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GREENSBORO, Ga. -- A cornerback and a wide receiver. A Demon Deacon and a Tar Heel. You've heard of those.

Here's a third pairing of people in apparent conflict: Alphonso Smith, the cocky trash-talker, and Alphonso Smith, the human with the understandable reaction to a packed house, national television audience and task at hand.

Before he can spew rhetoric, Wake Forest's senior cornerback must do the same with lunch.

"Nervous, man. I'm nervous every game," the nation's 2007 interceptions leader said at Sunday's ACC Football Kickoff media gathering. "I could be playing my high school team and still go puke."

OK. But what would Deion think?

At least Smith now admits that he needs a certain release before or early in every game. And once the unpleasantries are out of the way, he's free to be the aggressive, annoying presence that earned first-team All-ACC honors and returned three interceptions for touchdowns a year ago.

Nobody knew it then, but maybe Wake needed Smith's bravado when it accompanied him to the program in 2004. The 5-foot-9 kid from Pahokee, Fla., had led his high school team to a state championship as a senior quarterback, and he saw no problem with speaking his mind to teammates who were coming off consecutive losing seasons. He wasn't going to tolerate losing, he said. And he said it a lot.

"The first week of practice," he recalled, "I got into three fights. On the field. Not because I hate people. Because it was competitive. When I came in, I was going to leave my mark right here and right now. I was used to winning."

Even his fellow rookies thought it was a bit much.

"The first thing I said was to him was, 'You're a very confident young man.' He couldn't believe it when I told him to relax and chill," linebacker Aaron Curry said.

Smith apparently missed the part in recruiting where the coaches talked about redshirting, the nearly universal fate of true freshmen in the Wake program. He'd get the hang of it.

And now that he's a fifth-year sage -- like seven other defensive starters -- he appreciates the value of waiting one's turn. Once on the field, however, Smith doesn't always feel that deferential. Much like his favorite player, Deion Sanders, he'll engage in verbal jousting with the receivers who would make him look silly, and he'll take the liberty of treating the forward pass as if it was intended for him.

"I played wide out a lot last year. On defense," he said, smiling only slightly. "That's what I tell the receivers on my team."

The eight interceptions set a school record and led the country in 2007, and they were critical to at least two of the Deacs' nine victories. Wake trailed Maryland 24-3 late in the third quarter before Smith stepped in front of a pass in the end zone and took it back all the way, establishing the foundation for a remarkable comeback victory. Would the Deacons have beaten Duke 41-36 two weeks later without another "Pick Six" from Smith? Nobody wants to ponder that one.

Better than anything else, non-offensive touchdowns explain why Wake has gone 20-7 in the past two seasons while being outgained in total offense over those 27 contests. Smith doesn't just snare the ball from the sky; he does his best to keep his balance.

"Make the offense learn how to tackle sometimes," he said.

New defensive coordinator Brad Lambert may be even more daring than his predecessor, Dean Hood, who became the head coach at Eastern Kentucky in January.

And if so, he won't find any argument from Smith.

"You've just to have that attitude, man," he said. "You've got to be passionate about it. When I'm out there, I'm not putting pressure on myself. I'm having fun."

After acknowledging his alter ego, that is.

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.com