Everyone packed into the stands at the Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday saw senior running back Hollywood Smothers surge into the endzone to bring Texas one step closer to one of its greatest comebacks in program history. Twice.<\/p>\n
What they might not have noticed was the way he threw himself into the line of fire without the ball in his arms to keep victory against Ohio State within striking distance.<\/p>\n
When head coach Steve Sarkisian\u2019s decision to go for it on 4th-and-6 with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Smothers didn\u2019t show any signs of fear. Instead, he stepped into the A-gap and took on a blitzing player to give junior quarterback Arch Manning the space he needed to convert to junior wide receiver Emmett Mosley V for an outcome-altering first down.<\/p>\n
Smothers hadn\u2019t experienced firsthand the painful onslaught Texas had suffered against Ohio State the previous two years, but he did everything within his power to prevent his teammates from falling a third time at the hands of a program that had already taken so much from them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c(He\u2019s) willing to risk his body, put himself on the line for the team,\u201d graduate offensive lineman Trevor Goosby said about Smothers in a Monday media availability. \u201cThat shows how much of a team player he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smothers was recognized by his program as one of Texas\u2019 Players of the Game, not just for his fourth-quarter clutch factor and physicality, but for the work he put in continuously throughout the matchup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Longhorns struggled extensively to generate offensive momentum during the first half, but their best attempts at driving the ball down the field seemed to be centered around Smothers. The North Carolina State transfer finished with 103 yards and two touchdowns, relishing the larger-than-life seeming atmosphere at DKR.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou come to Texas for games like this and atmospheres like this,\u201d Smothers said after Saturday\u2019s win. \u201cIt was everything we needed it to be \u2026 It was tough, and we got it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smothers recorded 1,510 yards and 12 touchdowns across two seasons at NC State, and his speed, agility and intelligence have so far transferred to his career at Texas. Following the Longhorns\u2019 worst rushing year of the Sarkisian era, the energy Smothers brings to the table is welcomed.<\/p>\n
Both he and Arizona State transfer graduate running back Raleek Brown have impressed Sarkisian so far with their ability to feed off one another and make big plays in big moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cHollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown are really tough, and they love football,\u201d Sarkisian said in Monday\u2019s media availability. \u201cThey run the football with passion \u2026 They were competing at a really high level Saturday night, and that\u2019s something you don\u2019t know until you actually get into the fire with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smothers and Brown, having transferred into Texas at the same time, have cultivated a relationship throughout the offseason and relied on each other since arriving on the Forty Acres.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore I took the visit here, I called (Brown) because he was already committed \u2013 I called him and he welcomed me, showing up with love and knowing we can do this together,\u201d Smothers said. \u201cIt\u2019s gonna take more than one back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two of them, along with the rest of Texas\u2019 roster, still have a long way to go. Smothers faced some difficult opponents at NC State, but the weekly grind required to endure Southeastern Conference play will reveal more about both his character and his ability to continue developing as an impact player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everyone packed into the stands at the Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday saw senior running back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-436363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}