Jaguars defend Tyson Alualu selection

In the wake of the Jacksonville Jaguars' shocking selection of Cal defensive tackle Tyson Alualu with the 10th overall selection, general manager Gene Smith is defending his choice.

Alualu was projected to go in the bottom of the first round or early in the second round.

"This is not a popularity contest,' Smith told Sports Illustrated. "I don't give a damn about perception. I care about picking the right player for our team. My attitude is, 'You can outsmart people some of the time, but you can outwork them all of the time.' If you can't trust your ability to judge players after all the work you put in on them, you shouldn't be in this business.'

Alualu is an ultra-productive, intense, athletic defensive lineman with a relentless motor. He's a mature young man as a married player with children. A lot of NFL teams liked him.

One head coach told National Football Post that they had a high grade on Alualu, but nowhere close to that spot.

From Smith's standpoint, though, this wasn't a case of a team getting so enamored of a player that they ignored the bigger picture of where he fits in terms of value.

"You can call this a reach, but the more work we did on him, the more we saw an excellent player with high character and excellent competitiveness who'd played every spot on the defensive line," Smith said. "I watched every game he played the last two years. The more I watched, the more I became convinced this was an excellent player for what we do. He had 17 sacks, playing inside a lot, and another one in the Senior Bowl. He's a very disruptive player.'

Time will tell whether the Jaguars were right or if they reached.

Give them credit for making a gutsy move at least. If you like a player, you had better have the courage of your convictions and stand by him and Alualu will be eager to prove that he was worthy of where he was picked.

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