Emmitt Smith

Emmitt James Smith III (born May 15, 1969) was one of the most prolific running backs to ever play professional football. He was only the seventh player in NFL history to carry the title of all-time rushing leader, and is the current holder of the title. He passed his childhood hero Walter Payton in a game against Seattle on October 27, 2002. He was born in Pensacola, Florida.

High School Years

Smith attended Escambia High School in Pensacola, Florida and finished his career with 8804 rushing yards and 106 touchdowns.

College Career

He starred at the University of Florida, where he set 58 school records, including the single game rushing record in his very first start. He left Florida after his junior year with 3,928 rushing yards and 36 touchdowns.

NFL career

Emmitt James Smith III was drafted with the 17th overall pick by the Dallas Cowboys in 1990 and subsequently became an integral part of their three Super Bowl championship teams in four years following the 1992-93 and 1995 seasons. Smith led the NFL in rushing four times (1991-1993, 1995), rushing touchdowns 3 times (1992, 1994, 1995), was the league's MVP in 1993, the MVP of Super Bowl XXVIII, and made eight Pro Bowls throughout his career. (Among running backs selected to the Pro Bowl, he's behind only Barry Sanders, who has 10, and the late Walter Payton, who has 9.) In his 3 Super Bowls, Smith rushed 71 times for 289 yards, caught 11 passes for 56 yards, and scored 5 touchdowns. His 5 rushing touchdowns are a career Super Bowl record.

Smith is one of only three players in Cowboys history with three career 100-point seasons, and he is the only non-kicker to accomplish the feat. The century mark became a big number in Smith's career, having rushed for 100 yards in 155-of-326 games dating back to high school (45-of-49 at Escambia High School, 25-of-34 at Florida, 81-of-202 at Dallas, including playoffs, and two-of-25 at Arizona). His 45 100-yard games in high school is still the national record, and in NFL annals, Smith's 78 100-yard rushing games makes him the NFL's all-time leader - just ahead of Walter Payton (77) and Barry Sanders (76). Included in Smith's league record 78 regular season 100-yard rushing games are 18 days with over 150 yards, which is the fourth highest total of 150-yard games in NFL history.

On February 27, 2003, Smith volunteered to be released by the Cowboys, rather than put owner Jerry Jones in the awkward position of cutting him to fit under the league's salary cap. He signed a two-year deal with the Arizona Cardinals on March 26. After finishing 2003 as a reserve, Smith began the 2004 season as the Cardinals starting running back and accounted for 937 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 267 carries. His 267 carries marked his highest total since 2000 and his nine touchdowns were his highest total since scoring 11 times in 1999. He also caught 15 passes for 105 yards for Arizona. On October 3, he posted his best game as a Cardinal against New Orleans, totaling 127 rushing yards on 21 carries (6.0 avg.), including a 29-yard scoring jaunt (his longest as a Cardinal). Smith also became the oldest player in NFL history ever to complete his first career touchdown pass, tossing a 21-yard scoring strike to fullback Obafemi Ayanbadejo in a game against New Orleans. The Saints game also marked his 77th career regular season 100-yard rushing game, tying Payton for the most in NFL history. On October 24, Smith broke Payton's record for career 100-yard rushing games when he totaled 106 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries against Seattle. Then in November, he totaled 67 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries against the N.Y. Giants to become the only player in NFL history to eclipse the 18,000 career rushing yard mark.

In 2005, Smith signed a new contract with Dallas for one-day and no money so he could retire as a Cowboy. On February 3, 2005, at a press conference in Jacksonville, Florida three days before Super Bowl XXXIX, he announced his retirement after fifteen seasons in the NFL.

NFL Records

Smith was one of the best running backs in NFL history. Smith is the first player in NFL history to have five straight seasons with over 1,400 rushing yards. Smith and Jim Brown are the only players with seven straight 10-touchdown seasons to start their career. With 1,021 yards rushing in 2001, Smith became the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in 11 consecutive seasons and the first to post 11 1,000-yard rushing seasons in a career. He is also the NFL's all-time leader in rushing attempts with 4,409.

Smith currently holds the NFL record in career rushing yards with 18,355 and is the only player in NFL history to rush for over 18,000 yards, breaking the previous record held by Walter Payton, on October 27, 2002. He leads all running backs with 166 career touchdowns, and his 175 total touchdowns ranks him second only Jerry Rice's 207 touchdowns. The sum of his rushing yards, receiving yards (3,224) and fumble return yards(-15), gave him a total of 21,564 yards from the line of scrimmage, making him one of only four players in NFL history to eclipse the 21,000-combined yards mark.

Smith also accumulated a number of NFL postseason records, including rushing touchdowns (19), consecutive games with a rushing touchdown (nine) and 100-yard rushing games (seven). His 1,586 yards rushing is also tops on the NFL postseason chart, and he shares the total playoff touchdown mark of 21 with Thurman Thomas. Smith is one of only five NFL players who have amassed over 10,000 career-rushing yards and 400 career receptions.

Playing Style

Beyond his statistical excellence, Smith is noted for being very durable with excellent vision, great balance, a competitive heart, and one of the most complete players to ever play the position of running back. Smith excelled at running between the tackles as a highly efficient downhill runner skilled at cutting through quickly changing gaps toward "daylight", but was also skilled in running to the outside, and catching the ball as a receiver. In the mold of Walter Payton, Smith was a great blocker in pass protection - the great blocking fullback Daryl "Moose" Johnston noted that Smith was better in pass protection than he was.

Personal life

His father is Emmitt Smith II and as a child to avoid confusion, he was nicknamed "Scoey." He married Patricia Southall, on April 22, 2000. She is a former Miss Virginia, and the ex-wife of actor/comedian Martin Lawrence. Their son, Emmitt IV, was born on Smith's 33rd birthday, May 15.

In Retirement

In September 2005, Smith signed on to serve as a studio analyst on the NFL Network show, NFL Total Access.

On September 19, 2005, at halftime of the Cowboys-Redskins game (broadcast on Monday Night Football), Smith was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor with his longtime teammates Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin.

Smith seems to be a shoo-in for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010, when he becomes eligible. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.