Cardinals’ Smith an old-school banger at fullback position

Edgerrin James walked up to Terrelle Smith the other day after practice and congratulated him. Except for a single broken play, Smith says “Edge” told him, “I didn’t get touched today.”

That’s the highest compliment Smith could get.

He’s the Cardinals’ piledriving fullback, the guy whose job is to bull his way through defenders to clear a path for James in the team’s two-back system.

“I’m a people mover,” he says.

Smith differentiates himself from “‘tweener’ fullbacks who are big running backs who can catch and run.”

He describes himself as one of a tiny group of “old-school fullbacks” — along with Lorenzo Neal of San Diego and Mike Karney of New Orleans — who are more like “modern gladiators.”

Smith is a product of the fullback factory at Arizona State, players who mostly played under Bruce Snyder and who ended up making the NFL: Ryan Wood, Jeff Paulk, Smith, Karney and Stephen Trejo.

Smith arrived at ASU during the Rose Bowl season of 1996; he sat out that season under the academic rules known as Proposition 48.

He played defensive end in 1997 but didn’t get on the field.

“They tried to make me a Derrick Rogers (a hero of the Rose Bowl team), but it didn’t work.”

In 1998, he moved to linebacker.

“I was a really good linebacker, but I couldn’t cover passes.”

So in ’99, he found his niche at fullback.

“I made a couple mistakes in the first spring practice,” then assistant coach Dan Cozzetto (who has since returned to ASU) “got on my case. That was enough said.”

Blocking for tailback J.R. Redmond, “I got into a zone.”

So after just 12 games at the position, he was the first fullback drafted in 2000, the No. 1 pick in Round 4 (96th overall).

A huge motivating factor was his dad, who was diagnosed with cancer about that time.

Given about six months to live, his father survived five years, long enough to see him play pro football.

“Every time I come out here I think about him,” Smith says.

He went to New Orleans, where he became a starter right away. He ran in front of Ricky Williams, who had 1,000 yards by midseason and ended up leading the NFC in rushing.

He spent five years with the Saints and two years with the Browns, where one of his coaches was Maurice Carthon, now his running backs coach with the Cardinals.

“He’s a banger,” Carthon says.

“In a two-back offense, a fullback has to be the tough guy willing to go in there and block the linebacker 50 times a game and not touch the ball.

“He’s good doing that.”

In the Cardinals’ offense, “He has to block and catch the ball in the flat. So far he’s done a great job of that.”

Head coach Ken Whisenhunt pointed to a violent collision at Wednesday night’s practice between Smith and safety Adrian Wilson.

“You like those tough players,” he said.

Quarterback Matt Leinart had the most effusive praise for Smith, saying, “T. Smith is going to be a huge part of this offense.

“He’s a reliable receiver. … He’s catching the ball well when he’s out in the flats.” But most important, “He’s a bruiser back there.

“We notice a huge difference in the offense. The holes are tremendous.

“The offensive line is doing a great job. But T. Smith is (also) creating a lot of holes. And Edge is finding them.”

So, after an eight-year hiatus, Smith gets to return to the Valley.

His scene is decidedly different. He lives in a resort — his offseason home is in Riverside, Calif. — the kind of place he couldn’t afford while going to ASU.

He hopes to play in the NFL as long as Neal, who has been in the league for 15 years, which might allow him to purchase his own resort.

And all because he finally figured out his niche was to plow through defenders in that one golden season in Tempe.