TCU Targeting Arkansas’ Jimmy Smith as New RB Coach: Report
Sonny Dykes and the TCU Horned Frogs are reportedly closing in on their primary target, Arkansas’ Jimmy Smith, to fill their vacancy at running backs coach.
Smith has spent the previous four seasons on the Razorbacks staff, operating as the team’s running backs coach and associate head coach.
Smith has a connection with one member of the TCU coaching staff, offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, as the duo spent two seasons together on staff at Arkansas from 2020-2022.
Smith, a 19-year coaching veteran, has worked with Darlington High School, Cedar Grove High School, Georgia State, and Arkansas. He earned multiple state championships and a National Coach of the Year award before jumping to the collegiate level.
At Arkansas, Smith helped coach a running back room that put up historic numbers in the 2022 season. The team rushed for 3,077 yards and averaged 236.7 yards per game, finishing seventh in the nation. Arkansas’ rushing attack eclipsed the 3,000-yard mark for the 10th time in program history, with the 3077 rushing yards accounting for the eighth-most yards in a single season.
In addition to some impressive numbers from the unit, Smith also helped the 2021 running back room achieve something that had not been completed since the 1975 season. Running backs Trelon Smith, Raheim Sanders, and Dominique Johnson joined former Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson as the first four-person unit to each rush for at least 500 years in the same season.
While the reports of Smith’s hiring at TCU have yet to be confirmed, if the Horned Frogs can make the addition to the staff, TCU’s rushing attack could be in for a big season.
