Chase Smith is his sixth year as a member of the the University of South Alabama football program’s staff and his second working with Jaguar tight ends.
Last season he worked with first-team all-Sun Belt Conference selection Gerald Everett, who in the spring became the Jags’ first-ever individual selected in the National Football League after he was chosen by the Los Angeles Rams in the second round. Everett concluded his senior season ranked among the top 10 in the league in both catches and receiving yards per contest.
Smith also helped Maaseiah Francis record more than 250 yards as well as South tight ends contributed over 1,000 yards to a unit that ranked among the top five in the league in passing and total offense.
His previous two years at USA Smith worked with the Jaguars’ offensive line, helping four individuals gain all-Sun Belt recognition on five occasions during that stretch. During the 2014 campaign, Ucambre Williams was voted second-team all-league while Chris May and Melvin Meggs received honorable mention accolades. His efforts in 2015 helped May move up to second-team all-league, with Joseph Scelfo selected first-team all-SBC as the Jags were one of only three teams in the conference to have more than one individual honored on the first- and second-teams.
And, three of those student-athletes garnered national attention during the summer leading up to the season with Williams named to the Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List in July 2014, and May and Scelfo both candidates for the honor the following summer. Scelfo also was on the Rimington Trophy Watch List — given to the best center in the nation — prior to the start of the 2015 season.
Smith assisted with the line during the Jaguars’ 2013 campaign, working with a USA offense that averaged more than 250 yards per game passing and 425 overall while scoring nearly 30 points per outing. The Jaguar offensive line allowed less than 1½ sacks per contest as well that fall to lead the Sun Belt in the category, and after the season both May (first-team) and Williams (second-team) were named to the all-league team.
In 2012, Smith was the program’s director of football operations, while he was a graduate assistant coach helping with the offensive line the previous fall. That season, the Jags — who were in the first of a two-year transition to the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level — recorded a 6-4 mark against what was then the toughest schedule in program history.
He received his bachelor’s degree in 2005 and master’s degree in ’08, both in physical education, from Jacksonville State, gaining extensive experience coaching at the high school level in Alabama after earning the first. He began as an assistant working with offensive and defensive linemen on the freshman team at Spain Park High in the fall of ’05, moving on to Greenville HS to work with running backs a year later — the Tigers would finish 10-3 while advancing to the quarterfinals of the state 5A playoffs that season.
Smith then joined the staff at Spanish Fort High, where he worked with running backs in 2007, the defensive line from 2008-09 and the offensive line in ’10. During his time on the Toro staff, SFHS put together a 39-13 (75%) mark culminating with the state 5A championship in Smith’s final year with the program. The Toros went 11-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs in 2008, reached the semifinals of the state playoffs the following fall while putting together an 11-3 record prior to winning the title. Smith served as offensive coordinator that year as well, which SFHS ended with a 13-2 mark.
He and his wife Vanessa have one daughter, Monroe.
The Smith File
Born: Sept. 11, 1983, in Birmingham, Ala.
Education:
Jacksonville State ’05, bachelor’s degree in physical education
Jacksonville State ’08, master’s degree in physical education
Collegiate Playing Experience: Three years, offensive line, Jacksonville State
Coaching/Administrative Experience:
Spain Park [Ala.] High — assistant coach, 2005
Greenville [Ala.] High — assistant coach, 2006
Spanish Fort [Ala.] High — assistant coach, 2007-10
South Alabama — graduate assistant coach, 2011
South Alabama — director of operations, 2012
South Alabama — assistant coach, 2013-
Family: Wife, Vanessa; One daughter, Monroe (3)
