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FAYETTEVILLE — Among a rapidly changing college football landscape, Arkansas will have a rare constant to rally around in 2021.
With the recent legislation regarding name, image, and likeness, and a brewing superconference, the winds of college football change are nearing Category 5 classification. Trelon Smith is dealing with a change of his own, as he enters the season as the feature back for the first time in his collegiate career.
Despite being the SEC’s seventh-leading returning rusher, Smith is following in the footsteps of years past with his approach.
“Every day I go out there and really nothing has changed,” Smith said. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve always kept my head down and worked hard. So I just keep that same mindset every time I come out, I just try and stay neutral.”
It’s easy to see why he’d want to keep that approach this year, as it led to him running for 710 yards and five touchdowns on 134 carries - an impressive 5.3 yards per attempt - last season. He caught 22 passes for 159 yards and another score.
The same neutral attitude that got him the starting job also helped him gain the trust of the staff. Running backs coach Jimmy Smith spoke highly of his handling of the backup role opening up 2020 and believes the team rallied around him as a result.
“He was a leader last year,” Jimmy Smith said. “Trelon is that type of kid. He's a natural leader because he loves football, and he goes so hard. He wants to do well. He's not selfish at all, which I really love."
Ahead of a huge season for the Razorbacks, the redshirt junior figures to step up within the team yet again. With the departures of key offensive guys such as Feleipe Franks and Mike Woods, he believes there’s room still for him to evolve into an even bigger part of the locker room.
That is especially true in the running backs room, which includes a trio of true freshmen in AJ Green, Javion Hunt and Raheim “Rocket” Sanders, as well as inexperienced guys like Dominique Johnson and Josh Oglesby.
There may be uncertainty surrounding who will win the backup job behind him, but Smith’s presence at least provides a steady hand in the top spot.
“The leadership role, I took it with open arms,” Smith said. “That's something I wanted to do. I feel like I'm a captain on this team. Leading the young guys, I have no problem doing it. They come to me with a question, I can answer it for them.
“I want them to know, you don't always have to go to Coach Smith. You can come to me as well. The young guys know that. It's a real brotherhood in there. We all want to win, and that's the good thing about it.”
