Texas A&M picked up the commitment of Los ANgeles Inglewood defensive tackle Myels Smith last December, and it continues to look like a great addition.

So far this season, Smith has been an absolute beast: 47 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, 15 quarterback hurries and 3.5 sacks in seven games — pretty heady numbers for an interior defensive lineman. One of those outings was against Austin Westlake, in which he racked up nine tackles and 4 TFL in a 33-26 loss. That film was what I watched for this article and, while the quality of the film itself isn’t impressive, he certainly is.

Smith is between 6-foot-3 and 287 pounds and 6-foot-4 1/2 and 300 pounds depending on who’s doing the measuring. Either way, I wasn’t expecting him to run down a quarterback from behind on the first play of the video. It’s only six or seven yards up the field, but he had to elude a running back to get the right angle and then chases him down. That’s impressive work for a player of his size.

The second play is one of his four TFL. He is engaged with the right guard, keeps him and arm’s length and disengages, then shows elite lateral movement to get in position to make a play. One thing that gets me is how quickly he goes from movement to striking someone.

Play three is just silly. Remember, Westlake is a good 6A program. Smith is doubled at the line of scrimmage, but some how uses both his strength and quick feet to split the double team to meet the running back in the backfield before he even has a chance to consider his options.

Play four is really nice work in the Red Zone. Again, Smith gets doubled, but this time he just holds the linemen up right at the line of scrimmage and eliminates the running lane for the back. Then he just puts his arm out and makes the tackle. Silly stuff.

Play five is so dominating it’s laughable. Smith comes off the snap low, uses his elite lower body strength and drives the opposing lineman straight back into the backfield, literally running him into the running back, who is trying to run off right tackle. As you might expect, that can be somewhat disruptive to a play (read: he blew it up).

Play six highlight’s Smith’s quickness again. He’s moves too quickly for the right guard to get a clean shot at him, so he’s in the backfield immediately. So he’s one-on-one with the back, who has a chance to juke a player about 100 pounds heavier than he is. The play was originally supposed to be a counter run off left tackle, but that is already dead by the time Smith arrives. The back feints left to try to get Smith moving in that direction then tries to cut back right, but the massive defensive tackle is quick enough that he mirrors the movement, grabs the back and tosses him to the turf.

If things go right, the Aggies will have Landon Rink, Brandon Davis-Swain, DJ Sanders, Chace Sims, Angelo McCullom and Jermaine Kinsler at defensive tackle next year. That could also include DJ Hicks, should he decide to use his fifth year of eligibility granted by the adoption of the 5 for 5 rule. With that many players in the mix, Smith may not get on the field immediately — but with film that good, I wouldn’t exactly count that possibility out, either.