Robert Scott Smith (born March 4, 1972) is a college football analyst for

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

and the Big Ten Network. He was a

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 handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

in the

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 ...

(NFL) for eight seasons with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

, and played collegiately at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. Currently, Robert serves as the Founder/Chairman of Fan Huddle, an on-demand digital wellbeing platform offering content on wellness, mindfulness, and healthy living.

High school career

Born and raised in

Euclid, Ohio Euclid is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is an inner ring suburb of Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 49,692. History The City of Euclid was originally a part of Euclid Township, first m ...

, a suburb northeast of

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Smith became the first player to win Ohio's Mr. Football Award twice (in 1988 and 1989). junior at

Euclid High School Euclid High School is a public high school in Euclid, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Cleveland in the northeast corner of Cuyahoga County. Originally named Euclid Senior High School, it was constructed in 1949 to replace the Euclid Central High S ...

, he gained 1,564 yards on 177 rushes (8.8 yards per carry) and averaged 31 yards on 10 punt returns. senior season in 1989, he gained 2,042 yards on 203 carries and scored 31 touchdowns and was awarded the Bobby Dodd National Back of the Year by the Touchdown Club of Atlanta. During his Panthers' career, he rushed for a total of 5,038 yards on 548 carries with 67 touchdowns.

College career

Smith narrowed his college choices to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, USC,

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, and Ohio State. In his two seasons with the Buckeyes Smith ran for a total of 1,945 yards, leading the team both years. freshman in 1990, he had a personal-best per game), and rushed for Smith sat out the

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

football season, switching to a

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

scholarship, and posted a personal-best time of 10.24 seconds in the for He seriously considered transferring to either USC or Stanford in the Pac-10 to play football; Ohio State coach John Cooper had kept the door open for Smith to return to the Buckeyes' football team, and he

Professional career

Smith was selected by the

in the first round of the

1993 NFL Draft The 1993 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 25–26, 1993, at the Marriot Ma ...

, the 21st overall pick. Although he suffered from a number of ailments in his first few seasons, he finally broke through in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

with 1,266 yards rushing. Smith's finest year as a pro came in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

at age 28, leading the NFC in rushing with 1,521 yards; despite being at the peak of his career, he retired after the season. In eight NFL seasons, Smith rushed for 6,818 yards and 32 touchdowns, along with 178 receptions for 1,292 yards and 6 touchdowns, and only nine fumbles. He also returned 1 punt for 4 yards and 19 kickoffs for a total of 460 yards. Smith wore number 20 as a rookie in 1993, but switched to number 26 when it became available in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

and wore it until his retirement.

Records

NFL

* Second all-time Minnesota Vikings record for career rushing yards (6,818). Passed by

Adrian Peterson Adrian Lewis Peterson (born March 21, 1985) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs in football history. He played college football at Oklahoma, where he set the ...

on September 9, 2012. The previous record was 5,887; which was set in 1979 by

Chuck Foreman Walter Eugene "Chuck" Foreman (born October 26, 1950) is a former American football running back who played for the Minnesota Vikings and the New England Patriots in the National Football League. Considered one of the best passing-catching backs ...

. *Holds the all-time NFL record for average yards per touchdown run at 27.2

After retirement

Smith retired after only eight seasons in the NFL. He walked away from the game to pursue a career in medicine as well as to avoid any serious injuries. He has maintained a mostly private life since his retirement. He has mainly appeared as a guest on the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

news program '' Outside the Lines'', as well as a college football analyst on various

programs alongside regulars

Rece Davis Rece Davis (born }) is an American sports television journalist for ESPN/ ABC. Davis works as an anchor on '' SportsCenter'' and serves as host of various other programs on the network, including '' College GameDay'' football road show and ba ...

Mark May Mark Eric May (born November 2, 1959) is a former American college and professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. May played college football for the University ...

, and Lou Holtz. Smith also works on the

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NF ...

as an analyst and has appeared on The Score to discuss the NFL. Today, Robert is the Founder and Chairman o
Fan Huddle
an on-demand wellness platform featuring content hosted by professional athletes and experts. In May 2016, Smith left ESPN to work for Fox Sports and is currently an NFL game analyst on Fox Sports, paired with

Chris Myers Chris Myers (born ) is an American sportscaster. He has covered the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals, the NCAA Final Four, The Masters, the U.S. Open, the Triple Crown, the Olympics, and the Daytona 500. Early life and care ...

. Smith founded the Robert Smith Foundation, a charity whose goal is to "provide financial and moral support for Children's hospitals and cancer research." Smith made a cameo appearance in the TV series '' Mystery Science Theater 3000''. He was in Season 8 Episode 3 '' The Mole People''. He played a scantily clad, mute "hunk" given to Pearl (the series' antagonist) as a present by her minions. 2004 saw publication of Smith's book ''The Rest of the Iceberg: An Insider's View on the World of Sport and Celebrity''. In it he discussed his background, his time at Ohio State and the NFL, and why he retired. He also analyzed the obsession placed on sports stars by the public. Smith is an agnostic. Smith is one of the

amateur astronomers Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomer ...

featured in

science writer Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public. Origins Modern science journalism dates back to '' Digdarshan'' (means showing the d ...

Timothy Ferris Timothy Ferris (born August 29, 1944) is an American science writer and the best-selling author of twelve books, including ''The Science of Liberty'' (2010) and ''Coming of Age in the Milky Way'' (1988), for which he was awarded the American ...

's 2007 PBS program, ''Seeing in the Dark,'' based on his 2002 book of the same name. On November 1, 2013, Smith openly admitted to fighting alcoholism during his playing career on ESPN during an interview on '' SportsCenter''. He explained he sought counseling and has been sober since the birth of his son, and that his family is his daily motivation to stay sober. He also appeared on ESPN's '' First Take'' with Stephen A. Smith and

Skip Bayless Skip Bayless (born John Edward Bayless II) is an American sports columnist, commentator, and television personality. He is well-known for his work as a commentator on the ESPN2 show '' First Take'' with Stephen A. Smith, a show which he left ...

talking about his alcoholism. Smith lives in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

References

External links

Fox Sports
– Robert Smith * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Robert 1972 births Living people American football running backs College football announcers National Football League announcers Minnesota Vikings players Ohio State Buckeyes football players National Conference Pro Bowl players People from Euclid, Ohio Sportspeople from Cuyahoga County, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio African-American players of American football African-American agnostics People from Powell, Ohio 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople Ed Block Courage Award recipients