FAYETTEVILLE — A little bit before Arkansas redshirt sophomore defensive end T.J. Smith made the first start of his career Thursday night, he leaned on a roommate for advice.
That roommate is former Razorback tailback Rawleigh Williams, who led the SEC in regular season rushing yardage last season but had to give up football this spring because of a second neck injury.
“I was kind of nervous, the first time starting in college, and he kind of got the nervous feeling out of me and made me feel a lot more confident because he was in the same place last year," Smith said. “…He was just like, ‘You’re here. You’re prepared to be here.’ That gave me a lot of confidence. He is my roommate and where I am at now is kind of where he was at last year. He gives me a lot of advice and that helps out a lot.”
Williams worked with the Dallas Cowboys this summer but stayed in touch with Smith, who had four tackles while appearing in five games last season.
“He stayed mentally putting me in the right place, telling me things I need to do. That helped me out a lot," Smith said.
Smith, one of 10 defensive linemen Arkansas played in its season opener, ended the game with two tackles in a 49-7.
“T.J. had a nice game,” defensive line coach John Scott Jr. said. “T.J.’s a technician. He’s the type of player you love as a coach because he’s going to do exactly what you tell him to do. He puts the extra time in. I thought he was well prepared this past Thursday night.”
The Razorbacks only gave up 40 yards of total offense in the first half, 175 for the game and the Rattlers only had five first downs.
“I feel like the D-line as a whole, we played really good,” Smith said. “I feel like the whole defense played very well. We were all on our assignments. We were playing fast and straining to finish. We were doing the things that Coach (Scott) wanted us to do.”
Smith was in on tackle with Gabe Richardson that resulted in a fumble and Henre’ Toliver’s scoop and score against the Rattlers on the first possession of the second half.
“It gave me a lot of confidence,” Smith said. “That was a great play. Gabe held his end of the part and Henre' did his thing. It was an awesome play. It took all three of us. Ultimately, it was the whole defense. We made that play together, so it was a good deal.”
The competition gets stiffer this week as Arkansas hosts No. 23 TCU Saturday at 2:30 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
“It'll be a competitive matchup, " Smith said. "We're going to fire all our bullets and their going to fire all theirs. Whoever goes down, that's the loser.”
The Horned Frogs downed Jackson State 63-0 on Saturday in their season opener.
“They have a really good O-line,” Smith said. “You can tell they are very well-coached. So are we, but you can tell they are big, fast and have really good feet, physical at the point of attack and just a good O-line.”
“... I've been watching those guys, studying them. They're very well coached. I'm very confident in what we can do as a defense against those guys.”
Smith liked the idea of playing 10 players on the defensive line in an effort to keep fresh. He wasn’t tempted to raise his hand to come out in the opener.
“I don’t worry about snaps," Smith said. "Coach (Scott) handles all that. He knows when I am tired. He knows when to get me out. He is a smart coach, a great coach and he knows when to get me out. I don’t worry about that.”
Smith might not be as nervous before start No. 2, but he is hoping Arkansas’ crowd brings the noise on Saturday for the CBS-televised showdown and believes the stadium keeps it in better now that the ongoing construction in the north end zone makes the stadium more enclosed.
“The (TCU) offense, they have to have communication,” Smith said. “So, if that crowd can be loud, that messes up their communication and it'll be hard for them to make checks and things like that. That'll help us out a little bit.”