Soon after Emmitt Smith arrived in Gainesville in the summer of 1987, he began to realize just exactly what being a Gator meant. When the team held a “media day” for the players to meet local newspaper sportswriters and broadcasters, one journalist asked him, “How does it feel to be a savior?”
The question made Emmitt uncomfortable, but the perception was correct. The University of Florida football team competed in the Southeastern Conference, or SEC. One of the best college conferences in the country, its members include such perennial powers as Alabama, Louisiana State University, Auburn, and Georgia. Before Emmitt arrived, Florida had won the conference championship only once; in 1984, and even then was forced to give up the crown after it was discovered the university had broken some rules.
Because of the infractions, the school played several seasons under NCAA sanctions that restricted recruiting and prevented the team from making postseason appearances. The sanctions expired in 1987. With Emmitt Smith on board, everyone expected a return to winning ways.
The Gators opened their season on the road against the Miami Hurricanes on September 5. The Hurricanes, coached by Jimmy Johnson (a man with whom Emmitt would later become quite familiar), had finished the 1986 season ranked number two in the country. They were favorites to win the national championship in 1987.
Despite having worked out with the first team in practice, Emmitt started the game on the bench. He was shocked.
He watched in disbelief as Hurricanes wide receiver Michael Irvin shredded the Florida defense. Emmitt wasn’t put in the game until late in the fourth quarter. Florida lost, 31–4.
It was the first game in his career that he had not started. This was something new for Emmitt Smith.
He knew that he could charge into Coach Hall’s office to complain, but he also knew that wasn’t the right way to handle the situation. He kept quiet and promised himself to make the most of any opportunity. He knew that if Florida kept losing, that opportunity would eventually come.
The next week at practice, Coach Hall approached him. “I know you’re wondering why I didn’t start you,” he said. “I thought the pressure might be too much. I didn’t want you to make a mistake and lose your confidence.”
Emmitt Smith just looked at the coach for a moment, then said quietly, “How will you know if I’m a good football player if you don’t throw me out there into a pressure situation arid see how I’ll respond?”
“You’re right,” agreed Hall.
The next week, the Gators played Tulsa. Emmitt didn’t start, but he entered the game midway through the first half.
It didn’t take him long to get going. He took a pitchout from Florida quarterback Kerwin Bell and looked upfield.
It was just like high school. Although the players were bigger and faster, Emmitt Smith could still anticipate what was going to happen a split second before anyone else. He started running, stutter-stepped as a defender ran past him, cut back, lowered his head to avoid another tackle, and broke into the clear. Sixty yards later, he crossed the goal line with the first touchdown of his collegiate career.
That did it. From that moment on, Emmitt Smith was Florida’s starting tailback. He finished the game with 109 yards rushing and added a second touchdown.
A week later, the Gators played powerful Alabama on national television. Millions of viewers from around the country tuned in to watch the battle between the Gators’ Kerwin Bell and Alabama quarterback Bobby Humphries, both of whom were leading candidates to win the Heisman Trophy, the award given out each year to the best player in college football.
They saw the best player in college football that day, but his name wasn’t Bell or Humphries. His name was Smith.
Emmitt Smith carried the ball 39 times that day for 224 yards and two touchdowns as he helped the Gators control the ball and keep it away from Alabama’s powerful offense. Florida won, 23–14.
His 224-yard total was the most in Florida history. Emmitt was on a roll.
He seemed to improve each week, although he failed to gain 200 yards again as Florida started winning big. In his seventh game of the season, he broke the 1,000-yard barrier. No freshman running back in the history of college football had ever reached 1,000 yards so quickly.
All of a sudden, he was even more famous. Florida was ranked in the Top Twenty, and people were talking about Emmitt Smith as a possible Heisman Trophy candidate.
But the Gators played a punishing schedule. On consecutive weeks they played SEC powerhouses Auburn and Georgia, then finished the season against cross-state rival Florida State.
The youthful Gators weren’t quite prepared. They lost all three games. Emmitt managed to break 100 yards only in the season finale. Still, based primarily on the interest Emmitt Smith generated among football fans all over the country, the Gators were selected to play in the Aloha Bowl in Hawaii against UCLA. Emmitt and his teammates hoped to finish on a high note.
It was not to be, as UCLA dumped Florida, 20–16, for the Gators’ fourth consecutive loss. Emmitt managed to gain 128 yards but was no longer a legitimate candidate for the Heisman Trophy. He finished ninth in the balloting.
