An arrest over the weekend for driving under the influence will result in missed playing time for Alabama cornerback Geno Smith.
Nick Saban said Tuesday that Smith will miss the Tide’s season opener against Virginia Tech as punishment. There are also certain “in house’ things Smith must take care of as well.
“We’ve never had an issue with Geno. He’s an excellent person,” Saban said. “He’s never been in trouble here before, never been in my office for anything, but I think this is something that everybody should learn from that when you make a bad choice, sometimes the consequences of that choice can really have a negative effect.
“Some of these guys don’t have enough foresight to understand cause and effect, but Geno has been a really good person in the program and just made a choice, bad decision. Made several of them, so now he’s got consequences for it.”
Smith was on at practice Tuesday, but he wasn’t working with the first team. The sophomore is expected to be a key contributor in the secondary this season after playing in 13 games as a freshman.
Additionally, linebacker Trey DePriest was back at practice after missing the past several days because of suspension. Saban said DePriest, second on the team last year in tackles, must work his way back up the depth chart.