The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1540860
20 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY NOAH FLEISCHMAN t seemed like the play was dead on arrival. Hollywood Smothers took a first-quarter handoff out of a pis- tol formation and immediately hit the A gap, where a pair of Camp- bell linebackers were waiting in the hole. It appeared as if the redshirt sophomore running back was set to be stuffed for no gain. But instead of settling for next to noth- ing, Smothers took a step back and darted to his left. He found an opening behind redshirt junior left tackle Jacarrius Peak and sprinted through, making three de- fenders miss. After slithering through a mass of bodies, the former Oklahoma transfer was off to the races for an electric 59-yard touchdown run. Smothers, who finished NC State's 56-10 victory over Campbell on Oct. 4 with 123 yards and a pair of touchdowns on just 4 carries, provided a small glimpse of what he can do with the ball in his hands on that one play. He took a snap that a lot of running backs would have given up on and turned it into a game-changing explosive score, a trait that Smothers has displayed throughout the 2025 season. A year ago, it took six games for the Charlotte, N.C., native to emerge as the Wolfpack's No. 1 option in the back- field. He has been one of the team's top playmakers since, and after racking up an ACC-leading 825 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns on 125 carries through the first eight games of the 2025 cam- paign, Smothers is on the cusp of joining an elite group of NC State tailbacks to eclipse 1,000 yards in a single season. It's been seven years since that list had a new addition. Reggie Gallaspy Jr. was the most recent NC State running back to reach the coveted plateau, gaining 1,091 yards in 2018. That performance capped a three-season stretch of millenary rush- ers for the Wolfpack, with Matt Dayes gaining 1,166 yards in 2016 and Nyheim Hines totaling 1,112 in 2017. While Smothers is on pace to write his own name next to the 13 other NC State ball carriers who have reached 1,000 yards in the program's 120-season his- tory, Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said a single statistical benchmark doesn't do justice to Smothers' contributions to the team. "We've got a really good running back," Doeren said. "I think 1,000 yards is sell- ing him short. We've got to do everything we can to get that guy touches. The more he touches the football, the better." Smothers is more than just a down- hill running back. He possesses an innate ability to find open space, and he does so with a team-first mentality, not paying too much attention to his own statistics along the way. That combination, in a way, is the secret to his consistent suc- cess en route to becoming one of the elite running backs who have come through the Wolfpack's program. A Rare Accomplishment Earlier this fall, Gallaspy found him- self talking about Smothers with Dan- tonio "Thunder" Burnette, NC State's director of strength and conditioning. It didn't take long for the 1,000-yard mark to come up in the conversation between the two former Wolfpack standouts. "You're about ready to get rid of the 'last 1,000-yard rusher' title," Burnette I CHASING CHASING HISTORY HISTORY Inside Hollywood Smothers' Quest To Become NC State's Next 1,000-Yard Rusher