FAYETTEVILLE — Running back Rakeem Boyd announced on Monday that he will return to Arkansas for his senior season.
“There’s more left for me to do to fulfill my dreams, break more records and bring the program back to the top, and the only way I can do that is in that number five Razorback jersey," Boyd wrote in a post on his Twitter account. “I am coming back to help turn this program around!”
Boyd, who began his college career at Texas A&M, has led the Razorbacks in rushing the last two seasons. The Houston, Texas, native finished with 734 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in 2018, emerging as the team’s top tailback in a Week 4 loss at Auburn.
Two weeks later, he totaled 102 yards rushing in a home loss to No. 1 Alabama, becoming the first Arkansas player to do so since Darren McFadden in 2007.
He then ran for at least 99 yards in the Razorbacks' next three games, topping the 100-yard mark twice.
Boyd, a star in his lone season at Independence Community College in Kansas, started every game in 2019 and rushed for more than 100 yards against Portland State, Colorado State, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Western Kentucky. He ran for a career-high 185 yards and two touchdowns on just eight carries against the Hilltoppers.
Boyd totaled 89-plus yards in losses to San Jose State, Texas A&M and Missouri as well.
In 2019, Boyd finished with 1,133 rushing yards - 5th in the SEC - and eight touchdowns. He has also caught 42 passes for 325 yards in his Razorbacks career.