Wildcat RB walks the talk

OGDEN — You can see it in his walk. The way he carries himself tells a lot of the story.

Overlooked, unwanted and left behind, Trevyn Smith feels he has something to prove. And the chip on his shoulder is growing.

"I don't want to sound cocky or too confident," said Smith, a redshirt freshman tailback from Springville. "But that's how I am. I have to prove myself out there. I've always had to earn it."

Not exactly an imposing figure at 5-foot-9 and 205 pounds, Smith walks as upright as any player on the field. His chest puffed and his attitude transparent. The guy wants to be noticed and wants to be taken seriously.

If he keeps running the way he has the last two games for Weber State, not taking Smith seriously will be something opposing coaches will do at their own risk.

Against Southern Utah last week, Smith made himself noticeable with a 186-yard performance on just 16 carries. His 37-yard scamper through the middle of the line for a touchdown turned a ho-hum crowd around and helped spark the Wildcats to a 24-13 win over their rivals from Cedar City.

Still, being taken seriously is something he thinks he'll never stop working for.

Growing up in Utah County, Smith naturally had visions of playing football for BYU. Utah and Utah State also factored into his recruiting story, but with coaching changes up and down the state, Smith fell off the charts at most schools. BYU's new coaching staff wanted a different kind of runner. Utah's staff had other plans as well, and Smith said he was told he'd be No. 8 on the depth chart for the Aggies.

His stature may have had something to do with the way he was, or wasn't, recruited. Many coaches have a mind-set that calls for a running back to be at least 6 feet tall and weigh in at 220 pounds. That's something Smith simply isn't.

"I didn't want to come to Weber State," Smith said. "I wanted to go to a bigger school. But here I am. And now that I'm here, I don't have any second thoughts about it."

Weber State coach Ron McBride said he discovered Smith when one of BYU's former coaches, Ken Schmidt, was hired to help coach the Wildcats last year. When Smith paid the Wildcats a recruiting visit, McBride was in love.

"We knew he was a pretty good player," McBride said. "I liked him even more when came to visit because he was cocky. He knows he's good. He walks like he feels good about himself."