Alabama Football Playoff Semifinal Sugar Bowl 2015 vs OSU

Alabama defensive back Geno Smith (24) and Alabama linebacker Trey DePriest (33) stop Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott (15) during Alabama's 2015 Sugar Bowl and college football playoff semifinal game with Ohio State, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015, at the Superdome in New Orleans. Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com ORG XMIT: ALBIN401

(VASHA HUNT)

Alabama free safety Geno Smith was arrested Saturday morning and charged with driving under the influence, according to the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office.

Bond was set at $1,000, according to the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office website.

Smith was also arrested and charged with DUI in 2013.

The senior was the early favorite to replace Nick Perry as Alabama's starting free safety.

The Georgia native ranked fifth on the Tide with 56 tackles last season.

Smith was suspended one game following his arrest in 2013.

"We've never had an issue with Geno. He's an excellent person," coach Nick Saban said in 2013. "He's never been in trouble here before, never been in my office for anything. But I think this is something that everybody should learn from, that when you make a bad choice sometimes the consequences of that choice can really have a negative effect.

"Some of these guys don't have enough foresight to understand cause and effect, but Geno has been a really good person in the program and just made a choice, bad decision. Made several of them, so now he's got consequences for it."

Smith and sophomore Hootie Jones were the first-team safeties during the portion of practice open to the media Friday.

"Well they're getting a lot more reps because they have a tremendous opportunity," Saban said Wednesday. "What I want is competition. I want guys to compete to be the best. I don't want them to feel like, 'Oh it's my turn to play now because I've been sitting behind these guys for awhile,' and I want to see a lot of energy and enthusiasm and intensity in the way they compete.

"Those are the kind of guys we want to play with, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for great competitors, and we have some really good ones around here, and that should be the standard that we try to get all of our guys that have a chance to play.

"That's all part of it. Being casual is not part of it, so we're really trying to emphasize that with some of our players that have not played. If you're going to be a starter, you have to act like a starter and you have to play like one. You have to elevate your game, your effort, your intensity, your toughness, your discipline to execute. All those things need to be at a higher standard. So we'll see who gets that done."