Conway offensive lineman Aaron Smith grew up wanting to play for the University of Arkansas, and last Saturday he received the chance to do so.
Smith, 6-6, 265 pounds, visited Fayetteville on Saturday and received a preferred walk-on offer from Coach Sam Pittman and offensive line coach Cody Kennedy.
“I always wanted to play there since I was little,” Smith said. “I’ve been a Razorback fan for a while now, so to be able to play for the best team in the state it’s great. All my family and everyone in the state likes the Razorbacks.”
Pittman and Kennedy told him of the chance to be a Hog during a meeting in Pittman’s office.
“They just kind of laid all out for me, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to play here,’ ” he said.
Smith went public with his commitment to Arkansas on Wednesday. He visited the Hogs for the LSU game on Nov. 12 and was able to talk to Pittman briefly during pregame warm-ups.
“That was my first in-person Hog game I’ve been to, so I really liked it,” Smith said.
Smith turned down scholarship offers from Arkansas State University, Colorado State, Louisiana-Lafayette, University of Central Arkansas to be a Hog. He took an official visit to ASU recently.
He also had several opportunities at Ivy League schools, including Harvard and Yale.
Smith, who made a 33 on the ACT and has 4.2 grade-point average, is focused on going into the medical field after his playing days are over.
“Looking to go into premed or some kind of health or chemistry I want to be a doctor when I’m older,” Smith said. “I might have to push it off a little bit for football. I think I can definitely work both of them out and be successful in both areas.”
Former Conway and Razorback offensive lineman Colton Jackson is the co-offensive line coach for the Wampus Cats.
“Aaron is one of the smartest and hardest working kids that [I] have personally been around,” said Jackson, who lettered for the Hogs from 2016-19. “Always goes the extra mile when it comes to preparation and working on his craft. Going into the summer before this senior season when it started to sit in with him that he could actually have some really good opportunities to play at the next level. You could see how bad he wanted it by the extra work, he put in after practice, and how he changed, his body physically with nutrition being a priority.”
Jackson is confident Smith will develop while working with Arkansas’ strength and conditioning staff and being tutored by Kennedy.
“Being able to be a part of his high school career since he was in 10th grade has been really cool to watch him grow and mature on and off the field,” Jackson said. “There is no doubt about why I think Aaron will have success at Arkansas.”
While turning down opportunities to have his education paid for at other schools, Smith is planning to earn a scholarship from the Hogs and believes being a Razorback will pay dividends in the future.
“It was definitely a hard choice,” Smith said. “Kind of say, ‘Oh, I’m going from offered scholarships to being a PWO,’ but I think overall I’m going to make more connections and by the end of it be on scholarship hopefully.“