This man helped Noah Spence become a real pass-rusher

Chuck Smith has spent years tutoring NFL players on how to rush the passer, and he’s just been profiled in a massive piece by Pete Prisco. Smith has been around for quite some time, and I’ve seen his name mentioned around many Bucs players in the past.

Also, he has a Wikipedia page that was definitely written by him or whoever he hired to do his PR.

Apparently Von Miller swears by Smith’s help, and there’s one Bucs player who shows up in that piece, too: Noah Spence, last year’s second-round pick.

“I didn’t know there was so much to the pass rush,” said Tampa Bay Buccaneers second-year defensive end Noah Spence, who has worked with Smith the past two years. “Chuck breaks it down like a class.”

Spence was relatively advanced as a pass-rusher in college, but he made massive strides during the season last year, ending up with 5.5 sacks as a part-time edge rusher playing through a shoulder injury. I don’t know how much of that can be credited to Chuck Smith’s tutoring, but his influence seems to have been pretty positive.

The Bucs are likely to add another young pass rusher in the draft, though it may be in one of the later rounds. Perhaps that rookie should spend some time with Smith as well.