Everything Mazi Smith Said About His Arrest, Legal Issue

Michigan defensive tackle Mazi Smith is in Arizona and ready to go despite his off the field issues that have yet to be fully resolved.

Anyone who knows Mazi Smith loves the kid. He's soft spoken, intellectual, a solid teammate and a damn good football player. But he's also still human. And because of that, he made a mistake on Oct. 7 that almost cost him part of his special senior season at Michigan.

Smith was arrested that early-October morning after he was pulled over while speeding in a residential neighborhood by Ann Arbor. Once pulled over, he was found to be illegally carrying a gun and driving without a license. After initially getting slapped with a felony, Smith pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor weapons charge and is now scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 12.

Wednesday was the first time Smith spoke to the media about everything that had transpired since that October 7 morning and the captain did not shy away from or dodge any question as he was peppered by dozens of media members. Here are several of Smith's more prominent quotes from the media session.

• "I’m a big compartmentalizer. Everything isn't always going to go your way. Sometimes, you know, I’m a young kid, I make mistakes, but at the same time I still had a job to do. Coach Harbaugh still trusted in me to be a leader on this team and a captain, which I much appreciated because he didn’t have to."
  
  
• "Coach Harbaugh just wanted all the facts — all the facts. H didn’t want any surprises. He just wanted me to be forthcoming and honest and that’s what I was ... I told Coach everything from the get go. Just like I told the police officer the truth from the get go. Honesty is the best policy, and so that’s what I was."
  
  
• "It’s funny because I had my certificate and I meant to turn it in a couple days before I got pulled over, but I had to reschedule for Wednesday of the week after, so I was like four days away from that."
  
  
• "You just...people get a story and they take it and run with it and make it seem like something it’s not. I think that it just shows how quick the tables can turn on you. You know everybody goes from thinking this of you and then you have a misunderstanding and they start thinking something completely different. But that’s life. It’s a life lesson."
  
  
• "I showed [people] you just stay calm when things seem to not be going how you had hoped. I would never put anybody in harm's way."
  
  
• "It's all love. I'm forever indebted. I'm just so appreciative that Coach Harbaugh didn't let this game get taken away from me. I'm sure some people would've have had it the other way around, but honesty is the best policy and that's what I was. I talked to Coach Harbaugh the first day I had that happen and we were on the same page from the get-go." 
  
  
• "A lot of people were saying we're hiding it or sweeping it under the rug. To be honest, it's not everyone's business until it is. It's about me and Coach Harbaugh and the understanding that we have and it's about the legal system, doing justice."