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NEW USERS | RETURNING USERS
The weeks spent at home in Houston have done wonders for Arkansas's returning running back Rakeem Boyd who said Tuesday that he's feeling better than he ever has in his career with his final fall camp approaching.
Instead of Boyd's body going through spring football with practices and scrimmages, the running back was able to focus on getting as healthy and physically prepared for what's ahead in August.
"I feel honestly this is probably the best I’ve ever felt," Boyd said. "This corona time is good for me, you know what I mean. Because I never really had an offseason where I could really work out and stuff like that. So having the time to work on my body and get myself healthy because this is my last one."
While in Houston, Boyd was working out with popular private trainer Justin Allen, owner of All-En sports, and he's definitely liking the results. Boyd even posted on social media that he'll head straight for a training session with Allen once he touches down in Texas for the Hogs' July 4 break.
The former 4-star has played through various ailments but hasn't missed a game for the Hogs since getting to campus in 2018. Boyd finished second in the SEC in yards per game in 2019 and went from 10.25 carries per game in 2018 to 15.3, good for fifth in the conference.
Boyd was a promising prospect for the 2020 NFL draft but he announced he'd return to Arkansas for a final season instead, the same day that Sam Pittman and the Razorbacks announced the hiring of Kendal Briles as offensive coordinator.
Pittman and Briles have a plan to boost Boyd's draft stock for 2021 by expanding parts of his game that have been limited thus far.
"We need to get him more pass protection reps," Pittman said. "That’ll help him in the league. We need to get him the ball out of the backfield so he can catch more balls out of the backfield. Those are things that are in our offense certainly, and the better he is at those the higher his draft stock is going to be become."
Despite being one of Arkansas's most explosive and talented offensive weapons, racking up 1,133 yards as a junior, Boyd caught 19 of 26 receiving targets last season and was credited with three drops. His pass protections grades were good with PFF awarding him a 72.7 on the season, but on just 62 snaps. To compare, SEC leading rusher Kylin Hill, who also opted to stay in school for 2020, had 96 snaps in pass protection, but earned a 62.6 for Mississippi State.
