Ainias Smith has a family history with Alabama football. The Texas A&M wide receiver’s brother, Maurice Smith, played for the Crimson Tide, before a public battle when Nick Saban and company attempted to block a transfer to Georgia.

Eventually, UA relented and granted Maurice his release, and the SEC approved a waiver allowing the elder Smith to play immediately.

On Monday, ahead of the Tide and Aggies’ Saturday matchup in College Station, Ainias Smith was asked what the Alabama game meant to him after the way his brother left Tuscaloosa.

“I feel like this game is always more personal, every time I play them,” Smith said during a Monday press conference. “I don’t know, it’s just what had happened, that’s in the past now, not able to control it, but every time I do look on that sideline I do think about, what had happened. I definitely (am) thinking about it, so I mean, it’s more personal for sure.”

At SEC Media Days in July, Smith told assembled reporters that Texas A&M’s home win over Alabama in 2021 was his favorite memory as an Aggie. He scored two touchdowns in that contest, grabbing six catches for 85 yards.

He missed last year’s game with an injury he sustained earlier in the year that knocked him out for the season. During his Monday press conference, Smith appeared to start taking a shot at the current Alabama roster before thinking better of it.

“I’m not trying to be, like, cocky or nothing, but my brother’s class, his class, they was nice,” Smith said. “They was real nice. And no disrespect to Alabama right now, but them boys was always one, two. It was no question. And right now with the rankings, I guess you could say that they’re… I ain’t even gonna say that.”

Smith pivoted from the jab into a promise to make things difficult for the Crimson Tide.

“I know what Nick Saban wants, and we’re gonna mess that up,” Smith said. “So if them boys don’t (have any) momentum for real, we’re gonna have to take that away immediately.”

Earlier in the press conference, Smith had said his prior experiences against Alabama could give him an edge in Saturday’s game.

“Knowing Nick, I know exactly what it is that he wants from his defense, from his offense,” Smith said. “And just being able to, I guess you could say, go into the game plan and know those things, then you can be able to, you can go in like coach (Jimbo Fisher) sometimes says, knowing the answers before the test.”

Alabama and Texas A&M are scheduled to kick off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will be aired on CBS.

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