Razorback Roster Rundown: No. 22 Trelon Smith

This article is part of a series previewing the Razorbacks’ 2020 football roster.

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Trelon Smith was one of several transfer additions for Arkansas heading into the 2019 season. He joined Nick Starkel, Ben Hicks and Luke Jones but after playing at Arizona State in 2018, Smith didn't have any claim for immediate eligibility. That was probably for the best as Arkansas was already low on snaps to give out between Rakeem Boyd, Devwah Whaley, Chase Hayden, TJ Hammonds and A'Montae Spivey.

Smith was initially recruited by Joe Craddock to SMU when he was coming out of high school in Houston but he chose Arizona State instead and spent his two first years getting used minimally in Tempe before eventually transferring.

Smith played mostly special teams as a freshman, playing in 9 games, returning five kicks for a total of 90 yards. As a sophomore, Smith rushed four times for 56 yards and caught four passes for 22 yards after being forced to sit the first three games of the season due to suspension. While the former 3-star got a handful of snaps, his fellow classmate Eno Benjamin put up over 1,600 yards rushing in 2018–signaling Smith needed to find a new home.

While he didn't accomplish much for the Sun Devils, expectations are high for Trelon Smith going into his redshirt junior season on the Hill. As a scout team member for the Razorbacks in 2019, the running back was consistently earning praise from the coaching staff and his teammates.

Here's what Montaric Brown had to say about him after he spent a week filling in as Lynn Bowden in preparation for Kentucky: "He brings it every day. It’s no question, he’s got great effort every day, smile on his face. He just brings it every day."

Jeff Traylor also commented on what makes Smith special: "Some kids are really good at football, they don’t necessarily like football. He really loves football. When he’s not out there with us, he’s watching it, he’s talking about it. It’s just what he loves to do."

Devwah Whaley shared what he thinks Smith brings to the table: "Trelon, he’s really shifty. That’s his go-to -- make you miss. And he can get north and south and catch the ball well out of the backfield, too."

Sam Pittman has also already mentioned that Smith's stood out to him from what little he saw of workouts in the winter.

During coronavirus lockdown, Smith was working hard down in Houston with personal trainers and those trainers say he will give Rakeem Boyd a run for his money this season. Expectation is that he'll be the second back on the depth chart coming out of fall camp but he'll have some opposition from TJ Hammonds going into his final season, as well as youngsters like A'Montae Spivey and Dominique Johnson.

Coming out of Cypress Ridge High School in Houston Texas, Trelon Smith was ranked a top-100 player in the state and the No.31-ranked running back in the nation. With 11 Division-I offers, Smith chose Arizona State in the summer before his senior season and never wavered from his commitment to the Sun Devils, despite them adding a second running back in January leading up to signing day. Trelon Smith and Eno Benjamin combined to give Arizona State one of Rivals' top 10 running back classes in 2017.

MORE: Razorback Roster Rundown