Alabama tight end Irv Smith Jr. could not have dreamed of a better start to the Arkansas game.

After the top-ranked Crimson Tide received the opening kickoff, sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa faked the handoff to senior running back Damien Harris and then hit Smith near the right hash marks on the Alabama 25-yard line. The junior tucked the ball, turned upfield and tight-roped the Arkansas sideline for a 76-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage.

“You can’t ask for a better day,” senior tight end Hale Hentges said after the game. “I mean, the very first play, he goes 70 something yards to the house. That’s the kind of plays that he makes.

“I told him before the game, ‘Let’s do what we do. Let’s make plays,’ and he said, ‘Alright.’ And of course, first play out here was a 76-yard touchdown. He does that stuff all the time in practice, and it’s not really a surprise to me. That’s just Irv Smith, and he’s going to continue to make those plays.”

On Saturday in Alabama’s 65-31 win over Arkansas, the junior tight end recorded 123 yards on two receptions. In 14 games last season as a sophomore, Smith accounted for 128 yards.

His performance in Fayetteville, Ark., was a sample of the impressive start to the season Smith has had through six games. But his best outing of the Tide’s 2018 campaign was played with a heavy heart. After the win, Smith shared on Instagram that his “Uncle Kelby” passed away on Wednesday, Oct. 3. Kelby Love, 58, was a close friend to Smith’s father, Irv Smith.

And the loss of a family friend served as motivation for the Crimson Tide tight end.

“My uncle is like my dad’s best friend growing up, and I was very close with him,” Smith told BamaOnLine in an exclusive interview. “He died on Wednesday of last week, so it was tough for me. But I wanted to dedicate that to him and just go and ball out for him.”

Love died in his sleep in Scottsdale, Ariz., nearly two weeks ago. According to Smith, the cause of his death is still unknown. Love was an accomplished artist whose work was featured in publications such as Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, National Geographic and many others.

Alabama tight end Irv Smith Jr.

For Smith, family comes first.

“My family is everything to me,” Smith said. “My mom, my dad, my sister, my little nephew, everybody. We’re very close. They’ve done a lot for me raising me, and I do everything for them.”

Smith’s father, who shares the same name, was a tight end at Notre Dame and a first-round pick in the 1993 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints. Irv Smith would go on to play seven years in the league, including five in New Orleans, where his son was a prep star at Brother Martin.

As Smith has transitioned from a 3-star recruit to collegiate starter, his father has been there as a source of guidance because of what he went through, a similar situation, in the early 1990s.

“It’s awesome having him there because he experienced basically everything I’ve gone through, being on one of the top teams in the country and playing tight end, as well. And he also played at the next level,” Smith said. “So, just having the experience he’s had and just talking to me about how I can improve my game and things I do well and things I didn’t do well to get better.

“Hopefully, I can play on the next level one day.”

Having a father that played in the NFL is beneficial to Smith, as well as his coaches.

“He’s a very gifted athlete, but there’s a lot of gifted athletes out there,” said Mark Bonis, head football coach at Brother Martin. “Since I’ve known Irv, he’s been a tremendous worker, a great character young man. Always first one in, last one to leave. I know that’s kind of cliche, but it really describes him well. And obviously being from a football pedigree with his dad playing in the NFL, that helps. But he was raised the right way and knows how to prepare.”

This fall, Smith ranks second on Alabama’s roster with 332 receiving yards and is third in both receptions (16) and receiving touchdowns (3). His average yards per catch (20.75) ranks fifth in the Southeastern Conference, while his 55.3 yards per game is good for 12th place.

Alabama tight end Irv Smith Jr. scores a 76-yard touchdown at Arkansas.

Earlier this season, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban said Smith “does all phases of what we do well,” and went on to describe the third-year player as being a complete tight end.

“We knew Irv was a really good athlete when we recruited him and he was a good blocker in high school and he was a good receiver,” Saban said on Monday. “I think he’s gotten better and better and better since he’s been here and obviously been very productive for us this year. Hopefully, we’ll be able to continue that through the course of the season.”

Smith added: “You don’t want to be categorized as just a blocking tight end or just a receiving tight end. You want to be able to do both. I take a lot of pride in that, and people recognize that, as well. It’s also great hearing that from the head man.”

But Smith has always been a tight end that can do everything well, dating back to his days as the nation’s 22nd-best tight end in the 2016 cycle, according to the 247Sports Composite. And he flashed that during his playing days at Brother Martin during the 2014-15 season.

In Week 1 of that year, the Crusaders used an unbalanced formation where Smith, who is now listed at 6-foot-4, 241 pounds, basically played offensive tackle. “He had an extraordinary game just pancaking guys,” Bonis said. Then in Week 11 in the playoffs, Smith ran a seam route and was on the receiving end of an RPO that he “ran away from everybody” to score a touchdown.

“Finding a guy that can do both and do both at a high level is very difficult to find,” Bonis said. “I mean, sometimes you’ll see a guy that’s got great hands, is a great receiving tight end. You’ll see other guys that are great blockers. Finding a guy that can do both is very rare, and finding a guy that does it as well as has, has done since I’ve known him … He was an outstanding blocker, selfless blocker, and then when he got the ball in his hands, boy, he was special.

“At the high school level, there’s not a whole bunch of people trying to design screens to throw to a tight end. And I can say this, our staff and our offensive coordinator were doing that because of how special he was.”

This offseason, entering his second year as a starter in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Smith pinpointed his route running, finding ways to get open and catching the ball as areas to improve. He also set individual goals for himself for 2018. He told BamaOnLine he wants to score 8-10 touchdowns, post at least 800 yards and “improve blocking and not let my man make a play on the ball.”

So far, he is well on his way to achieving those objectives.

Alabama WR Henry Ruggs III (left) and TE Irv Smith Jr. celebrate during UA's win over Texas A&M.

“I feel like I’ve done a good job,” Smith said. “A couple of games I didn’t block as well as I wanted to, and some games, our scheme was a little more run stuff than pass stuff, so I can’t help that. But I feel like I’ve done a good job of executing and just playing my heart out every play.”

In last Saturday’s game at Arkansas, Smith made two big plays against the Razorbacks that displayed his speed and power as he compiled 123 receiving yards to his season-long totals. That did not surprise his teammates that have watched him work all season long.

“No, because I know what Irv can do,” Hentges said. “I mean, for a lot of people watching at home, probably, yeah. But I know how fast Irv is. He runs like a 4.5. He might as well be a wide receiver. It would surprise me if I did that and ran down the field. But for Irv? No, that’s not surprising. He makes those plays all the time during practice. He’s a very explosive player for us, and we’re definitely going to need him going down the stretch.”

Smith has been one of Alabama’s best players on offense through the first half of the season, and that is saying something, considering the success the Tide has had on that side of the ball. Just in pass-catchers, UA has five players ranked among the SEC’s top 17 in receiving.

And now he has an even greater motivation to keep him striving for more as Alabama gets set to host Missouri on Saturday, Oct. 13. We have yet to see the full potential of Irv Smith Jr.

“No, you haven’t,” he said. “I still have room to get better, and I’m going to work on that today in practice, as well as my team. So, we have a lot that we can do, but we’ve done a great job so far.”

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Beacon Health Foundation in tribute of Kelby Love.

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