SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Michigan defensive tackle and co-captain Mazi Smith, in his first comments since he faced a felony concealed-weapons charge earlier this month that was pleaded down to a misdemeanor, said he has learned plenty throughout this situation.
Smith was initially stopped for speeding on Oct. 7 in Ann Arbor but when asked, told the arresting officer he did have a registered gun and ammunition in the car, but he had not yet completed his concealed pistol license paperwork. He was taken in for processing, was released and left with the team later that day and played at Indiana on Oct. 8.
He was never suspended, and the arrest did not come to light until he was arraigned two days before Michigan's appearance in the Big Ten championship game on Dec. 3. He pleaded down to a misdemeanor during a probable cause hearing this month.
Smith has a pre-sentencing interview on Jan. 3 ahead of his sentencing hearing Jan. 12, which originally was scheduled for Thursday, two days before Michigan's national semifinal game against TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. He will be sentenced under Michigan's Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, and if there are no further issues, the charge will be dropped from his record.
"I'm a big compartmentalizer," Smith said Wednesday during a Fiesta Bowl news conference ahead of Michigan's national semifinal game against TCU on Saturday. "Everything isn't always gonna go your way. I'm a young kid, make mistakes, but at the same time, I still had a job to do.
"Coach Harbaugh still trusted me to be a leader on this team and a captain, and I much appreciated it because he didn't have to. I had to show up for my brothers and make it less about me and what I got going on, and more about us and what we got going on."
Smith said he met with Harbaugh on the day of the arrest.
"Right away," Smith said. "He wanted all the facts. He didn't want no surprises. He just wanted me to be forthcoming and honest, and that's what I was from the get-go. And I feel like that's why he kept trusting me and trusting the process."
Because he was honest with the police officer and Harbaugh, Smith said he did not think he should have faced suspension.
"Honesty is the best policy, and that's what I was," Smith said.
Harbaugh said after the Big Ten title game that Smith had been cooperative and honest. Harbaugh said he, athletic director Warde Manuel and university president Santa Ono agreed not to suspend Smith.
"(We) all who know Mazi Smith, and know the kind of person he is and the trust that he's built up in our program," Harbaugh said at the time.
Smith said he was aware of public reaction to him playing despite the felony charge.
"I joked with my friend, 'They assassinating my character right now,'" Smith said, adding he learned a lot from the entire situation. "People get a story and they take it and run with it and make it seem like something it's not. I think that it just shows how quick the tables can turn on you. Everybody goes from thinking this, that and you have this understanding, and then you start thinking something completely different. But, that's a life lesson."
