Larry Smith has been tabbed to lead the Arkansas wide receivers by Head Coach Ryan Silverfield.
Smith spent the last three seasons as the wide receivers coach on Silverfield’s Memphis staff after joining the Tigers from UAB.
The Tigers’ receiving corps was led by transfer Cortez Braham Jr. in 2025. Braham Jr. earned First-Team All-American Conference honors after leading the team with 63 receptions for 889 yards and eight touchdowns. Memphis’ top four pass catchers all came from Smith’s room with Braham Jr., Jamari Hawkins (34 catches, 591 yards), Marcello Bussey (24, 253) and Brady Kluse (21, 230) combining for nearly 70% of the Tigers’ receiving yards.
Memphis posted the program’s second consecutive 10-win season in 2024, going 11-2 with a Frisco Bowl win over West Virginia. Roc Taylor led the Tigers and ranked second in the American Conference with 950 yards to earn first-team all-conference honors. Taylor teamed up with Demeer Blankumsee (45 catches, 677 yards) and Koby Drake (39, 484) to form one of the best receiving trios in the league with all three ranking in the Top 25 for receptions and yards.
Taylor picked up Second-Team All-American Conference honors in 2023 thanks to a 1,000-yard season. He caught 69 passes for 1,083 yards and four touchdowns before finishing the season 20th in FBS with 83.3 yards per game. The Memphis offense was explosive, ranking sixth nationally in scoring (39.4 ppg), 10th in passing yards per game (306.5), 14th in total offense (458.5) and 17th in both passing efficiency (154.79) and completion percentage (.667) to help the Tigers go 10-3 with a Liberty Bowl win over Iowa State.
Smith served seven seasons on staff at UAB as the Blazers’ wide receivers coach beginning in 2016. He helped lead the program back to the playing field in 2017 after the program was shut down. UAB played in three bowl games and captured a pair of Conference USA crowns during his tenure.
In 2022, Smith’s wide receivers earned all-conference accolades, as both Trea Shropshire and Tejhuan Palmer picked up honorable mention recognition. Shropshire reeled in a team-best 41 passes for 923 yards and six scores, while Palmer was second on the team with 30 catches for 479 yards and two touchdowns.
Smith’s wide receivers played a vital role in UAB’s success during the 2021 season, highlighted by Trea Shropshire who led the nation and set a school record in yards per reception at 26.04. He finished the season with 27 catches for 703 yards and seven touchdowns. The standout wide receiver also caught the game-winning touchdown in UAB’s 31-28 victory over No. 13 BYU in the Independence Bowl to cap a 9-4 season. The victory over BYU marked UAB’s highest ranked victory in school history.
In 2020, led by the trio Austin Watkins Jr., Myron Mitchell and Shropshire, the receiving corps was responsible for nine of the team’s 14 receiving touchdowns. Watkins Jr. led the group with 34 receptions for 468 yards and three touchdowns to earn First-Team All-CUSA. Mitchell earned Conference USA honorable mention accolades after compiling 29 catches for 436 yards. Shropshire lit up the Conference USA Championship game, catching five passes for 180 yards and a touchdown in the Blazers’ 22-13 win to capture the program’s second conference crown in three years.
Smith’s wide receivers were among the most productive in the nation in 2019, led by Watkins Jr., Myron Mitchell and Kendall Parham. The three wide receivers combined for 120 of UAB’s 192 catches and 2,254 of the 2,815 yards. Watkins Jr. paced the group with 57 catches for 1,092 yards, and in the process became just the third player in UAB history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a season – joining Roddy White and Derrick Ingram. Watkins Jr. was named Second-Team All-Conference USA. Mitchell also earned all-conference accolades, finishing with 34 catches for 554 yards for an honorable mention nod. Parham finished sixth nationally in yards per reception at 20.97 (29 catches for 608 yards).
In 2018, Smith helped guide the Blazers to their best season in program history as UAB finished 11-3 overall and won the program’s first Conference USA title and bowl game.
Smith’s group was led by Xavier Ubosi, who wrote his name into the UAB record book at the Boca Raton Bowl, thanks to seven receptions for 227 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Blazers to a 37-13 victory over Northern Illinois. Ubosi set the then-Boca Raton Bowl record for receiving yards with 227, the third most in a single game in school history at UAB. He finished the season with team bests in receiving yards (839) and touchdowns (7).
Overall, the Blazers established 21 school records during the 2018 campaign, including total points (419), total touchdowns (53), total yards (5,680) and single-game yards (668 vs. UTSA). The top four wide receivers in Ubosi, Andre Wilson, Collin Lisa and Kailon Carter combined for 123 catches, 2,285 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Smith’s first season coaching wide receivers at UAB came in 2017 as he helped guide the Blazers to an 8-5 overall record in UAB’s first year back on the playing field after a two-year hiatus.
He oversaw the development of standout Andre Wilson who finished the season with 54 catches for 677 yards and six touchdowns. Wilson’s 54 catches were the fifth-most in a single season at UAB, while his 677 yards ranked 10th all-time. His efforts earned him an All-CUSA honorable mention nod from the league’s coaches.
A former Vanderbilt quarterback, Smith began his coaching career at Jacksonville State in 2013 as a graduate assistant before being promoted to the Gamecocks’ quarterbacks coach. In 2015, he helped turn QB Eli Jenkins into All-American when he passed for nearly 4,000 yards and 36 touchdowns to lead the Gamecocks to the FCS National Championship Game for the first time in program history.
Smith started 27 games at Vanderbilt during his career, helping lead the program back to the postseason for the first time in over 25 years in 2008 and again in 2011. He earned his first career start in the Music City Bowl as a freshman with his final start coming in the Liberty Bowl as a senior.
He and his wife, Nichele, have two sons – Tripp and Karter.
The Smith File
Birthdate: February 22, 1989
Hometown: Prattville, Ala.
High School: Prattville HS
College: Vanderbilt, 2011
Family: Wife – Nichele; Sons – Tripp and Karter
Coaching Experience
2013 Jacksonville State – Graduate Assistant
2014-15 Jacksonville State – Quarterbacks
2016-22 UAB – Wide Receivers
2023-25 Memphis – Wide Receivers
Playing Experience
2007-11 Vanderbilt
