Mr. Smith unplugged

Let’s get this straight. Forty-Niner coach Mike Nolan is entitled to his reasons, is entitled to this charade of two quarterbacks competing for the starting job. He’s the boss, and the boss can create competition if that’s what makes him happy.

But it’s a phony competition because Alex Smith is a better quarterback than Shaun Hill, and Alex Smith should be the Niners’ quarterback. And he will be.

A player doesn’t lose his job because he got hurt, and Smith shouldn’t lose his job because he was injured last season. It is a law of sports — almost a religious principle. Nolan should not violate that commandment.

Hill is not as talented as Smith, doesn’t have Smith’s big arm, performed well in two starts at the end of last season against one team that couldn’t play and another that had thrown in the towel and was looking ahead to the playoffs. This is the first time in seven years Hill has come to training camp as anything but the No. 3 quarterback — for a reason. Hill is going to be a nifty backup to Smith, better than Trent Dilfer.

This you should know about Smith. He is the most honest guy you’ll meet. He came to a shaded area after Saturday morning’s practice and he and I talked, and I asked if this is a make-or-break year for him.

“It’s my fourth season,” he said. “I do look at it like that. It’s time to stop talking about potential. It’s time to stop having glimpses of good play. Everyone can have a bad game now and then, but to consistently play at a higher level, it’s about time.”

You see what I mean about Smith being honest. Sometimes, he’s heartbreakingly honest. He has a problem this season. He’s learning yet another offensive system — Mike Martz is his fourth offensive coordinator in four years — and Smith is notoriously slow at putting the pieces together in his mind. Call him deliberate.

For a while, things seem unclear and then, in one moment, everything comes together in a football epiphany. He has not yet had the epiphany with Martz.

“I’m still trying to master the playbook,” he said. “It happens again (learning new stuff), all over again. It does. It’s nice that coach Martz does a great job in his system, it’s so thought-out and disciplined. All those answers (what to do when) are given to you beforehand.”

Does Smith, the first player taken in the 2005 college draft, ever consider that he’ll be a bust?

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t,” he admitted. “It’s not so much a bust, but is this going to work out? I used to worry about that more as a rookie. But it gives me an edge and drives me to prove myself to my teammates and the coaches and the people around here.”

Most good quarterbacks have established themselves by the fourth season. Why hasn’t he?

“The injury (separated shoulder) last year hurt — that, combined with the series of offenses we’ve gone through here. As a 20-year-old (now 24), I thought I’d get the highest level of coaching and I’d develop as a player. And I have to a certain extent, but we had the West Coast Offense the first year and coach Norv (Turner) comes in and that whole West Coast stuff, you wipe the slate clean. You’re learning a brand-new playbook.

“It’s not the same as baseball where hitting is hitting. Here, depending on the coaching system, your role is completely different. For me, that’s changed year-to-year-to-year. I feel a little handicapped in development when you only get to play one year under a system. (Peyton) Manning has had the same coordinator 11 years.”

Smith stopped, sighed. “You hate to make excuses,” he said.

I told him Bill Walsh believed the quarterback was the limit of what his offenses could do. Walsh had Joe Montana and Steve Young — pretty limitless limits. Does Smith know his limit?

“No. I’m not even close to my limit. I know I can play at a much higher level than I’ve played.”

You can see how honest Smith is. Maybe the proper word is earnest.

I felt I could ask him anything and he would answer. So I did.

I said most quarterbacks have enormous egos. Does he?

“I would consider myself very normal.”

Is that good or bad?

“In the bigger picture of life, it’s a good thing. When it comes to professional sports, it can be a bad thing. A large ego and a little bit of arrogance is good. There are times I get down on myself because of it (normal ego). Whether you call it doubt or hesitance, sometimes that comes through for me and I don’t like it.”

Does he ever get angry?

“I do. It manifests itself differently. I can scream and yell, but in the general picture I’m a pretty easygoing person. I try not to let insignificant things bother me. I tend to internalize. That can work against me. I get down on myself.”

If someone asked you to characterize Smith, you could use these adjectives: intelligent, open, warm, charming, humble, self-doubting. He is not a person who puts himself forward. And that’s what he needs to learn, and will learn — to put himself forward, to become like Montana and Young.

He is entitled to assert himself as a quarterback and a man. He is entitled to think highly of himself, to be an egomaniac if it comes to that. Putting himself forward is not some luxury. It is a job requirement.

You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at 521-5486 or lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.