49ers Profiles: Justin Smith Will Sick His Dogs On You

Justin Smith.. a veritable beast on the defensive line, is a player whose stats have never told the full story. I mean, not the story that I'm telling, I just mean he has much more of an impact on the field than one might think when you read the statline.

In high school, Smith earned All-State honors and was a two-time all-district football choice. He was selected to the SuperPrep All-American and Top 50 teams as a senior.

Smith played well in college, setting Missouri school records for sacks and tackles for loss. He earned First team All-America honors and was selected for the First All-Big 12 team twice as a sophomore and a junior, respectively.

This play was good enough for the Cincinnati Bengals to make Smith the 4th overall pick in the 2001 draft. He played very well with them, had an ACL injury, and continued to play well without missing a beat. Smith also lead the team in defensive snaps taken on two occasions, being in on about 95% of said snaps. He lead the Bengals defense in sacks and sack yardage in most of his seasons with the team and creeped his way up into the fifth place slot on the Bengals all-time sack leader list.

In 2007, the Bengals put the franchise tag on Smith, and he played a statistically weak season as far as the stat-line goes. Or at least, as far as the 'sexy' stats go. While not finishing with a lot of sacks, Smith lead the league in assisted tackles with 29, which can say a lot in itself. Smith does what he's asked.

Smith elected to hit the free agent market in 2008. He had talks with the Bengals about re-signing, but they instead elected to go with their young 'star' in Robert Geathers, who, by the way, has not played very well since taking on a larger role with them. So the 49ers signed Smith, to a six year, 45 million dollar deal. 

He's been great for the team ever since. Smith's role is to hassle the quarterback, and he's done a good job for a long time. He was signed to fill the void left when Bryant Young retired, and has been a staple on the 49ers defensive line and occasionally out outside linebacker. Since Singletary took over, Smith has almost exclusively been a right defensive end.

Smith is the owner of Raliwood Golf Club in Holts Summit, Missouri, and enjoys playing the sport very much. You have to love that.. Like playing golf? Buy a golf club, obviously. Sushi is also apparently Smith's favorite meal before a football game--be it because it's nice to his insides, or that he just loves the taste.

He's a dog guy, and I respect that because I too am a dog guy. He's got four dogs that I know of, Harley, Lady, Bear and Red. Good, solid dog names. Now he needs one named "gold." Get it? Get it? Anyway...

Smith has been solid for the team, likes golf, a big dog lover, and all-around a pretty cool guy. Not much else out there on the guy, and so this player profile is, how you say, done.

Here's an interview with Justin Smith when he made the pro bowl this past season. Jared Allen and Justin Smith on the same line.. Man. Just man.

2010 Pro Bowl: Justin Smith Joins NFC in Miami (via sanfrancisco49ers)