While Aldon Smith's off-field issues could keep from regular season games for some time, his exploits in practice were the talk of the San Francisco 49ers' three days of workouts with the Baltimore Ravens.

Both Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh and San Francisco defensive coordinator Vic Fangio lauded the play of the star pass-rusher in the workouts. That was echoed Monday after their final joint practice.

"He's had a heck-of-a week here," 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said. "He's had a heck-of-a training camp. ... he's taken his game to the highest level."

"He's a freak of nature out there," 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick said of Smith. "When you have [left tackle] Joe Staley come back to the huddle during training camp and is like, 'I'm really not sure how to try to attack him. I just have to try to slow him down'. So you really can't block him. That's a good thing to know when you're on offense and he's on defense for you. But he's looked great. He's done a lot of good things, he's in great shape and he's been playing well."

Smith said early in camp that he is in the best shape of his four-season NFL career. He has been extremely active all camp and looks primed for another big season. He has 42 sacks in 43 regular-season games.

Smith is expected to hear soon if he is going to receive an NFL suspension to start the season stemming from several off-field issues. He met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Thursday in New York.