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Eagles' top pick's recipe for success

Linebacker Marcus Smith II has all the ingredients; he just needs some seasoning.

Eagles rookie Marcus Smith. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
Eagles rookie Marcus Smith. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)Read more

IT DANGLES from the shelf near the top of his locker, but athletes deserve a modicum of privacy no matter how much access is afforded the press.

Another copy - 8 1/2-by-11, laminated, five red bullet points and 16 sub-bullets - lies on the bench near his seat; but still, it belongs to him and no one else. Unless he offers it.

Then, he offers it.

"If I do these things," Marcus Smith II says, "everything else will take care of itself."

He made the little signs himself and asked the Eagles' equipment manager to laminate them. He will leave one hanging in his locker and he will take the other to his home, to remind himself:

* To be a hard worker.

* To be humble.

* To earn the trust of his teammates and his family.

* To be reliable and accountable and predictable, for those same people.

* To understand, and then to perform, the way his coaches believe he can.

It looks like it will be a while before these intangibles hanging in his locker become tangible on the football field.

From January to April, no player's stock rose as much as Smith's, but he remained undrafted when the Eagles picked 26th overall. It was they who pulled the trigger on Smith, which raised a few eyebrows.

Those eyebrows will raise again if Smith is inactive when his NFL career begins Sunday.

"To be honest, I'm not sure what's going to happen this weekend. I'm not in on any special teams," Smith said yesterday. He sounded as if he is resigned to watch. "I just pray I can be out there."

"Being out there" for the Eagles on Sunday is of little real relevance, all things considered.

The Eagles drafted Smith knowing he would not supplant starters Conner Barwin and Trent Cole. They hoped he might outplay pass-rush specialist Brandon Graham, but Smith failed to do that. Also, the Eagles upgraded their special teams through free agency. He is an excellent athlete for his 6-3, 261-pound frame, but he is not needed in those roles.

Still, they have invested a first-round pick in Smith, the latest attempt in a spotty history of drafting players whom they expected to harass quarterbacks. From 2006-13, the eight drafts before the Eagles took Smith, they used nine picks in the first three rounds on defensive linemen, including three first-round picks.

Four remain: first-round ends Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham, now a linebacker; second-round end Vinny Curry; and third-round tackle Bennie Logan.

At least they will be active Sunday.

It speaks to Smith's focus, and to his character, that this seems to bother him none. In fact, it seems to inspire him.

"Nobody ever thought I was going to go in the first round. I try to keep that chip on my shoulder," Smith said. "People didn't think I was going to be here. You need to show them why you are here."

He won't show anybody anything until he's in uniform, and he knows the questions will linger until he produces.

"I try not to listen to that," Smith said, "because it will just wear you down."

He does hear, though. In a world fueled by Instagrams and tweets, no one with electricity can escape the burden of his fame. No one feels the burden like a first-round pick in a football-crazy town, where every pass rush is dissected.

"There's been times I didn't do too well this preseason. And times I did really good. You have to let those bad things go," Smith said. "I learned a lot about myself. I learned you can't take anything for granted; being a first-rounder doesn't mean anything."

Smith's coaches have consistently praised his ability to cover tight ends and keep the play inside the numbers, but they didn't draft him to be a shepherd. They drafted him to be a wolf.

Smith's stock rose because he compiled 14 1/2 sacks last season at Louisville. But he didn't sniff a quarterback in the preseason.

"I definitely want to be a dominant pass rusher," Smith said. "I feel like I'm getting better at coverage and setting the edge, but I think getting to the quarterback really changes games."

First, he must change himself.

"I definitely need to get my hands faster and be able to knock tackles' hands down and get around them," Smith said. "I can't give up my chest; these tackles in the NFL are really, really good. The things I did in college might not work. I will have to change my approach when I'm going up against a tackle.

"And always sell my speed, because I am a fast guy."

He has been advised on that last part by an expert. Smith generally practices on the left side of the defense, but backups compose the scout team against the first-team offense. So, whenever he can, Smith goes to the right side to face the team's only slam-dunk Hall of Famer.

"I go to the right side, just to get work on Jason Peters. I know he'll make me better," Smith said.

Smith was a quarterback in high school before he moved to linebacker in college. Peters entered the NFL as a tight end but now is its best left tackle. He knows the challenge of making your body perform in a new manner, and playing to your strengths.

"Just kill them with speed," Peters told Smith. "Once a tackle like me over-sits, spin inside and get the quarterback. They're going to be scared of your speed. Once you get them once, you can get them with the inside move. Tackles hate when you sell speed, then spin inside."

They talk often, and not just during practice.

"I think that's why they put my locker next to his," Smith said, looking into Peters' cubicle.

If Smith fails to play much this season, Peters can counsel him in that, too. Peters played five games as a rookie.

Still, Smith said, he would rather sit and grow with a solid team like Philadelphia than play immediately with a lesser club. After all, he learned patience at Louisville.

"It happened to me in college, when I changed positions and I wasn't playing that well. I've been through it before," Smith said. "I'm so happy that happened. If I didn't go through it in college, I wouldn't know how to handle it now."

Then, as now, he was supported.

Smith spent his adolescence playing all sports - football, basketball, baseball - with his sister, Jasmine, who is 2 years older. The connection they created then remains today. Over the past few weeks, she would maybe send a devotional message to her little brother, or a cheerful text, or she would call out of the blue. Even before she heard the timbre of his voice, she would ask: "What's wrong?"

"It seems like she just knows," Smith marveled.

Whether or not he is active, Smith's family will attend the game Sunday. After all, it is his first day at school.

"I'm definitely excited . . . just to see how the atmosphere is going to be. I can't wait to see how a regular-season game is going to be," Smith said. "If I'm not on the field, if I'm standing on the sidelines for the first game, I understand that it's going to be a process. It's going to take time. I'll get it done."

One bullet point at a time.