TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- At this point in the season last year, Alabama tight end Irv Smith Jr. had two receptions for seven receiving yards. It wasn’t until Week 6 that he reached his current total of six receptions, and it took until Oct. 21 to surpass his current mark of 80 yards.

Needless to say, the junior tight end is off to a strong start to the 2018 campaign by averaging more than 13 yards per catch and scoring a touchdown in the Crimson Tide’s first two contests.

So, what areas has Smith improved between Years 2 and 3 in UA’s football program?

“In pretty much every aspect of his game, he’s gotten a whole lot better,” senior tight end Hale Hentges said. “Especially blocking -- not that he wasn’t good before, but you can tell he’s really established his hand in the ground blocking which is going to help in the future.

“Obviously, he’s been a really big deep-play threat since he first stepped on campus, but now he’s just making plays. He’s realizing what potential he has and what ability he has, and I’m really excited to see where his game goes. As we keep playing, he keeps getting better and better. He’s understanding the games better, and hopefully, he can continue that because we’ll definitely need him.”

Smith started the season with a pair of receptions for 39 yards against Louisville, including a 32-yard wheel route in the third quarter from sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The New Orleans native was able to show off his speed, which surprises some of his teammates.

“Irv is a really quick player,” wideout DeVonta Smith said. “He’s a quick player to say he’s a tight end.”

Smith has been “playing great,” Hentges said, to start the season. He hauled in a career-high four catches for 41 yards this past weekend against Arkansas State while catching a 10-yard touchdown from junior quarterback Jalen Hurts in the second quarter of the 57-7 win.

Alabama tight end Irv Smith Jr. attempts to catch a pass against Louisville in the Tide's opener.

Smith’s 80 receiving yards on six receptions are the most through two games for a Crimson Tide tight end since first-round draft pick O.J. Howard caught seven passes for 105 yards in 2016. The following week, Howard hauled in four throws for 70 yards against Ole Miss.

But like the receiver alluded to, Smith is not the typical tight end.

The first-team H in Alabama’s offense, the junior has played all over the field thus far, showing off his versatility, which is the nature of the position now as 12th-year head coach Nick Saban explained in his weekly call-in radio show two weeks ago. And Smith, Saban said, “probably has more diversity as a player than any of our tight ends to do all those things.”

“Irv is a really good all-around player. Probably can do everything at the tight end position,” Saban said. “But tight end is different than what most people think out there. They think what Ozzie Newsome did at tight end years ago where he played beside a tackle with a hand in the dirt is a tight end.

“A tight end is three things now. A tight end has his hand in the dirt some of the time -- very seldom, if you really watch football now. He’s off the ball quite a bit of the time doing what an old-fashioned fullback used to do, whether it was in I-Formation or whether it was offset. And then they become wide receivers in a lot of four-open sets.

“So, to really be a good tight end in this day and age, you have to have a really, really strong skill set that is unique in terms of size, blocking ability, toughness -- which may be a big man that you have to block if you’re in what I call the ‘C’ area beside the tackle, aight. Then you’ve got to be athletic enough to make the space blocks -- like we call them ‘slider plays’ -- that the fullback would make. And now you’re out there playing wideout with probably a DB covering you.”

As the Tide’s season continues Saturday, Sept. 15, in Oxford, Miss., against Ole Miss in a 6 p.m. CT kickoff on ESPN, Smith will continue to look to take advantage of the mismatches he creates.

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

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