draftyear birth_place article_title position draftround birth_date college draftpick
1959 walker springs , alabama zeke smith
 guard 4 29 september 1936 auburn 48
zeke smith

roger duane `` zeke '' smith -lrb- born september 29 , 1936 in walker springs , alabama -rrb- is a former american football player in the national football league for the baltimore colts and the new york giants .
he played college football at auburn university where he was awarded the outland trophy in 1958 .
his banner , along with four other auburn greats - bo jackson , pat sullivan , tracy rocker and carlos rogers , is hanging outside jordan-hare stadium in his honor .
he was drafted in the fourth round of the 1959 nfl draft .
it 's rare that on a national championship team , even one dominated by defense , that an interior lineman is the shining star .
during the great run of superlative years enjoyed by auburn in the late 1950s , there were a number of outstanding linemen playing both ways for a team that would have been to three or four consecutive bowl games , even in the days when there were but four major bowls , if not for their probationary status .
roger duane `` zeke '' smith was a slow-footed but powerful fullback at tiny uniontown , al high school .
most offenses put their biggest and fastest player at fullback and ran him often and zeke was the star at uniontown yet went unrecruited by nearby alabama .
jordan wondered why his rival , just down the road from neighboring uniontown , was n't interested in what was supposed to be a decent recruit .
zeke 's father and coach jordan 's father both worked for southern railway and after being told of the weekend exploits of his friend 's son , he passed the word onto his son shug .
given one of the final available scholarships , zeke was immediately moved to the interior line , also a somewhat standard procedure in that era to make the best use of athletic running backs who had potential for growth .
the entire auburn line of 1957 consisted of converted high school fullbacks and smith went from a back-up frosh center to a redshirt year on the scout team to the starting all conference guard in the course of two seasons .
`` i think i was better as a sophomore than as a junior or senior , '' said smith , `` i was trying harder to make the team . ''
nicknamed zeke by his high school coach because of his affection for georgia quarterback zeke bratkowski , smith was the standout on an exceptional line , especially defensively , and won the outland trophy as a junior in ' 58 .
playing linebacker , defensive end , and offensive guard , smith lasted six pro years with the colts , giants , and edmonton eskimos of the cfl in an injury-plagued career but he remains the standard by which all auburn linemen are measured .
