FAYETTEVILLE — Rakeem Boyd’s first two seasons at Arkansas can best be described as a learning experience.
The Razorbacks have finished with identical 2-10 records in each of the last two seasons, but Boyd, the former Texas A&M signee turned junior college standout, has had a blast, he said. Part of the fun came as he put the Southeastern Conference on notice in 2019 with a breakout year on the ground.
After rushing for a team-high 734 yards in 2018, Boyd vaulted himself into the conversation as one of the league’s premier backs thanks to a productive stretch on an otherwise largely stagnant offense. As a junior, he eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in Week 10 and finished with 1,133 yards and eight touchdowns.
Boyd became the first Razorbacks running back to surpass 1,000 rushing yards in a season since Rawleigh Williams in 2016. In 2020, his final go-around at Arkansas, Boyd is locked in and eager as ever to lead the program to success it hasn’t experienced in years.
“Last season, I thought I did well,” said Boyd, a Houston native. “I think I could have done a little bit better in a couple of games, but that’s just how life works. I think the Kentucky game when I was the (SEC’s) leading rusher and ended it as the leading rusher, that’s when I finally started to heat up.
“This is probably my biggest year. I’m stepping up and really working out because I’m taking things a little more serious than I did in the past. I’m still that same dude. I’m just taking things a little more serious.”
On Dec. 23, 2019, Boyd announced that he would be bypassing the 2020 NFL Draft and returning to the Razorbacks for his senior season, bolstering Arkansas’ running backs group. The announcement came as a surprise to some.
Boyd has flashed NFL readiness on a number of occasions with the Razorbacks, namely when he rushed for 100-plus yards against Alabama in 2018, becoming the first Arkansas player to do so since Darren McFadden more than a decade ago. The game was the starting point in an impressive four-week run in which he totaled at least 99 yards on the ground.
Last fall, Boyd ran for 100-plus yards in four games, including a career-best 185 and two scores against Western Kentucky, and 89-plus three other times. On the road at Kentucky, he put together his best game in SEC play with 134 yards, aided by a 74-yard touchdown on his first touch.
Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman says Boyd can become an even better running back — and a more well-rounded player — in 2020. The two have had conversations in regards to Boyd increasing his value in the 2021 draft.
Pittman added that he does not believe Boyd wanted to leave the program after last season. He simply wanted to know where he stood in the minds of the decision-makers at the next level.
“He has to continue to catch the football better. I think that’s one of the things that came back on his evaluation,” Pittman said in June. “We’re going to give him opportunities to pass protect a little bit more and become a more physical pass protector. Obviously, he has great running skills and things of that nature, but those are two things that we talked to him about that he has to improve in his game to certainly move up the draft board.
“To be honest with you, that is one of our jobs. One of our jobs is to get our players drafted as high as they possibly can, and we’re going to go to work for it.”
Boyd is willing and determined to work for it.
He continues to lean on Jeff Traylor, the Razorbacks’ former running backs coach who is now the head coach at Texas-San Antonio, for guidance in growing as a team leader, as well as current running backs coach Jimmy Smith, strength and conditioning coach Jamil Walker and Pittman.
Arkansas offensive coordinator Kendal Briles recruited Boyd out of high school. He describes the back as a powerful runner with elusiveness and good ball skills. Briles has been pleased with his leadership qualities.
“He’s got the drive. He’s got the want-to,” Briles added. “I think he’s an all-round, every-down back. He’s been successful — probably only one of a handful of guys on the roster that have come back that have had a lot of production and a lot of success and he’s one of those guys. Those guys can do two things: They can pull down your team, or they can really uplift your team. Rakeem is one of those guys that has led by example on a daily basis.
“He’s on time for workouts and busting his butt at all the workouts and what we were doing and then being very engaged once we were able to get a little bit of football.”
In terms of competing, Boyd is a self-starter, he says.
“I wake up every morning and I motivate myself,” he stated. “Like my momma told me, ‘Hey, remember you’re going up there to accomplish something.’”
In order for Arkansas to pull itself out of the 4-20 hole of the previous two seasons, Boyd will likely have to be great and piece together a brilliant season. He was one of the few truly bright spots on the offensive side of the ball in 2019, and now expectations are high across the board and building with each day.
Boyd can draw on his past when it comes to attempting to overcome adversity, which the Razorbacks will inevitably be met with this fall. At a young age, he and his family’s life in New Orleans was uprooted because of Hurricane Katrina. They moved to Houston, where Boyd eventually became a football star at Stratford High School.
He rushed for more than 6,000 yards and 80 touchdowns and signed with Texas A&M. But struggles with punctuality and being on his own for the first time led to a departure from the program and a stint in junior college in Independence, Kan.
Boyd said junior college life changed him for the better.
“You experience more, you know what I mean? You learn to not take things for granted,” he added. “You learn how to bounce back from a lot of situations. You’ve really got to go in there and compete. There are some spots that are given, but you go to JUCO, ain’t nothing given.
“You’ve got to get it how you live out there.”
Boyd is certainly the headliner when it comes to the Razorbacks’ running backs, but there are viable options behind him as well awaiting an opportunity to prove themselves.
Arizona State transfer Trelon Smith drew rave reviews from the previous coaching staff in 2019, and redshirt freshman A’Montae Spivey, a three-star out of Alabama, saw limited action in 2019 and could see an increase in snaps.
“I’m willing to give it my all. Every play, every down,” Smith said this preseason. “I’m a team player. I'm selfless. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get the win. If they need me to go to receiver, I'll go to receiver. If they need me to play special teams, I'll go play special teams.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to get the win, and I think that's what (Arkansas coaches) like about me the most.”
Arkansas also signed Dominique Johnson (6-1,220) in its 2020 class despite him not visiting campus. Johnson was rated a three-star prospect out of Crowley, Texas, and flipped his commitment from Missouri to the Razorbacks in December.
“He is a big, physical running back,” Pittman said of Johnson. “We felt like we needed a big, physical back, so we went after him. He was ecstatic to be a part of the University of Arkansas.”
Boyd and Smith trained together in Houston often between the March shutdown and fall-sport athletes’ return to campus on June 8. He added that he has a close relationship with all of the backs in the room, and virtual instruction with Smith was positive and very productive.
Boyd tweeted during fall camp that Smith is taking his game to the next level.
"I know he’s gotten better," Pittman said of Boyd. "All I could see from last year was game tape, but Jimmy is a very knowledgeable coach. At Georgia State, his running back may have led the conference in rushing. Jimmy has been a great coach for a long time, and I think he relates to him. A good coach is a great teacher, and Jimmy is very knowledgeable.
"But just because you're knowledgable doesn’t mean you can get it across to your player. You have to be a really quality teacher, and that’s what I think he’s doing with Rakeem. Rakeem trusts him."
A version of this story first appeared in Hawgs Illustrated