Still, Emmitt Smith looked forward to his sophomore season. He expected the Gators to improve, and he knew he would play better. So far, he had improved every year he had played football.
But he soon received a sign that his second season in Florida wouldn’t go quite as smoothly as his first.
One night in the spring of his freshman year, Emmitt attended a fraternity party with several teammates. After a short time, he left the party to check out another party down the street. When he returned, he saw a crowd on the street outside. His teammates were arguing with some members of the fraternity.
He tried to break up the argument and was pulling one of his teammates toward his car when a drunken student stood in his way and insulted him, calling him a racist name. Emmitt pushed the young man, but one of his teammates threw a punch.
All of a sudden, everyone was fighting. Just as quickly, it appeared to be over.
Then Emmitt Smith and his teammates made a bad decision. Instead of allowing the fight to be forgotten, they went to their dorm and told some other football players what had just happened. With nearly a dozen reinforcements, they returned to the fraternity house looking for a fight.
They found one. Several students ended up being taken away by ambulance, and several players were arrested. When the story hit the newspapers, it wasn’t reported as. “Twelve Florida football players got into a fight last night,” it was “Emmitt Smith and eleven of his teammates got into a fight last night.”
Although Emmitt hadn’t hit anyone, he was embarrassed. The media started referring to the players as “the dirty dozen” and acted as if Emmitt Smith were the head of a gang. He had to call his parents to explain everything. He also promised himself to be a little smarter.
The Gators got off to a quick start the following fall, destroying Montana State, 69–0, and Indiana State, 58–0, in the first two games of the season. Emmitt hardly played in the second half of either game and still rushed for well over 100 yards in each.
But the Gators had changed their offense in the off-season. Inexplicably, they had decided to throw the ball more. When they began playing other teams in the conference, Emmitt Smith started getting the ball less and less. Often, he was used as a decoy for the passing game.
He was less than thrilled but couldn’t argue with the results. At midseason, the Gators were undefeated and ranked fourteenth in the country.
Their sixth game was against Memphis State. Early in the game Emmitt got the ball behind the line of scrimmage. He saw a narrow hole and tried to bust through.
Just as he hit the line, the hole started to close. A tackler hit him head-on.
The two collided violently, but Emmitt Smith refused to fall down. He absorbed the blow, stood straight up, and tried to regain his momentum.
He wasn’t moving forward or backward. In fact, his legs weren’t moving at all. For a split second, he was standing still.
Then another player blasted in from the side. His shoulder hit the back of Emmitt’s knee.
If he had been moving his legs, the blow would have knocked him over harmlessly. But with all his weight planted on one leg, his knee took the force of the blow.
Pop! Emmitt heard a sickening sound come from his knee as he collapsed to the ground. He knew immediately that he was hurt. He had to be helped from the field.
Emmitt Smith had never been seriously injured before, and a thousand thoughts swarmed through his head. What if I can’t play anymore? he wondered. Then he remembered his father’s admonition when he was trying to decide where to go to school—“Just make sure you study.”
Now he understood. Football could end in an instant. His purpose in college was to get an education. Even though he had been doing okay so far, Emmitt promised himself to pay a little more attention to his studies.
Fortunately, he had only stretched a ligament in his knee. He would not have to undergo surgery. The team doctor said that in another four to six weeks, Emmitt Smith would be able to play again.
He healed quickly and returned to the lineup in four weeks. By then it was too late. Without him, the Gators lost twice. Then, when he finally did return, he had to wear a heavy brace and didn’t run as well as he had before. The Gators lost to Georgia, then were slaughtered by Florida State, 52–17. For the second year in a row, the Gators had finished the regular season with a big losing streak.
The defeats demoralized the entire team. Before the season ended, some of the players were in open rebellion against the coaching staff. They were particularly displeased with the team’s offensive coordinator, whom they blamed for their poor offensive performance.
Still, with a 6–5 record, the Gators received an invitation to play Illinois in the All-American Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama. They somehow managed to come together and defeat the Illini, 14–10. Emmitt was especially pleased, as he ran for 159 yards and scored both touchdowns, including a 55-yard scamper. His knee had completely healed, and he was running as well as he ever had.
Emmitt Smith looked forward to the upcoming season. He hoped that after two frustrating seasons, the Gators had turned the corner. Maybe next year, he thought to himself, maybe next year we’ll be better.