'Confident' Cowboys' Mazi Smith Debut Review: 'Ups and Downs'

Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Mazi Smith reveals his reason for exuding confidence, despite being a rookie. ... while coach Mike McCarthy reviews his debut.

Dallas Cowboys rookie defensive tackle Mazi Smith has exuded confidence for much of training camp, especially after saying "I don’t even like football. I like hitting people."

The 26th overall pick out of the University of Michigan spoke about his self-assured mindset after Saturday's preseason opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"(The Cowboys) drafted me in the first round, so I have no choice but to be confident," Smith said. "There's certain games down the road that you have to be ready for. If you aren't ready for that, everything that you did before doesn't matter."

Does coach Mike McCarthy agree with that first-game evaluation?

"I thought he did some really powerful things in the A gaps, which is what I'm looking for from an anchor," McCarthy said. "Mazi definitely falls in the category of being a young player in his first game. He had his ups and downs. I thought he did some really nice things."

Smith hasn't been named the starter yet, according to the Cowboys unofficial depth chart. But McCarthy is suggesting that Mazi is in that mix. Meanwhile, the rookie has a lot of praise for defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and the rest of the defense.

"We're just getting started," Smith said. "Seeing (Quinn) and how excited he is about the young guys getting better, we're ready to go up this path. It's exciting to be part of something again."

The 6-3, 337-pounder believes his hard-hitting mentality will fit well in Quinn's system because, according to Smith, "football is really not about scheme at all."

"It's about how hard you're hitting, what's your will, can you beat your opponent into submission?" Smith said. "There's certain plays that you're going to call in certain situations, but ... you should let your players play. DQ wants us to play hard first without the scheme. He wants to see what we got. It's football.

Of course, in Smith-like fashion, when asked what his favorite part of the Jaguars game was, he responded with a resounding "hitting somebody." And he'll get another chance to do that Saturday night in preseason game No. 2 at Seattle.

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