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Tanzel Smart grew up admiring Aaron Donald, and may now fill his shoes


Tanzel Smart will play in his first NFL game on Sunday, and it looks like he will do so in Aaron Donald's place. Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

4:00 AM PT
Alden Gonzalez
ESPN Staff Writer

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Tanzel Smart's Tulane Green Wave had a Week 2 matchup against Georgia Tech in 2014, so Smart watched Georgia Tech's game film from the prior season. One of their opponents was Pitt; a Pitt program led by a disruptive, all-world 3-technique named Aaron Donald, who registered a sack and six tackles for loss and consistently tore through Georgia Tech's offensive line like it was made of papier-mache.

"He’s a beast, man," Smart said of Donald. "I’ve never seen anything like it."

Smart will play in his first NFL game on Sunday, and it looks like he will do so in Donald's place.

Donald did not join his Los Angeles Rams teammates for Wednesday's practice. And though coach Sean McVay will not rule him out for Week 1, it seems like a long shot that he will play. And even if he does -- by first reporting for Thursday's practice -- he won't play much. So Smart is listed as the starting defensive tackle in the Rams' unofficial depth chart, alongside nose tackle Michael Brockers and defensive end Ethan Westbrooks.

Smart hasn't been told that he will start, but called this coming Sunday "a dream come true" regardless.

He will replace the irreplaceable, but he refuses to put that type of pressure on himself.

"I’ve been preparing, really, all my life for this," Smart said. "Whatever the coaches ask me to do, I’m going to do it."

That's what McVay likes most about him.

"All he does is exactly what you want him to do, and he gets better every single day," McVay said of Smart. "He's one of the more conscientious players that we do have. ... Everybody wants to probably make a point about that he's short, but he seems to be a guy who tips the ball as much as anybody. You feel him as an offensive coach."

Scouts at one time also thought Donald was too short. He's listed at 6-foot-1 and 280 pounds, the same height as Smart but 10 pounds lighter. Smart, a sixth-round pick in this year's draft, played mostly the 3-technique at Tulane, lining up between the left guard and the left tackle. He racked up 9.5 sacks and 39 tackles for loss as a starter during his last three collegiate seasons, getting named first-team All-American Athletic Conference as a junior and senior.

This preseason, Smart had three hits on the quarterback and generally impressed. Throughout the summer, he has leaned on the veterans on the Rams' defensive line. Smart said that Brockers, who will line up to his left on Sunday, offered this advice: "Don't think, just play. Let the plays come to you."