Legendary Florida RB Emmitt Smith Previews Gators Season, Johnsonville Homegating Campaign

Gator Great Emmitt Smith talks Johnsonville Homegating, SEC football, and the Gators path to greatness in an interview with Sports Illustrated - AllGators.

Photo credit: UF Athletics Association

The SEC is officially set to kick off its opening weekend with a full slate of games in a new conference-only, 10-game schedule this weekend. With that, many fans will be unable to attend, stuck at home, and not experience what they've typically been able to.

Now, legendary running back and Gator Great, Emmitt Smith, has teamed up with Johnsonville, the Official Sausage of the SEC, to provide an opportunity for fans to win big while "homegating."

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The campaign began on Monday, Sept. 21 and will run through Dec. 26, fans will be able to compete in various challenges in order to become an "SEC Homegate Pro" and for a chance to win "$10,000 along with the opportunity to join Johnsonville on its 2021 SEC Tailgate Tour featuring the Big Taste Grill and attend a SEC Championship Game," Johnsonville stated in its release.

Smith, in speaking with Sports Illustrated - AllGators on Thursday understands how important it is for people cheering on for the SEC this weekend to still be involved in the game in some way, shape, or form, especially during the pandemic.

"First and foremost, if you think back to where everyone is that - and most people have been in quarantine in some way, shape, or form and have not been afforded the opportunity to be out in sporting events or around large crowds," Smith said. "So, this weekend happens to be the kick-off of the SEC football and in the deep south, between religion and football, they both go hand and hand.

"So now, it's time to Homegate, and have your hot dogs and sausages and everything else. Just enjoy the game and sit back and just cheer on your favorite team."

Through the pandemic, many fans will be unable to attend football games. For the Gators, the program is limiting its stadium capacity to just 20%, exactly 17,000 of the maximum capacity 88,548 that are typically allowed. Smith feels as though those limitations are important to ultimately bring everything back to normalcy.

"I think is extremely important for us all, as citizens to do our part in terms of helping to curb the pandemic as much as possible," said Smith. "[If] we really want to get sports back or get back to some level of normalcy, we really truly have to do our part in terms of helping to alleviate this spread of this COVID-19. If we don't we're just going to continue to delay the whole entire process, and delaying the whole process doesn't help anyone."

It's best explained, Smith says, as an analogy to football. In football, if the offense, defense, and special teams are all on the same page and the team limits turnovers, they'll have a good chance of winning.

That's how everyone ought to look at the pandemic, everyone working together to accomplish the same goal, whether it be quarantining, social distancing or wearing face coverings, and "get back to normal I think everyone wants to do."

Tomorrow, when Florida kicks off in Oxford against Ole Miss, they'll be playing in front of roughly 16,009 fans, if it were to be "sold out" given it's new 25% maximum capacity requirement.

In his playing days, Smith enjoyed the opportunity to play in front of "120-some thousand" people, and potentially millions if you add up all of his years of playing while at Florida (1987-89) in college and with the Dallas Cowboys (1990-02) in the NFL. It will be different, he says, but the players themselves need to block it out, and simply play football, do what you do for the love of the game. 

Emmitt. 👀 pic.twitter.com/Qet5SaS4zk

— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) March 24, 2020

"You have to go back to when you were a pop-warner kid," he said. "You was playing in front of crowds that were much smaller, and it didn't really matter then, and it shouldn't matter right now, because you're playing the game for the love of it - first and foremost.

"Secondly, yes, I do understand the energy that the crowd brings to it but, once you get between those lines, we've been trained to tune out the crowd and forget what's going on in the stands and focus on what's going on between these lines and the hashes so we can get our job done to perfection."

Part of a football player's duties, while they're on the gridiron, is to tune out the noise, whether they're in the crowd during the game or at home rooting for the team while watching on the big screen. "Regardless, the game and the show must go on and you want to deliver your best performance."

There has been football on since the pandemic began some months ago, and Smith has paid close attention to how it looks from a viewer's perspective. From his perspective, he feels the teams are still playing "full throttle," playing how they're supposed to be playing even without anyone in the stands.

"You're used to seeing people and hearing the real crowd and when you don't see that in the stands, it's a little bit different," said Smith. "You feel like you're in an empty place, but you're watching what's happening and what's transpired on the football field is really where the game is played. And so it's not a big deal. To get a sense of a crowd or some kind of way, and you still get the excitement of watching the player make a big play."

Kicking off this weekend with its new 10-game, conference-only schedule, Gators and SEC fans will be able to enjoy their first taste of what football is like down south in 2020. Smith is excited to see it, knowing the SEC is one of the best conferences in the country. 

"There's no doubt in my mind the SEC has the toughest conference in all of college football, no doubt," Smith began. "So you're going to get quality games in the SEC. When you start stacking up the east and stacking it up against the West. You name it. Florida-Georgia, Auburn-Alabama, Florida-Auburn, LSU-Alabama, LSU-Florida."

Smith mentioned Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Missouri as the remaining programs making up the SEC, clearly in the mix this season. While Alabama has been the front-runner with Georgia creeping up behind them for years, Smith feels Florida is right on track.

"Florida still trying to get our way right back into the mix, but hey, it's SEC football, baby. It's homegate pro contest. That's what it is, is getting out there and enjoying quality football while you're home and being safe in quarantine."

Florida kicks off its season against the Ole Miss Rebels tomorrow at 12 p.m. ET, and the former Gators tailback likes what he's seen out of the program, especially head coach Dan Mullen.

"Dan Mullen he had them playing quality football last year," he said.

"I think another year, going into his [third] year there, I believe that we truly have a chance to be a pretty good team. We have a veteran quarterback and coming back, veteran running backs are back, as always some quality skill players. And our defense has been top-notch for the last 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 years. So, it's the offensive side that we definitely need to get a little bit more consistent consistency there. But overall, my Gators gonna be fine."

This season, Florida is returning its full coaching staff and plenty of its starting players from a season ago, including quarterback Kyle Trask. Smith feels as though having that sort of continuity will help the team immensely, especially considering how many players are gone from other teams within the conference. 

"Anytime you give a kid and coaches a chance to gel together for a couple of years or so, and you're able to establish that continuity, and that consistency, that's required to play football at the highest level - and that means that all positions. The quarterback position is stable and not a revolving door, wide receiver position, there's quality guys coming back that has experience last year."

Smith believes that continuity will create an opportunity for players to grow within a system for two or three years. Physically, mentally, emotionally able to perform and mature as a team which is a "beautiful thing," Smith said.

Some teams, such as Ole Miss and LSU, are entering the year with several unknowns. While, yes, the Rebels are returning the majority of their players from a season ago, the entire coaching staff is brand new, it will be difficult for them, essentially starting from ground zero. Florida is ahead of the curve in that regard, says Smith.

"That warrants a lot more praise than the teams that are bringing in new coaches even though they may have veteran players and all that kind of stuff when the coaching staff changes and some of the key players leave," he added. "Like LSU for example, how in the world [are] you going to replace Joe Burrow? How are you going to replace him? It's very difficult to - you can't. And how you gonna replace the running back (Clyde Edwards-Helaire) that was there? It's very difficult to do."

The Gators are entering the year as one of the top-ranked teams in the nation, locked in at No. 5, according to the Associated Press. Now, it's time to see what they have, starting tomorrow.

"With the Gators, yeah, they were young last year, and now it's their time. Rise up and shine. That's all I say, rise up and shine."

Make sure you go find out how to win Johnsonville's SEC Homegating Pro competition by clicking here.