Emmitt James Smith IV (born May 15, 2002) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

who will play for the Texas A&M Aggies. He previously played for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

. He is the son of former

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

Emmitt Smith Emmitt James Smith III (born May 15, 1969) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Dallas Cowboys. Among other accolades, he is the lea ...

. He was named to the Doak Walker Award watch list prior to the 2022 season.

Early years

Smith was born on May 15, 2002. He is the son of

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

, the leading rusher in

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

history. E. J. attended

Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas (commonly referred to as Jesuit Dallas or Dallas Jesuit, and formerly known as Jesuit High School) is a private, college-preparatory school for young men under the direction of the Society of Jesus a ...

. He tallied 902 rushing yards in 2019 and 872 rushing yards in 2018. He was rated by ESPN as the No. 48 prospect in the Class of 2020.

College career

Smith enrolled at Stanford in 2020. He appeared in two games as a freshman but had no rushing carries and caught three passes for seven yards. As a sophomore in 2021, he was used principally as a backup to Austin Jones and Nathaniel Peat. He scored his first collegiate touchdown against Vanderbilt on September 18, 2021. With limited playing time in 2021, Smith rushed 26 times for 133 yards (5.1 yards per carry) and caught 15 passes for 74 yards.

2022 season

After the 2021 season, Austin Jones transferred to

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

, and Nathaniel Peat transferred to

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. Smith was slated to take over in 2022 as Stanford's top running back. Going into the 2022 season, Stanford coach David Shaw called Smith "the total package" and predicted that he would be "one of the best backs in America" over the next two seasons. Pro Football Focus rated Smith as one its 31 breakout candidates, only two of whom are running backs, for the 2022 college football season. Pro Football Focus cited Smith's 14 broken tackles in 2021 along with five explosive runs and "excellent vision, patience and elusiveness as a runner." He was also named to the 2022 Doak Walker Award watch list. On his first carry of the 2022 season, Smith ran 87 yards for a touchdown. He finished that game with 118 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. He totaled 206 rushing yards with three touchdowns in the first two games. However, his season ended prematurely due to an injury.

2023 season

On November 28, 2023, Smith announced that he would be entering the transfer portal. On January 7, 2024, Smith announced that he would be transferring to Texas A&M.

References

External links

Stanford Cardinal bio
2002 births Living people American football running backs Stanford Cardinal football players Texas A&M Aggies football players Players of American football from Dallas Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas alumni {{runningback-2000s-stub