MEMPHIS — He wanted to be out in the 30-degree weather, gliding and cutting on the frozen ground. He craved to be going through the drills.
Instead, Michael Smith was limited to some rehabilitation work and watching.
From time to time you can hear the disappointment in his voice and see the longing in his eyes.
Smith is a competitor, and a fierce one at that.
He’s generously listed at 5-9, 180 pounds, but the senior who graduated a few weeks ago was a bit of an unknown going into his junior year.
He was being asked to replace not only Darren McFadden but Felix Jones as well, and they were the best running back tandem in Arkansas Razorbacks history.
That season, Smith rushed for 1,072 yards and 8 touchdowns and caught 32 passes for another 298 yards and 2 more touchdowns in 10 games.
“My size has never entered my mind,” he said. “I’ve always played against bigger guys, so that wasn’t anything new to me.”
His junior season was so strong that Smith was named a preseason first-team All-SEC running back.
It looked like all systems go for a successful final campaign.
He started the first five games, but he began to suffer from a strained hamstring and ended up missing the final two regular-season games and won’t play Saturday in the Liberty Bowl.
“Everyone wants to play the final game of their senior season,” he said. “Everyone.”
This week, as the team begins its final preparations for the bowl, Smith has taken some good-natured teasing.
“They tell me I’m on vacation,” he said. “The truth is, I’m not having a lot of fun because I want to be on the field being part of the team.”
Yet, he laughs at the teasing and never lets his teammates see his personal disappointment.
“I’m trying to keep everyone upbeat,” he said.
Smith, a native of Tallahassee, Fla., made his mark on this team long before he was injured.
When highly touted freshman running backs Ronnie Wingo and Knile Davis got to campus, as well as Dennis Johnson before that and transfer Broderick Green, Smith worked with them. He showed them how to correct small mistakes and helped prepare them mentally for what was ahead of them.
“When I first got to Arkansas, guys helped me, a long list of guys,” he said. “I knew it was important for the new backs to feel a part of the team and to learn as much as possible as fast as possible.”
East Carolina Coach Skip Holtz said the Razorbacks use a committee approach at running back.
“They have several guys they use, and that makes it a little more difficult to prepare for them,” he said.
Johnson is likely to start Saturday, but the other three will most likely see action, too.
Asked if he felt like he was watching his little boys grow up, Smith laughed out loud.
“I’ll never have any offspring that big,” he said of the running backs who range in size from 5-9, 205, to 6-2, 248. “I consider them teammates who are my guys. I’m just glad I could help when I did, and hopefully it will pay off on Saturday.”
In just 24 games Smith became only the 14th Arkansas player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in his career, plus he had 53 catches for 529 yards.
His final season was not how he envisioned it, and now he worries about getting a shot at the NFL, but those things have to practically be dragged out of him.
“I didn’t get to finish my career the way I hoped,” he said.
Yet, as quickly as he used to juke a would-be tackler, he shrugged his shoulders and said the important thing this week is that the Razorbacks get a victory.
“That’s what I’m pulling for,” he said. “That’s why I’m here.”
Michael Smith has been a fierce competitor for the Hogs, but he’s been something more. He’s been the consummate team player.
Sports, Pages 23 on 12/30/2009