Sanders changes cleats, reaches 1,000-yard mark against Auburn
With a 76-yard sprint down the sideline during Arkansas' 41-27 win over Auburn, Arkansas sophomore running back Raheim "Rocket" Sanders became the 23rd Razorback to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.
Sanders is the first Hog to reach the mark since Rakeem Boyd rushed for 1,133 yards in 2019. Following Saturday's game, Sanders sits with 1,041 rushing yards and there are four regular season games remaining.
According to his teammates, Sanders is as humble as they come and he's always quick to say thank you when he find success.
"He’s real humble," quarterback KJ Jefferson said. "He’s very unselfish. The first thing he did was thank the O-line. Came up and thanked me. Just a team effort. For him to reach 1,000 yards so fast, and this is just his second year playing running back. It just shows his poise and the off-season workouts he’s been doing. Everything he’s taking advantage of."
After rushing for 53 yards in the first half against the Tigers, Sanders said he changed back into an older, more comfortable pair of cleats. He attributed the second half success to that change.
"For me, it was my cleats," Sanders said. "I would say it was that. I changed my cleats."
He said the team spoke to each other coming out for the second half and they had a different type of confidence. That newfound confidence led to a 118-yard performance in the final two quarters for him.
Sanders now has more than 1,000 rushing yards after just eight games. For comparison, the quickest Arkansas legend Darren McFadden reached that mark was after nine games in both his sophomore and junior seasons.
Sanders now has runs of at least 60 yards in back-to-back games for the Razorbacks. Head coach Sam Pittman said it seems like those big plays happen every game.
"Of course, you always have that one explosive play by Rocket," Pittman said. "It seems like every week he has one of those that he takes off on, and he had one of those again today."
Coming out of Rockledge High School in Rockeldge, Florida, Sanders was a receiver looking to learn from Razorbacks' receiver — now tight end — Trey Knox. He mentioned that Knox was who he reached out to rather than current/former running backs, such as McFadden.
"So I was really looking at Trey Knox, actually, because he was a receiver," Sanders said. "I was looking at him because he had my number. He had my number 7, since I had that in high school. I was looking at the receivers. So I wasn’t really looking at (McFadden) really."
Though he wasn't looking to learn from McFadden at first, he said it would be a blessing to get a call from the former Arkansas great.
Sanders said he talks to former Florida State, and current New York Giants running back Jashaun Corbin before games. Corbin, a native of Rockledge, gives Sanders ideas for getting better.
"What I do before a game, I text my boy Jashaun Corbin, he was at Florida State," Sanders said. "Just him helping me out as well. Just telling me what can I do better for the next game. I feel like (that makes) me comfortable every game I play and just relaxed."
Sanders said reaching 1,000 rushing yards was a goal for him entering this season, but he has a board at home that features the marks he wants to hit.
"Actually, that's a goal that I put on my board every week when I'm at home and I'm just changing the goals up," Sanders said. "But I'm just glad we got the win man, and, yeah, like you said, I'm a team player. And I feel like just, it's gonna make me better as an individual, just being a team player as well, outside of football."
Sanders and the Hogs will return to Fayetteville for their first home game in over a month when Liberty comes to town next Saturday. The Razorbacks and Flames will kickoff at 3 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.