Photo by Erin Nelson.
Vestavia Hills running back Tucker Smitha (46) takes the ball to the end zone to score in a game against Chelsea at Vestavia Hills High School’s Thompson Reynolds Stadium on Sept. 30.
Tucker Smitha’s life revolves around details on and off the field.
As a senior on the Vestavia Hills High School football team, he plays a variety of roles for the offense. Some plays he lines up at H-back, some plays he’s split out wide, other plays he’s in the slot. There are plenty of things he has to know and account for at all times.
But there are also the details off the field. He and his brother Blake run Tuble Detailing, a car detailing service that has become quite successful over the course of 2022.
Those two things, along with academics, take up all of his time during the fall.
“It’s a lot, but he’s a smart kid,” Vestavia Hills football coach Robert Evans said. “He’s a guy that has an entrepreneurial spirit. He runs his own business. I wish there was more of that mindset in today’s youth. They think big picture, have a plan and use their skill set to make their plans happen.”
Smitha grew up in Vestavia Hills, where he watched legendary coach Buddy Anderson’s teams. As a sophomore, he played varsity ball for Anderson as a fullback. Last year, when Sean Calhoun took over the Rebels, Smitha was a running back who primarily garnered carries in the run game.
Enter Evans and new offensive coordinator Josh Franklin this season, and Smitha has yet another new role, one Evans calls the queen on the chess board. Smitha does it all. He’s an H-back tasked with being a lead blocker on many plays. He also lines up as a receiver out wide and in the slot, running routes for the first time in his football life.
“It took a lot of practice, because I had never run routes before this year,” Smitha said. “In the spring, I would run routes every day. It was a lot of conditioning. It’s a whole new position I had to learn, completely different.”
Smitha said people used to joke with him about being a receiver, but now that’s a reality and he’s excelling. He’s had some big games along the way. On Sept. 8, in the Rebels’ tight loss to Hoover, Smitha caught six passes for 77 yards. A few weeks later, on Oct. 6, Smitha caught six more passes for 94 yards in a tough loss against Hewitt-Trussville.
It’s taken plenty of hard work to get to this point.
“I’ve always been able to catch, but it’s different when you have a four-star corner covering you,” Smitha said. “It’s been an adjustment, coming in on off days running routes. I knew I couldn’t do it with just practice, I had to do extra.”
Evans said Smitha’s presence on the field allows the Rebels to line him up in different places without giving the defense much time to decipher what formation the offense is in.
“It’s unique to find someone with his skill set,” Evans said. “This offense is tailored to someone like him. He’s the next-most important guy on our offense besides the quarterback.”
After putting all those details to work on Friday nights, the Smitha brothers are out and about throughout Vestavia Hills on Saturdays, detailing cars.
Smitha said Blake, younger by a year, will likely continue running the business once Tucker heads off to Auburn next year to pursue a degree in industrial engineering.
Whether it’s getting open or working on a car’s interior, the devil is in the details.
“It’s really important the tiny things that make them work,” he said.
