Alabama suspended cornerback Geno Smith for the season opener against Virginia Tech after a weekend arrest for driving under the influence, coach Nick Saban announced Tuesday.
Smith practiced Tuesday but did not work with the first team. The sophomore played in all 13 games last season.
Saban said Smith will have to satisfy some in-house requirements before returning for the top-ranked Crimson Tide’s Sept. 14 game against Texas A&M. He went on to say that Smith’s actions were out of character.
“We’ve never had an issue with Geno. He’s an excellent person,” Saban said. “He’s never been in trouble here before, never been in my office for anything, but I think this is something that everybody should learn from that when you make a bad choice, sometimes the consequences of that choice can really have a negative effect.
“Some of these guys don’t have enough foresight to understand cause and effect, but Geno has been a really good person in the program and just made a choice, bad decision. Made several of them, so now he’s got consequences for it.”
Linebacker Trey DePriest returned for Tuesday’s practice after sitting out the past few days because of a suspension.