Mitch Smothers - Football - Arkansas Razorbacks

#65 Mitch Smothers

OL | Sr | 6-3 | 322 | Springdale, Ark. | Springdale HS

Career (2012-15)
Participated in 31 contests with 30 starts … Played a pivotal role on an offensive line that has helped pave the way for four 1,000-yard rushers during the last three seasons … Ended his career with 26-straight starts.

Senior (2015)
» SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week (Nov.2)
» Rimington Award Watch List, given annually to the most outstanding center in college football

Played and started in all 13 games at center … Helped pave the way for a league-best five 200-yard rushing games in SEC action … Helped running back Alex Collins set a program record with 20 rushing touchdowns while running for over 1,500 yards … Part of the SEC’s best pass blocking unit as Arkansas’ offensive line led the conference with only 14 sacks allowed, having led the SEC in that category each of the last three years under head coach Bret Bielema … vs. UT Martin (Oct. 31): Blocked as Arkansas’ offense ran for over 250 yards and passed for 300 yards, marking the first time since 2011 that the Razorbacks hit those marks in a single game … Graded out at a team-best 91 percent. 

Junior (2014)
Appeared and started in all 13 contests at center … Saw action in more than 600 snaps and finished the season with a 72 percent offensive line grade while only being penalized twice … Blocked for RBs Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams, who were the only FBS teammates to each rush for 1,000-plus yards in the 2014 season … Helped protect QB Brandon Allen as the offensive line led the SEC with 14 sacks allowed … at No. 6 Auburn (Aug. 30): Opened the season with five knockdowns and didn’t allow a sack … at Texas Tech (Sept. 16): Tallied a season-high six knockdown blocks, paving the way for Arkansas to post over 400 rushing yards in the road win … vs. No. 20 LSU (Nov. 15): Posted three knockdowns while not allowing a sack and grading out at 79 percent.

Redshirt Sophomore (2013)
Saw action in five games and was a starter for the first four games … Blocked as Alex Collins became the second freshman in school history and 10th true freshman in SEC history to rush for 1,000 yards … The offensive line also allowed the Razorbacks to produce eight individual 100-yard rushing performances and rush for more than 200 yards as a team nine times … Collins and Jonathan Williams became the second Razorback duo to each reach at least 900 rushing yards in one season, joining Darren McFadden and Felix Jones from 2006 and 2007 … The offensive line also broke the single-season school record by only allowing 8.0 sacks … Arkansas led the SEC and tied for second in the NCAA with an average of 0.67 sacks allowed per game … The Razorbacks’ average of one sack allowed for every 37.63 pass attempts was the best in the conference and seventh in the nation … Arkansas also ranked fourth in the SEC and 23rd in the NCAA in rushing offense with an average of 208.7 yards per game on the ground … vs. Louisiana (Aug. 31): Started at guard in Bret Bielema’s first game at Arkansas as Williams and Collins each rushed for more than 100 yards …  vs. Southern Miss (Sept. 14): Helped Williams and Collins top 100 yards each as Collins became the first freshman in SEC history to rush for more than 100 yards in each of his first three games.

Sophomore (2012)
Worked with the UA scout team while redshirting.

Freshman (2011)
Saw action in seven games and started the first four games of the season … Part of an offensive line that allowed the offense to break 16 game or season school records and produce a 3,000-yard passer for the third straight season … Arkansas led the SEC in total offense, passing offense and scoring offense to become just the fifth different school, and first since 2001, to lead the conference in all three categories in a single season and became the sixth team in conference history, and second since 1992, to lead the SEC in passing offense for three straight seasons … Quarterback Tyler Wilson broke nine UA records and led the SEC in passing and total offense while becoming the first Razorback to be a first-team All-SEC selection at quarterback … Wide receiver Jarius Wright also earned first-team All-SEC honors after he broke seven school records and led the conference in receiving yards per game with an average of 93.1  … The Razorback offense posted the second-best single-season total in school history for completions (299), passing yards (3,909), passing yards per game (300.7), first downs (279) and passing first downs (166) while totaling the third-highest total offense yardage total (5,695) and third-best total offense per play average (6.45) … vs. Missouri State (Sept. 3): Became the first true freshman in school history to start a season opener on the offensive line and was one of just four true freshman offensive line starters on a BCS team in the season’s first week as Arkansas racked up 51 points and 466 yards in the first game of the year … vs. New Mexico (Sept. 10): Helped the offense gain 632 yards of total offense in the win over the Lobos.

High School
Recognized on ESPNU’s Top 150 class of 2011 list and was part of three Arkansas Class 7A playoff teams at Springdale High School … Rated as the fourth-best prospect in the state of Arkansas and as the No. 17 offensive guard in the country by Rivals.com … Ranked No. 29 in the 2011 class of offensive tackles by Scout.com … Selected to Under Armour’s All-America team and appeared in the Under Armour All-American Game held in Tampa, Fla., following his senior year under Shane Patrick … Was a first-team Class 7A West All-State pick by the AHSAA and a first-team all-state selection by ArkansasVarsity.com … Recruited by Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma State, South Carolina and UCLA.

Personal
Born on Oct. 20, 1992 … Son of Kirk Smothers and Lori Cornella … Majoring in hospitality and restaurant management.