TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Did you know that the first draft pick to ever play in the National Football League was from the University of Alabama?

Riley Smith was a fullback on the 1933 team but switched to quarterback the following season when head coach Frank Thomas’ team went 10-0 and handily defeated Stanford in the Rose Bowl, 29-13, to claim the national championship.

He was listed as being 6’1”, 195 pounds, and to give an idea of his versatility not only did Smith handle the Crimson Tide’s kicking duties, he won the Jacobs Award as the Southeastern Conference’s best blocker.

When the NFL held its first draft at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia on February 8, 1936, Jay Berwanger, the ...

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