Having practiced alongside Smith in OTA workouts Tuesday and Wednesday, Trevathan likes what he has seen from the eighth overall pick in this year's draft.

"He's quick, instinctive, learns well," Trevathan said. "He's just out here trying to get better. That's what I like about him. He's calling the call sheets out. He's learning the plays. That's what you want in him. You want him to come out here and be humble. You want him to work hard. I see that in his eyes, coming out here. It's a lot of lights on him. It's a lot of attention on him. But he's finding himself out here, coming out here and trying to make some plays."

As one of the Bears' respected veterans, Trevathan feels a responsibility to help mentor Smith, who won the Butkus Award last year at Georgia as the nation's best linebacker.

"I'm going to help him as much as I can," Trevathan said. "That's my job here as a leader on this defense. He's a guy that works his tail off, so it shouldn't be hard to give him little details about anything. Anything he needs help with, I'm right here to help him with."

Trevathan feels that he and Smith will help each other by pushing each other and communicating.

"I'm just anxious to see how he keeps growing," Trevathan said. "He's got a good head on his shoulders, came from a good program. I feel like we got a good linebacker."

In Wednesday's practice, Smith showed some of the unique traits that helped convince the Bears to select him with the eighth pick in the draft when he quickly diagnosed a short pass near the sideline and arrived on the scene in an instant.