Alfred Smith

All-American Defensive End (1989-90)

Alfred Smith grew up in Brandon, Florida, and attended Coffeyville Community College for two years.  He entered Coffeyville Community College in August 1989, playing for Head Coach Skip Foster in Foster’s first Red Raven class.  Smith started six games at linebacker his freshman year, recording 21 unassisted tackles, 63 assisted tackles, and three quarterback sacks.  The team posted a 6-3 record in 1989.

During his freshman year, Smith was moved from inside linebacker to a pass rushing defensive end in the transition from Coffeyville’s traditional five-man front to a new four-man front.  The new defense would be centered on utilizing four defensive linemen instead of three and would require the defensive ends to be more responsible as pure pass rushing specialists.  In August 1990, Defensive Coordinator Willie Fritz was quoted in The Coffeyville Journal saying, “We feel we have one of the top defensive players in the conference in Alfred.  We want to utilize his speed; he’s one of the fastest guys on the team.  He’s the third fastest, as a matter of fact.”

Head Coach Skip Foster later stated that Alfred really changed the type of players utilized not only in Coffeyville’s defensive package, but also in the entire Jayhawk Conference.  Alfred qualified for the 200 meters in the state of Florida his senior year in track and also was a sprinter on CCC’s track team his freshman year during the spring season.

During Smith’s sophomore year, he accumulated 24 unassisted tackles and 37 assisted tackles while playing defensive end.  He also recorded nine quarterback sacks on the year.  Smith earned 1st Team All-Conference and was selected as the Top Defensive Player in the league in 1990 by coaches of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference.  He was selected 1st Team All-American by the NJCAA and the Grid Wire.  Smith was a vital part of a strong sophomore class who went undefeated 11-0 in 1990; the Red Ravens were crowned Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Champions, the 1990 NJCAA National Champions, and also the Grid Wire National Champions.  Alfred graduated from CCC in December 1990 with an Associate in Arts degree; he completed three semesters and one summer session.

In December 1990, Alfred signed with the University of Kansas.  After going home and consulting his mother and other family members, he changed his decision and signed with his home state Florida Gators, joining Steve Spurrier’s team.  In the spring of 2000, medical doctors in Florida located a birth defect in Alfred’s spinal column and would not allow him to continue playing football for safety reasons.  After consulting with other doctors, Alfred decided to give up playing football.  He went on to finish his degree from college.