All Sooners

Oklahoma Early Enrollees: 'Role Model' RB Daylan Smothers Looking to a Bright Future

After missing his senior year when his high school eligibility was fouled up, Smothers turned his attention to recruiting and built a lasting relationship with DeMarco Murray.

John E. Hoover

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Editor’s Note: This is Part 7 of a 14-part series on Oklahoma’s early enrollees in the 2023 recruiting class.

Many times, graduating high school early and launching one’s college football career pays off. Many times, it doesn’t.

While early enrollees are navigating new realms of pain and commitment, a lot of their friends are back home — playing basketball, running track or just hanging out and taking full advantage of the affliction known as “senioritis.”

In Oklahoma’s case, 14 newcomers have chosen to make that sudden transition from boys to men. Jerry Schmidt’s winter workouts might seem impossible at first, and then the summer grind is even harder. In between, the coaching staff takes over, and spring football practice puts them ahead of their summer counterparts.

In this series, AllSooners examines each of the 14 newcomers and projects their impact on Brent Venables’ football team in 2023.

— — — —

One might think Daylan Smothers just couldn’t wait to put high school behind him.

The central figure of a residency snafu that led one school to forfeit an entire season and cost another school his senior year of eligibility, Smothers has left prep football in North Carolina for the rigors of big-time college football at Oklahoma.

But that’s not why the talented running back enrolled early at OU. He’s not hiding from his past, but rather striding toward a brighter future.

“I don’t necessarily think it’s putting high school behind him,” said Sam Greiner, who was almost Smothers’ high school coach last year before the state declared him ineligible. “Because he’s a relationships guy. He is very committed to the people he’s been around and touched. He wants them to do as well as himself. So that aspect, he’ll always stay close and grounded to where he came from. That’s what makes him special.

RB Daylan Smothers

  • 5-11, 182
  • Charlotte, NC
  • 247 Sports: 4-star, No. 306 overall, No. 19 RB
  • Rivals: 4-star, unranked overall, No. 11 RB
  • On3: 3-star, unranked overall, No. 44 RB
  • ESPN: 4-star, No. 232 overall, No. 12 RB

Background: The speedy Smothers won North Carolina’s Mr. Football Award when he rushed for 1,206 yards and scored 12 touchdowns in 10 games — as a sophomore. He then outdid those numbers with 1,581 yards, 28 touchdowns and a trip to the state championship game his junior season. However, Smothers didn’t play football as a senior in 2022 because he switched schools and was declared ineligible due to a state residency issue (he couldn’t return to his old school because they self-reported the problem and forfeited all their games in 2021). Smothers chose OU over Florida State, North Carolina State and others.

2023 Projection: The other side of Smothers not playing football last year is that he’s the freshest of the Sooners’ young quartet of running backs. Jovantae Barnes was second on the team in carries and yards last year, and he and Gavin Sawchuk exploded for more than 100 yards in the Cheez-It Bowl against a good Florida State defense. But don’t expect Smothers or fellow freshman Kalib Hicks to sit quietly behind them. Smothers’ speed rivals that of Sawchuk, and Jeff Lebby’s history as an offensive coordinator indicates he’ll use a handful of backs again this season. Both freshman are early enrollees, so they’ll need to double their efforts this offseason on picking up pass protections and catching the football.

“Now, his dream and his passion of what he wants to become, yes, that is in the future and that’s what he’s focused on. But he won’t move past the rear view mirror. He will always look at where he came from to remember, you know, this is not just a mission for himself, but to show where he came out of and what the can do.”

The details are no longer important. But like most high school athletes who are declared ineligible, Smothers wasn’t the one to blame when he transferred from Chambers High across town to West Charlotte High.

Smothers may have moved on to bigger and better things in Norman, but looking back to last May, the bad  news was difficult to take.

“We were going through spring workouts,” Greiner told AllSooners.

It was as close as Greiner came to coaching Smothers. He hasn’t played since. Still, Smothers made an impact on his new teammates and in the school community.

“The greatest thing about him is his leadership qualities,” Greiner said. “Very rarely in my life do I see extremely great leaders at that age. One of ‘em was my ‘son,’ Braheam Murphy. He’s at West Point now. (Murphy came out of a difficult family situation and lived with Greiner and his family while winning the 2017 state championship and graduating from Harding University High School to a scholarship at Army.)

“Daylan Smothers is probably the next-best leader I’ve ever seen, and I’ve only gotten to witness it firsthand for a little while. But he makes everyone else better around him. What that means, basically, his work ethic in drills, the things he does, makes everyone want to perform at a higher level.”

Oklahoma’s 2023 early enrollees

Greiner described a scene that unfolded recently at Ranson Middle School — a West Charlotte feeder where Smothers attended — that illustrates Smothers‘ personality and attraction.

One day, then-Carolina Panthers star running back Christian McCaffrey dropped by to talk to the kids.

“And everybody’s like, ‘Oh, that’s Christian McCaffrey! That’s cool.’ When Daylan ‘Hollywood’ Smothers would walk into the middle school, the whole middle school would basically just shut down. That’s how special he is to that community. I’m not just saying that. I’m telling you the legit truth.

“He’s a role model.”

Daylan Smothers
Daylan Smothers / Daylan Smothers via Twitter

Smothers went from anticipating a big senior year at West Charlotte to essentially turning his full attention to recruiting. OU dropped a scholarship offer on March 20, before he was ruled ineligible, and he spent June on the road visiting his top schools. He visited OU on June 3, North Carolina State on June 17, and Florida State on June 24.

On July 14, he committed to the Sooners — thanks largely to the persistence and determination of running backs coach DeMarco Murray.

“It was the relationship I built with coach Murray and on my visit,” Smothers told On3. “It just felt like home for me. … DeMarco Murray did a great job with recruiting me and my family.”

“He’s a game changer,” Greiner said. “He’s different. That’s why DeMarco Murray heavily recruited him. It wasn’t that he wasn’t this top guy on the Rivals and all that stuff. A lot of people didn’t see his attributes because they’re unknown unless you get to meet him and you know him personally. That’s what makes him elite.”

Daylan Smothers
Daylan Smothers and DeMarco Murray / Daylan Smothers via Twitter

Murray — himself a physical running back who carried the football a lot in high school, college and the NFL — saw a talented athlete with fresh legs.

“He’s basically got no wear and tear on the tires from his senior year,” Greiner said.

So he’s a role model, an inspiration, a resolute young man, and he’s fresh.

He’s also a pretty special football player, having received North Carolina’s Mr. Football Award as a sophomore at Vance High School (now Chambers High School; Greiner is among the electors for the honor presented annually by the Charlotte Observer) and compiled 2,787 rushing yards and 40 touchdowns in his two seasons as the starter.

OU coach Brent Venables admires the determination it took for Smothers to persevere last year. He also likes how Murray remained committed to recruiting Smothers. Venables also applauded Smothers’ versatility, suggesting he could be a “monster safety” on the defensive side of the ball.

“He's one of the further guys away from Norman, but he never flinched as well,” Venables said. “If you know anything about North Carolina and North Carolina State, in that state it's not an easy thing to compete with. Trust me.

“He’s going to be a great running back for us. But Daylan Smothers, I love his versatility.”

“He’s gonna be really fast,” Greiner said. “He’s probably the fastest running back they have on the roster right now. And he has, I think, a unique ability to play the game.

“But that’s not the intangibles that make him great.”

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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