Tua Tagovailoa dropped back, looked off the safety and floated the ball into DeVonta Smith’s outstretched hands for the game-winning touchdown. The freshman duo secured Alabama’s fifth national championship in nine years with a 26-23 overtime win over Georgia and was forever immortalized on a 41-yard score nationally known for the down and distance -- “2nd and 26.”

It was a night that will forever be etched in the pages of Crimson Tide football history thanks to a second-half comeback after trailing 13-0 at halftime, which was capped by the now-iconic play.

But for most of the offseason, the discussion has centered around the player that threw the pass in overtime, Tagovailoa -- because of Alabama’s quarterback situation entering the 2018 opener against Louisville on Saturday, Sept. 1 -- and not the player that caught it, Smith.

The latter, however, is perfectly fine with that being the case.

After the national title game, Smith said he would live the same life he had been, even after a life-changing event like January’s season finale for all of college football. And during the Tide’s preseason camp, he sharpened his sights on the present and future, not the past.

“I’ve moved on from that,” Smith said at the end of fall camp. “I’m just focusing on this season and doing what I can this year. That’s in the past. Nothing I can do about that now.”

That is just his personality, according to those closest to him. “That’s just Tay Tay.”

Vincent Sanders, who has been a mentor to Smith and other college hopefuls in Louisiana, said Smith calls him on the phone after games to review and critique his performance hours after its conclusion. They quickly get the “I love yous” out of the way first before breaking down Smith’s latest outing. Following the title game, he met Smith at the team hotel to congratulate him.

“I’m like, ‘Man, you caught the game-winning touchdown.’ And he was like, ‘I could’ve done this in the game. I could’ve done this better.’ He’s critiquing himself,” Sanders told BamaOnLine. “Once again, that’s Tay Tay. He’s always thinking of, ‘What could I have done better? Yeah, we won, but if I had been doing this earlier or doing this better -- I could’ve caught two touchdowns earlier and the game wouldn’t have been close.’ So, he’s that humble of a kid.”

The nation’s No. 62 overall prospect and No. 9 wide receiver in the 2017 recruiting cycle, per the 247Sports Composite, Smith played at Amite (La.) High School. Two days after his Warriors lost in the state championship game, Smith was back on the field running routes.

Alabama receiver DeVonta Smith celebrates after catching the game-winning touchdown.

Rather than relishing the plays that score points or win games, Smith is constantly searching for ways to improve, which is why he did not dwell on the play that is now a Daniel Moore painting. He wants to take that next step this fall, and reliving highlights will not accomplish that.

“The great ones, they’ve got something special,” Sanders said. “And he’s going to be special, man. We’re on Page 1 of the book, that’s how I look at it. This kid is just a different kid.”

Smith recorded seven receptions for 156 yards and three touchdowns as a true freshman in 2017 as one of three newcomers that came off the bench. With all three starters from last year’s team now gone, Smith, Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs III will be the leading receivers.

During the Crimson Tide’s preseason practices, the former 4-star recruit said he was focused on improving his technique and fundamentals. And an experiment in the spring will certainly help him with that. For a few practices, Smith spent some of UA’s individual periods working with the cornerbacks because of a lack of depth, giving him experience in case of an emergency.

“We’ve done it in the past with some other guys here,” head coach Nick Saban said Wednesday. “I think understanding coverages, understanding how people play can probably help you at his position at receiver, as well. He did a really good job of it. I think that if we needed him in a pinch we could get him ready to play and he could actually be pretty effective doing it.”

Smith added: “Playing corner helped me, the techniques at corner kind of tells me what coverage they’re in, things like that. It was fun. Back to my high school days. I played corner, too. It was just fun out there and I think it helped me a lot offensive-wise.”

Before even being asked the question, Sanders said, “he’s one of the best corners at Alabama.”

“Go back and check his highlights at corner. The kid’s a monster. But does it help? Yes, indeed. Because now you’ve got a receiver with a mind frame of a corner. That’s wicked. And I’m talking about a mind frame of a D-I, NFL corner. You’ve got a receiver that can think like that. So, before you do what you do, he knows what you’re going to do.”

That shows his versatility as an athlete and unselfish approach to the game in being willing to give up reps at receiver -- where he will see plenty of first-team minutes this fall -- in order to help out on the defensive side of the football for a hypothetical scenario. But Smith just loves football. He would run routes even he knew games were out of the question, Sanders said.

And that is an area of his skill set that has evolved since coming to Alabama.

Calvin Ridley (left) and Jerry Jeudy (right) celebrate with Smith after his touchdown reception.

“It’s crazy to say this because he was so sharp, but his route running is just like pouring out water,” Sanders said. “He makes it look so effortless. It trips me out, like, I think I’ve seen him do everything, and then he’ll do something that I’ll be like, ‘Gee-zus. Where did that come from?’”

But that is just Smith, or “Smitty,” as everyone calls him in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

He is the other freshman hero of last year’s national championship game, the one that is seldom mentioned. And he is often lumped together with the other two sophomore receivers that are set to also step into first-team roles for the Crimson Tide’s upcoming title defense.

But Smith showed the kind of plays he can make when he reeled in the pass from Tagovailoa at the two-yard line and glided into the end zone and college football history books on Jan. 8.

“When it happened, I was running the route with him,” Sanders said. “But I mean, a lot of people back home -- it’s going to sound crazy and whatever, but that’s Tay Tay. Because we’ve seen him do that his whole life. Whenever we were down in a game in high school, ‘Hey, coach. What play are we going to run?’ ‘Throw it to Tay Tay. He’s going to do something.’”

He is proud of the championship he helped win, but Smith is ready to write a new chapter.

“The Catch,” as it is referred to in southeastern Louisiana, means a lot to a lot of people from Smith’s hometown, however. Like Tagovailoa, he was also rewarded with a parade in Amite, along with junior defensive back Shyheim Carter, who hails from Kentwood, La.

And while the passer has received the lion’s share of the attention since the legendary play -- and deservedly so for bringing the team back after intermission and scoring three touchdowns -- the receiver also deserves credit for his lone, albeit clutch, catch of the evening.

“We always clown and say that every 10 years you get a certain kid to come through, and he’s that kid,” Sanders said. “And I’m just blessed that I was able to see him his whole life, and a lot of people in our community were able to see that. We saw him develop.

“It was just a special moment for not only his family, his mother, his father, his grandfather, his grandmother, his brother, his cousins, me, his teammates, it was special for the community, for Tangipahoa Parish. Because one of our own did something that I don’t think will ever happen to somebody from our parish again. A walk-off touchdown for the national championship, that’s monumental. But him being a humble kid, it’s just another day at work.”

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).

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