Kolby Smith developing new-look Arkansas running back room
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Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman has seen plenty of turnover at the running back position over the past year.
Since the end of the 2023 season, the Razorbacks have added new position coach Kolby Smith, they've lost four scholarship transfers and gained three, plus they also added a talented four-star freshman in the fold.
Headlining the running back room for offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino and Smith, who was hired midway through spring practices on March 12, is the duo of Utah transfer Ja'Quinden Jackson and returning junior Rashod Dubinion.
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"Whatever (Jackson and Dubinion) got to do to help us win games is what it’s all about," Smith said Friday. "I really don’t get into, ‘I want to see this player carry the ball this many times or this player carry the ball that many times.’ I just think their presence on the field is enough because we can lean on their experience."
Smith is leaning on that duo to get the job done on the field, while they are leaning on him to get the job done off the field. This isn't the first time Smith has served under Petrino, and he was most recently in the NFL as an offensive assistant for the Miami Dolphins.
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"He’s given me the aspect of what to expect next year," Jackson said of Smith. "He basically has tried to talk to me as if he still an NFL coach. So he tells me what to expect. He’s been great."
Another player Smith inherited is four-star freshman Braylen Russell out of Benton High School. The 6-foot-1, 253-pound load of a running back could contribute in his first year as a former four-star prospect.
"He’s got a lot to develop because he is a freshman," Jackson said of Russell. "He’s a goofy kid, too, bro. Like, he’s always going to crack a joke. We’ll be in a serious moment and he knows how to light the room up. But he’s going to be a great player. Once he figures everything out and the speed of the game, he’s probably going to be an All-American."
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Two players Arkansas added after the spring were Florida State transfer Rodney Hill and Tyrell Reed Jr. from Hutchinson Community College. Both backs are smaller in stature at 5-foot-10, while Hill is lighter at 186 pounds and Reed weighs in at 211 pounds.
"(Hill) was a guy that they had been recruiting before I arrived," Smith said. "So, he was already on the radar. The reason they went and got Rodney (Hill) is because we needed a back in the backfield that could catch passes out of the backfield and that’s the reason we targeted him. So, once we were able to secure that and Dominique Johnson went to the portal, Tyrell (Reed Jr.) was still available, so we went and got him."
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Violence and technique continue to be two things preached by Smith on the practice field Friday for the Razorbacks' ninth practice of fall camp.
"The chemistry in the room is good," Smith said. "It’s a nice brotherhood that we have building and growing. A lot of them are roommates now that weren’t. When I came here in the spring, nobody was roommates, but now they’re becoming roommates. They live with each other, so I can tell the brotherhood is growing."
Arkansas continues to roll through fall camp ahead of the Thursday, Aug. 29, season-opener against UAPB at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.