Vincent Sanders is used to people sleeping on DeVonta Smith. The longtime mentor has watched as his lanky receiver has been doubted and dismissed due to his wiry build. It doesn’t bother Sanders at all. After all, he’s grown pretty fond of seeing Smith prove them wrong time and again.

“I remember we went up to camp up at Georgia for Dawg Night heading into his junior year. It was back when (Jeremy) Pruitt and Sam Pettito were up there ” Sanders recalled. “I was trying to get him reps with the top group of receivers, and they were kind of like, ‘Naaah.’ I kept at them like ‘Just put my guy in there.’ I kept pressing them because they had all the big-time receivers up there. I kept pressing and pressing. Then they were finally like, ‘OK, we’re going to see what he got.’ They felt like they were going to shut me up.”

They couldn’t have been more wrong.

After finally getting his way, Sanders turned to his star receiver and told him to do what he had seen him do countless times back home in Amite, La.

“I said, ‘Tay, I’m going to be in the back of the end zone. You run, and when you kill them you bring it all the way to me,’” he said. “He did just that. When he got in the rotation, first play: puh, puh, puh, boom. He killed him and brought the ball all the way to me.”

A then insufferable Sanders quickly bellowed over to the Georgia coaching staff, “Hey Pruitt, what did I tell you?”

“Then I turned to DeVonta and said, ‘Go bring me another one,” Sanders said. “He ended up doing that about five more times.”

Smith left the camp with an offer and later committed to the Bulldogs less than three weeks later. However, after Georgia named Kirby Smart as its next head coach the following December, the Bulldogs coaching staff underwent a turnover. The coaching carousel saw two of Smith’s biggest connections — Sam Petitto and Jeremy Pruitt — make way to Alabama. After decommitting to Georgia three days after Alabama’s victory over Clemson in the 2016 national championship game, Smith ended up following the pair of coaches to Tuscaloosa, Ala., committing to Alabama on National Signing Day a year later.

The Crimson Tide has reaped the rewards from there.

While Smith is best known for his game-winning catch against Georgia in overtime of the 2018 national championship game during his freshman year, he’s been far from a one-hit-wonder. After a solid sophomore campaign last year, he’s experienced a breakout season as he has emerged as the leader of the Crimson Tide’s vaunted receiving corps.

Through 11 games, Smith tops the Crimson Tide in both receiving yards (1,120) and receiving touchdowns (13). According to Pro Football Focus, he leads the nation with 703 yards after the catch while averaging a whopping 12.1 yards after receptions. Alabama quarterbacks have compiled a sterling 152.6 NFL passer rating on balls thrown his way, which is the highest among any receiver in the nation with at least 70 targets.

Still, the gaudy numbers haven’t prevented Smith from getting overlooked. Despite surpassing his fellow Alabama receivers on the stat sheet, he is still often viewed as the third member of the Crimson Tide’s “Ryde Outs” by those outside the Alabama program.

USA Today’s latest four-round mock draft released earlier this week has Jerry Jeudy going No. 4 overall to the Washington Redskins and Henry Ruggs III tabbed at No. 13 to the Philadelphia Eagles. However, Smith slid all the way down to No. 59 overall to the Buffalo Bills in the second round. Smith was also snubbed by the Biletnikoff Award this week as he wasn't selected as one of three finalists for the honor given to the nation's best receiver.

The biggest knock against the junior is his unassuming size. Alabama lists Smith at 6-foot-1, 175 pounds. However, his teammates joke that he’s probably closer to 160 pounds. That lack of bulk has already raised a few red flags for some NFL teams.

“Not very strong and REALLY skinny, but he’s a good athlete with good speed,” an AFC scouting director told Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer earlier this season. “Will drop the football too, that’s been a problem. He’s a solid mid-round player, but you worry when he’s not surrounded by all that talent if his deficiencies show up a lot more.”

Of course, that opinion isn’t shared by all talent evaluators. Jim Nagy, a longtime NFL scout who now serves as the executive director of the Senior Bowl, has seen Smith play live five times this season. Three of those have come in games against South Carolina, Ole Miss and LSU where he combined for 623 yards and nine touchdowns.

“I think he has the best pure hands of that group. I think he catches it, tracks it the most consistently,” Nagy said. “I think that DeVonta is just a really good all-around player. He doesn’t have a real weakness. I think that his size and his frame, there’s probably going to be some concerns in the NFL about his bulk. But when you put on the tape, he doesn’t play like an under-bulked guy in contact. He powers through arm tackles and absorbs contact and does some things after the catch that alleviate those concerns for me.”

Last week, Smith recorded four receptions for 94 yards and two touchdowns during Alabama’s 66-3 victory over Western Carolina. Following the game, Nick Saban spoke out about some of the misconceptions concerning Smith’s size, stating that “even though he’s a thin-built guy, he’s really not frail, doesn’t play frail, doesn’t play weak.”

“I think that’s something that’s always been with me,” Smith said this week. “Growing up, always playing with older people, I think it came naturally to me. I do try to play physical. Nobody wants to go out there and get bullied around. I know that’s true for a lot of teams, trying to say I’m not the biggest guy and they try to bully me, but I’m not going for it.”

Sanders has been trying to explain that to doubters for years.

“See him when he doesn’t have a shirt on, then tell me he’s small,” Sanders said. “He’s ripped up. He’s cock-strong, bruh. That’s what gets people. Everybody’s like, ‘I’m going to jab him off the line.’ Try it."

Smith’s detractors will also point to the fact that a good portion of his yardage has come in big chunks. He set Alabama’s single-game records for receiving yards (274) and receiving touchdowns (five) against Ole Miss, which ranks No. 122 in the nation in pass defense. Smith added 213 receiving yards and two more touchdowns through the air against an LSU team which ranks No. 70 against the pass.

Alabama has played only three games against top-40 pass defenses this season — Duke (35), Texas A&M (No. 21) and Tennessee (No. 23). Smith has only played a full game in one of those contests.

He was suspended for the first quarter against Duke before recording five receptions for 51 yards and a touchdown. He was also suspended during the first half against Tennessee and recorded just one catch for 18 yards in a game that saw starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa leave the game in the second quarter. During his only full game against a top secondary, Smith tallied seven receptions for 99 yards and a touchdown against Texas A&M.

This week, Alabama will go up against an Auburn defense that ranks No. 27 in the nation, giving up just 196.9 yards per game through the air. The Tigers have allowed just three 100-yard receivers this season — Texas A&M’s Jahmon Ausbon (111 yards), Florida’s Freddie Swain (146 yards) and LSU's Ja’Marr Chase (123 yards). Smith would certainly give more credibility to his resume if he was able to add his name to that list Saturday.

“They’re real long and they’re real physical at the line, so just working releases and being more physical at the line with them,” Smith said. “(It will take) the will to do it, just wanting to do it.”

That’s nothing Smith isn’t used to.

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