The guy Smith reminds me of is Alex Leatherwood. Plenty of power and all the straight-line athleticism in the world, but poor change-of-direction and balance killed him last year.
And it was easy to see too. Whenever a speed rusher hit Leatherwood with the fastball, he'd bail and lunge at them, and right there he's dead. There's a dozen different ways for an NFL end to dispose of a flailing, off-balance tackle after that. Smith does the exact same thing... when he gets hit with speed, he doesn't stay seated in his chair and mirror them. He lunges and grabs, and that will be a fatal flaw.
He's excellent at run-blocking. His special sauce is just Hulk-smashing dudes in a phone booth, but he also pulls far better than most power guards with his build. I think that part of his game easily translates at both guard and tackle. He's an NFL-ready run blocker even at 20 years old.
But I don't think his pass pro issues go away at guard. Even if he's hidden against outside speed, he still has terrible hands and still grabs when guys start to get past him. Slippery 3 techs are going to abuse him.
I get why Smith declared for the draft. He's physically ready for the NFL even as a redshirt sophomore, but he really needs some good coaching on his technique, and he wasn't going to find it with another year at Tulsa.
That being said, I think his problems with holding go deeper than just bad technique. He's just kind of a straight-linish power athlete, and that's getting out of place in a speed-and-space oriented league. He played nose tackle for most of his football career and I think he fits better there... just go freaking Hulk-smash on every snap and be a load at the LoS.
