Jeff Smoker (born June 13, 1981) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who played for, and drafted by, the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) from 2004 to 2005. He played college football for the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

. He was also the starting quarterback for the

Nashville Kats The Nashville Kats were an Arena Football League team, located in Nashville, Tennessee. They were last coached by Pat Sperduto, who coached the team's original incarnation to two ArenaBowl appearances prior to the original franchise's move to A ...

and Arizona Rattlers of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

(AFL).

College career

Jeff Smoker attended Michigan State University. While at Michigan State, he set many of the

Spartans Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referr ...

' passing records and when he finished his collegiate career he was the fifth leading passer-by-yards in

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

history. Smoker appeared in two

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

s during his career, winning his first, and only, in the Silicon Valley Football Classic 44–35 against

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

as a sophomore in 2001. He lost his last bowl game against

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

with a score of 17–3 as a senior in the

2003 Alamo Bowl The 2003 Alamo Bowl was an American football bowl game between the Michigan State Spartans and the Nebraska Cornhuskers played December 29, 2003 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. In a defensive game, Nebraska scored first, leading 3–0 on ...

. Smoker also played in the "Clockgate" game against the Michigan Wolverines on November 3, 2001. In the game Smoker threw the winning

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

with one second remaining.

Substance abuse

Smoker was suspended for the last five games of the 2002 season by coach

Bobby Williams Robert Vann Williams (born November 21, 1958) is an American football coach who most recently served as the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at the University of Oregon from 2018 to 2021. Williams served as the head coach at Mich ...

due to a violation of team rules. It was later revealed that Smoker was dealing with substance abuse issues. His story and comeback was profiled in a front-page story in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

''. Williams was fired toward the end of the 2002 season. Incoming coach John Smith reinstated Smoker in August 2003.

Michigan State passing records

Held the following Michigan State passing records:
''Records that have been surpassed are marked with an *'' Career records * Passing yards: 8,932* * Touchdown passes: 61* * Pass attempts: 1,150* * Pass completions: 685* * 200-yard passing games: 23 * Interceptions: 39 * Passing yards per game (min 20 games): 217.9 Season records * Passing yards: 3,395 (2003) * Pass attempts: 488 (2003) * Pass completions: 302 (2003) * Passing efficiency rating (min 75 attempts): 166.4 (2001) * Total offense yards per attempt (min 100 attempts): 7.35 (2001) * Passing yards per game (min 5 games): (2003)* * Passing touchdowns: 21 (2001, 2003)* Single game records * Pass attempts: 55 vs Ohio State (2003) * Pass completions: 35 vs Ohio State (2003)

Professional career

Pre-draft

St. Louis Rams

Smoker was drafted in the 6th round of the

2004 NFL Draft The 2004 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 2004 at the Theater at ...

by the

, he made the Rams' roster in his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

year as the team's third-string quarterback. In his second year he was beaten out of that position by 2005 7th round draft pick

Ryan Fitzpatrick Ryan Joseph Fitzpatrick (born November 24, 1982) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. During his career, Fitzpatrick started at quarterback for nine different teams, the most ...

and was cut from the Rams at the end of

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

Philadelphia Eagles

Smoker spent a brief time on the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

' practice squad in 2005.

St. Louis Rams (second stint)

He spent the 2005 season on the club's practice squad due to injuries to the Ram's starter

Marc Bulger Marc Robert Bulger (; born April 5, 1977) is a retired American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the sixth r ...

and his back-up, Jamie Martin. Due to the Rams' signing of former

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

quarterback

Gus Frerotte Gustave Joseph Frerotte (; born July 31, 1971) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the 1994 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tulsa. Frerotte, who was selected to ...

in the 2006 offseason, Smoker was cut from the Rams roster at the beginning of the 2006 training camp on July 26, 2006.

Kansas City Chiefs

On August 9, 2006, he was signed by the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

. Smoker was released on August 28.

Nashville Kats

Smoker was signed by the

of the

(AFL) on November 17, 2006. He got his first start with the Kats on March 18, 2007 versus the

Utah Blaze The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did not submit proper ...

in Nashville. He replaced Clint Stoerner as the starting quarterback midway through the season and help lead the Kats to a 7-9 record, just barely missed the playoffs. He was released from the team at the end of the 2007 season.

Arizona Rattlers

Smoker was signed by the Arizona Rattlers, where he made his first starts after starter Lang Campbell went down with a sprained ankle. He was their starting quarterback until the league folded in 2009.

AFL Statistics

References

External links

ArenaFan.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smoker, Jeff 1981 births Living people American football quarterbacks Michigan State Spartans football players St. Louis Rams players Nashville Kats players Arizona Rattlers players People from Manheim, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania