Hogs player weathers adversity

Smothers carves out spot on Arkansas’ talented offensive line

Arkansas center Mitch Smothers (65) blocks during a game against Alabama on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014, at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- A few years have passed, but Mitch Smothers still occasionally brings up the letter Arkansas offensive line coach Sam Pittman never wrote.

Smothers had built up an impressive collection of mail from colleges across the nation by the summer before his senior year at Springdale High, including notes from Arkansas, Auburn and Alabama. All three offered, but he committed to the Hogs in June of 2010.

Mitch Smothers

School: Arkansas

Class: Senior

Position: Center

Height: 6-3

Weight: 322

Notable: A preseason Rimington Award watch list member. … Has made 21 career starts, including starting all 13 games at center last year when Arkansas was the only team in the nation with two backs (Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins) to rush for more than 1,000 yards. … Graded out at 73 percent and was only penalized twice as a junior. … Was an all-state performer at Springdale High in 2010.

That was that, at least until Pittman came into the picture as part of Bret Bielema's new staff in 2013. Pittman was the line coach at North Carolina when Smothers and Springdale Har-Ber standout lineman Brey Cook, another Razorback signee in the 2011 class, were in high school.

Sometime after the hire, Cook was able to dig up and tweet an old letter Pittman wrote him while at UNC. But Smothers had never received a letter of his own.

"He committed to Arkansas early in the process, so I don't think he gave me a chance to recruit him," Pittman said of Smothers.

The unwritten letter has since become the subject of playful banter between player and coach.

"It's kind of a fun little joke I like to play with him," Smothers said. "I give him a hard time about it sometimes."

But there's no doubt Pittman is glad he wound up with Smothers in Fayetteville, even as he's stockpiled his own group of talented linemen the last few years.

"I wish I would've recruited him, but he's done such a great job," Pittman said. "He's earned everything he's gotten. He's a true leader for us."

Smothers enters the fall as a member of the Rimington Trophy watch list, an award given annually to the nation's top center. He's the elder statesman on one of the most talented offensive lines in the country, a fifth-year senior with 21 starts under his belt, including all 13 at center last year.

Smothers has maintained his job even as Bielema and Pittman continue to build depth and add size and talent around him in each recruiting class.

The 6-foot-3, 322-pounder has grown into his frame after weighing in at 288 when he first arrived on campus prior to his freshman year. But he's far from the biggest lineman in a starting lineup which gained national attention for being the largest group, college or professional, in the country a year ago.

"I really believe you have to be big in this league," Pittman said. "And so we went out and tried to get the biggest guys that had feet that we could get."

This year's projected starting line will again be monstrous, averaging nearly 6-foot-6 and 328 pounds. It includes four linemen recruited by Pittman -- and Smothers. One of the other starters, guard Frank Ragnow, pushed Smothers for the starting center spot last year, but Smothers held him off.

"He's not a guy we have in there just because we don't have anybody else," Pittman said. "We've got other guys. He's a good football player."

Smothers is entering the final chapter of a unique collegiate career with plenty of twists and turns.

He was a rare true freshman starter in 2011, starting the first four games of the season before being replaced on a team that went 11-2 and finished ranked No. 5 in Bobby Petrino's final year. But he fell off the grid leading up to his sophomore year, enough that he requested a redshirt because he knew he wasn't going to play. As he tried to determine his next step, transferring popped into his head once or twice, though it was never a serious consideration.

"I wasn't ever looking at (other) schools or nothing like that," Smothers said.

Bielema's hire and the subsequent Pittman hire made the decision to stay put, as an offensive lineman, fairly simple.

"I knew his background, so I decided it would probably would be best to stay here and stick it out," Smothers said of Bielema.

The choice has worked out well for him. He had his ups and downs as a redshirt sophomore, starting the first four games at guard before only appearing in one other contest the rest of the year, but claimed the center job and hasn't let go after being moved last spring.

Smothers, Bentonville product Marcus Danenhauer and Austin Beck, all seniors, are the only scholarship line holdovers from the previous staff, but Smothers has grown close with the younger linemen, too, providing guidance as each of Pittman's talented batch of new recruits acclimate to college football.

"Mitch is an awesome guy to be around," junior tackle Dan Skipper said. "He's become one of my best friends. He's got a great personality that allows him to lead and be serious and then back off and show you the way."

The way wasn't always clear for Smothers over the course of the past few years, but staying the course has paid off, on and off the field.

Away from the gridiron, he married his high school sweetheart, Lauren Moore, in May 2014. Between the hash marks, he's flourished on one of the best lines in the nation while earning the respect of a position coach, who, letter jokes aside, he's formed a bond with.

"I'm as proud of him as anybody," Pittman said.

It's turned out just like the home-state product dreamed it would.

"I'm very happy," Smothers said. "I had over 14 offers, Alabama, Auburn, schools like that. I took all those visits and I just felt that this was the best place. And I always wanted to be a Razorback."

Sports on 08/14/2015