FAYETTEVILLE — Liberty football coach Hugh Freeze does not want anything bad to ever happen to any player.
But if Arkansas running back Raheim “Rocket” Sanders were to, say, develop an in-grown toenail and not be able to play for the Razorbacks on Saturday, that would suit Freeze just fine.
Jokingly, he said as much Monday when asked about the tailback and his fast-paced season running the football.
“That running back, he’s an SEC dude,” said Freeze, the former Ole Miss coach. “He’s the best running back we’ve seen this season, and maybe in our time here. Really, really talented player, quick twitch, good instincts, big and strong, has patience, impressive speed and agility for his size.
“I mean, he’s already rushed for 1,000 yards in that conference. That says a lot about your O-line, running backs and tight ends.”
Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson was a bit in awe of Sanders last Saturday after he surpassed the 1,000-yard threshold for the 2022 season at Auburn.
The Razorbacks’ second-year starting quarterback found Sanders’ accomplishment impressive, but he was not altogether surprised. What struck him most was the show of humility from the sophomore tailback, who in essentially no time has become one of the best players in college football.
Sanders topped 1,000 yards with a 76-yard dash from the Arkansas 6 to the Auburn 18.
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“The first thing he did was thank the O-line,” Jefferson said of Sanders. “He came up and thanked me. I’m just proud of him, proud of him, proud of him. He’s real humble. He’s very unselfish.
“For him to reach 1,000 yards so fast, and this is just his second year playing running back, it just shows his poise and the off-season workouts he’s been doing. Everything, he’s taking advantage of it.”
In helping the Razorbacks earn their first victory at Auburn since 2012, Sanders finished with 171 yards on 16 carries. The game marked his fourth this year in which he topped the 150-yard mark on the ground. He has 100-plus yards in six of eight games.
Entering Saturday’s home non-conference game against the Flames, the Rockledge, Fla., native is No. 6 nationally in rushing yards with 1,041. And he owns a seven-yard edge over Ole Miss’ Quinshon Judkins for the SEC lead. Judkins is off this week and has played nine games.
Sanders’ meteoric rise at Arkansas was not wholly unexpected. He was the program’s top-rated recruit in the 2021 class, and he also holds in his sculpted frame perhaps more professional potential than any player on the Razorbacks’ roster.
But few likely anticipated, in only his second year on campus, that he would perform at a level that would place him in the same breath as Darren McFadden, who many consider to be the greatest player in program history. Yet here he is, on a pace comparable to McFadden’s 2007 season when he finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Ask those who know Sanders best and are around him daily, they will tell you no one deserves the publicity, praise and a historic season more. The back embodies all that Arkansas coach Sam Pittman has built his program around.
“He’s done a heck of a job,” Pittman said. “He’s a wonderful person. I mean, a wonderful kid. We’ve got a lot of them, but he’s a great kid, and I’m just really honored to be his coach. I’m so happy he’s on the team.”
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Pittman and the Razorbacks’ coaching staff enjoyed the recruiting process with Sanders, who signed with Arkansas over the likes of Oklahoma, Auburn and home-state schools Miami and Florida State.
Not that Pittman was surprised, but he was consistently blown away by Sanders’ respectful nature. The back, who is a young father and strives to set an example for his son, handles himself and his business as a professional might.
“It was all Zoom, to be honest with you,” Pittman recalled of the recruiting process. “I remember every time we’d get off the phone with him, I’d go, ‘Is he really that way? Is he really … is this him?’ He was so polite and so nice.
“Then once he committed he got a lot of offers and stayed with us and never wavered a bit. He wanted to come in here and play slot (receiver) for us. That’s what we thought he’d be, a big slot. We got hurt (at running back) early and asked him if he wanted to move to running back and he said, ‘Certainly.’”
Sanders has lived up to his fitting nickname. He is responsible for Arkansas’ longest rushing play (76 yards at Auburn) and passing play (73 yards from Jefferson against Missouri State) of the season.
Through eight games he has totaled 14 runs of 15-plus yards. For some context, Temple, as a team, has 15 rushes of 10-plus yards this season.
Sanders had five 15-plus-yard runs in the Razorbacks’ wins at BYU and Auburn, and he tallied four against Missouri State.
And several of his chunk-yardage runs have come late in games, when teammates believe Sanders’ stamina and strength overpowers tiring defenses. Tight end Trey Knox applauded Sanders last week for making the most of his touches each week.
“I mean, dude’s going crazy,” Knox said. “I don’t know what else to say. It’s just every time he touches the ball it’s like, ‘Is he going to break this one again?’ Or it’s, ‘We’ve got to give it to him one more time so he can break it.’ That’s how we feel when we’re blocking for him.
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“He just runs hard and he’s so fast and he’s so powerful. He’s a great guy, man. He’s about as quiet as they come. He don’t really talk much, but that boy knows how to play some football.”
Among SEC running backs who have played more than 100 snaps, Sanders has the fourth-highest rushing grade, according to Pro Football Focus, at 84.6. He has posted a figure of 85.5 and 82.4 in Arkansas’ last two games at BYU and Auburn, respectively.
Sanders, who rushed for a then-career-high 139 yards in 2021 at Ole Miss, has topped that mark three times as a sophomore. He rushed for 156 yards against South Carolina, 167 against Missouri State and 175 at BYU.
The Razorbacks are 5-1 this season when he tops 100 yards on the ground. He is averaging 157.2 yards in Arkansas’ wins, but 85 in the team’s three losses.
“I think what stands out to me the most is, A, how hard he runs, and, B, I don’t think he really ever gets tired,” Arkansas right tackle Dalton Wagner said. “I think he’s subbed out against his will, in all honesty. I think if he (got) his way, he’d be in the entire game. I’ve never seen him winded, I’ve never seen him tired.
“It’s something that, like, you might be tired, then you see Rocket tank someone over, break another tackle and then tank another guy over and you’re like, ‘All right, I’m not that tired anymore. We’ve got to keep going here.’ Rocket’s a great guy and I’m so happy with the way he’s been playing.
“He’s one of the most explosive backs that I’ve ever had to block for. It’s just amazing.”