Braden Smith 'in the 99 percentile' of physical ability

AUBURN – Braden Smith has quickly made his enormous presence felt on the Plains.

The massive 6-foot-6 299-pound freshman offensive lineman earned a laundry list of monikers during the fall camp portion of practice.

Center Reese Dismukes said Smith looks like the freakish Rocky IV villain Ivan Drago.

Offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee refers to him as "the Hulk," tight end C.J. Uzomah called Smith "a complete monster" and right tackle Patrick Miller said he's a "freak."

Fellow lineman Jordan Diamond, himself 6-foot-6 and 318 pounds, had another movie reference.

"I call him the Terminator," Diamond said. "The freaking Terminator."

The tales of Smith's physical prowess preceded his arrival on the Plains.

There's the video of him doing three bench press reps of 515 pounds in high school. He was the Kansas high school champion in shot put and discus.

That Smith is able to translate his Paul Bunyan-esque traits onto the football field has veteran offensive line coach J.B. Grimes giddy.

"He's in the 99 percentile when it comes to the physical ability and the ability to bend," Grimes said. "That strength and size for a freshman? Ninety-nine percentile in the country."

Smith, who played guard at Olathe South High School, moved to tackle in his first fall camp, where he's been practicing with the second-team offensive line. Smith is listed behind starter Shon Coleman on the left side but would not likely be the first in line if a change were to occur due to injury, as Avery Young would move back to right tackle and Miller could play on the left side.

"I think Braden Smith will help us. He's not starting right now but he's gonna be in our two-deep, there's no secret there," Lashlee said. "Braden is someone who is physically ready and can potentially help us this year."

Smith is already drawing comparisons to Greg Robinson, who redshirted his first year at Auburn, a move coach Gus Malzahn admitted was an error in hindsight.

The biggest concern is Smith's ability to learn the offense well enough in order to play consistently.

"He's ultra-talented, he's everything that we thought when we recruited him. It's just a matter of learning the offense and the little details, but when you say block the guy in front of you, he's going to block the guy in front of him," Malzahn said. "He's still learning, but he's a very smart young man. I know comparisons now, but when Greg Robinson was a freshman, there's a lot of similarities."

Teammates already see Smith's size and strength as advantages that will mitigate any shortcomings he may have while learning the offense in the short-term.

"We do those hook-up drills when we do two-on-ones and that kid, his fundamentals … if you ask coach Grimes he'll, 'oh, well, he has a lot of fundamental things to work on.'" Uzomah said. "But even fundamentally if he doesn't do right, he benches like 515 (pounds) a few times, and I'm like, 'Well, it doesn't matter. They're not going to move you.'"

By all accounts it's going to be Smith, who hasn't been available for interviews, doing the moving.