LORMAN &8212; Scouts need only one glance at Alcorn right-hander Earl Smith to conjure up all sorts of ideas of his potential.

But here&8217;s what they haven&8217;t seen so far this season.

He&8217;s got an elbow that&8217;s recovering from soreness last year. An arm that went five months during the summer without picking up a baseball. And a lack of control that&8217;s got Alcorn coaches scratching their heads as to what&8217;s wrong.

Mechanics? Maybe. Then again, it&8217;s still winter. He&8217;ll get another shot this weekend when the Braves play a three-game set at Alabama State.

&8220;It feels like it&8217;s doing a lot better,&8221; said Smith, the lanky 6-6 right-hander from Stockton, Calif., who had only five appearances last season. &8220;I feel about 90 percent. Once it warms up, we&8217;ll be able to see it. They said (Tuesday) night they clocked me at 89. Give them that other percent (to 100), and I should be back up there in the low 90s.&8221;

Everything has been a little off to start the 2006 season for Smith, who once initially signed on with Pepperdine before landing at a junior college prior to arriving at Alcorn. He&8217;s had two starts and came on in relief in Tuesday&8217;s loss to Mississippi College at Trustmark Park.

The outing Tuesday was much like his start last weekend Texas Southern &8212; two earned runs and two walks in a third of an inning. He walked six in 3 2/3 innings against Texas Southern.

&8220;I&8217;m really not pleased with Earl,&8221; said Alcorn head coach Willie &8220;Rat&8221; McGowan, now in his 34th year at the helm. &8220;We put him in there, and he walked two runs in. The score was 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh. Somebody got a hit off him, and we had to get him out of there. Anytime in a 3-0 ball game, we bring him in hoping we can maintain that. That hurt us.&8221;

It&8217;s been a long road back for Smith, who had his season cut short last year by what coaches thought was tendinitis but later diagnosed as a partial muscle tear. He went back home for the summer, got his arm diagnosed by the team doctor of the San Francisco Giants (his dad is team chaplain) and didn&8217;t pick up a baseball.

That&8217;s unheard of for someone who&8217;s job is to throw a baseball by a batter. But he focused on building his arm strength back up before throwing again.

&8220;It&8217;s tough to get back in shape,&8221; Smith said. &8220;It was the first summer I didn&8217;t throw at all. I worked out five days a week. When I went back, I thought I was going to have to have surgery. He said it was a slight partial tear but not anything that would require surgery. I just had to build up the muscles around it.&8221;

Lack of arm strength, Smith said, may have contributed to the injury. He last pitched in a game April 2 in an extra-inning win at Alabama State where he went just one inning after getting the start to open the weekend series.

As the pain persisted, he said, it took off velocity on his fastball. He walked four and allowed four earned runs while not striking out a batter in that one inning.

Yet he finished the season with 25 strikeouts in 27 innings, including an 11-strikeout outing in a nine-inning win over Mississippi Valley March 11.

&8220;It took off my fastball,&8221; Smith said. &8220;It really only hurt when I was accelerating toward the plate last year. I never really accelerated. They came in in the fall, and my fastball was 83-84, and there was still a little pain in my arm. It just took a long time to get my arm back in shape.&8221;

Now Smith has to get his mechanics back down and get back focused on pitching. McGowan pointed to off-field issues that has Smith sidetracked and noted he could be the next player from Alcorn to get drafted this summer if everything gets back on track.

The Braves need him to be their No. 1 starter on weekends as well. Micah Finch and Patrick Long may push Smith for that starting spot if things don&8217;t pick up soon.

&8220;He&8217;s not taking his responsibilities seriously,&8221; McGowan said. &8220;I hate to say that, but I think he can be what he was last year. He&8217;s got to get serious about what he&8217;s trying to do. It&8217;s just his control right now, and his speed is off. We&8217;re trying to tell him about his mechanics and throwing the ball upright. We&8217;re trying to tell him to bend his back and get some leg drive.&8221;

It&8217;s those mechanics, too, that can become flawed after spending five months away from the mound. His numbers show something is wrong &8212; 13 hits, 13 runs allowed, eight walks and seven strikeouts in only 7 2/3 innings pitched in his two starts.