line ... Against USC, Smith intercepted a Brad Otton pass on the game's final play as the Trojan's attempted to score from the Stanford 34-yard line ... In Stanford's 27-24 win over Oregon, Smith blocked a field goal attempt in the first half and intercepted a Tony Graziani pass in the end zone in the second half on a second-and-goal play from the Stanford six-yard line.
The 1995 Season: A redshirt freshman as a quarterback.
In High School: An All-Farwest pick by Super Prep out of Coalinga High School ... Named to the Long Beach Press Telegram's Best in the West and the Tacoma News Tribune's Western Top 100 ... Honorable Mention All-American by Max Emfinger's Bluechips Magazine ... Played both quarterback and free safety in HS ... He was named First-Team All-League as a QB, First-Team All-Valley as a free safety and First-Team All-State (small schools) as a multi-purpose player ... He rushed 53 times for 663 yards and eight TDs while throwing for 611 yards and seven touchdowns in '94 in leading his team to a 10-2 record ... He missed the last three games due to an injury ... As a FS, he recorded 62 tackles and had five interceptions ... As a junior, he gained 670 yards rushing (108 carries) and scored 13 TDs while passing for an additional 520 yards and four scores ... He was named First-Team All-League ... Also participated in basketball and track in HS ... Three-year starter on the basketball team and a two-time First-Team All-League selection ... In track, he won the league championship in the triple jump and long jump as a junior ... His best in the triple jump was 45-9.
Personal Information:History major.
Smith's Career Statistics
Sack/ TFL/
Year UT AT TT Yds Yds Int
1996 20 8 28 3/18 3/18 4
1997 4 0 4 0/0 0/0 0
1998 82 27 109 0/0 1/1 6
Totals 106 35 141 3/18 4/19 10