De'Veon Smith leads, redefines his legacy with the Arlington Renegades
Smith has become a role model for the Arlington offense while reshaping his career.
Quarterback Luis Perez didn’t join the Arlington Renegades until Week 7. Having played in multiple spring football leagues, Perez is well-equipped to notice who is taking the lead on a team.
It didn’t take long to key in on running back De’Veon Smith.
“From the moment I got here, you can sense who are leaders on the team right away. De’Veon was one of the ones that stood out to me right away.”
“He does a great job, rallying and getting the offense ready to go, getting his running back room involved. He's an older veteran guy who's played in the NFL,” Perez said. “Everybody looks up to him and he understands that and carries himself like a professional.”
Smith has been a near constant for an offense that has experienced a tumultuous season. Quarterback changes and injuries have plagued the group for 10 weeks, but Smith will lead the unit into the XFL playoffs, nonetheless.
With, possibly, their final chance to make a mark on the season coming in Saturday night’s South Division Championship game between the Renegades (4-6) and Houston Roughnecks (7-3), Smith’s offense will be critical to a run at the XFL title.
“We're just sick and tired of relying on the defense,” Smith told JR Sports TX. “We should be able to get their back sometimes. They held us in games plenty of times.”
Arlington has been thought of as a defense-first squad during the season. From their first game, where the defense accounted for both touchdowns, the Renegades have leaned on that group.
But, the Renegades have improved their offense week after week, largely with the help of Smith.
The former Michigan standout ranks among the top XFL running backs this season with 365 yards on the ground and 148 receiving yards.
Smith shares the league lead for rushing touchdowns with seven. A major factor in Smith’s success is his physicality.
“I feel like anybody that’s ever seen me play knows I'm a physical runner,” Smith said. “I'm not going down. Typically I don't go down on first contact. I believe in my abilities to shed the first tackles. I'm just a physical player.”
The 28-year-old has remained a hard player to bring down from his days as a Wolverine to his experience in the NFL and spring leagues like the AAF, 2020 XFL, TSL and CFL.
“I like football, I like the contact of it all.” said Smith. “I had nothing really to prove as far as how physical I am, but I did want to put people on notice. Like ‘yeah, he's a tough son of a bitch.’”
Smith led the 2020 XFL in rushing yards with the Tampa Bay Vipers before league operations were suspended due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s not amassing quite as many yards, but the ones he gains are even more impactful.
Nearly every time Smith touches the ball, he absorbs at least one hit from the defense and goes for more.
His teammates and coaches take notice.
“He’s a humble guy,” Renegades’ coach Bob Stoops said. “Everybody witnesses his toughness and his work ethic every day in the way he practices. But in games the toughness, the strength, the power, how hard he plays, that rubs off on everybody. He has been a quiet leader in everything that he does.”
Smith said he didn’t intend to come in and become a leader with the Renegades. However, the experience he has and the innate leadership skill he possesses make him an ideal leader for a group of younger players like Arlington has.
“It starts at a young age,” Smith said. “My mom instilled that in all of her kids to be a leader, not a follower. It just comes naturally.”
Admittedly, Smith says he is not a “rah rah” kind of guy. He’d rather let his work do the talking. But when he does talk, Smith knows his teammates listen.
“They know I'm speaking from the heart.”
The last thing people will remember
Smith — like many of the players that make up the XFL — was searching for “another opportunity to touch this beautiful grass,” but he also wanted to reshape his legacy.
In 2022, Smith had been drafted to the Pittsburgh Maulers in the USFL. During training camp, Smith was cut from the team.
The USFL made a documentary of the weeks before the start of the season called “United by Football.” In a viral video, Smith was seen getting cut following an exchange with a hotel worker in Birmingham, Alabama where he asked if they had pizza instead of chicken salad when ordering lunch.
The Maulers backtracked following the release of the video and said that Smith had violated multiple team rules, which Smith publicly denied.
Not much followed the situation until Smith joined the Renegades. Smith said that having another shot at playing football and not allowing that ordeal to define him were on his mind.
“The way things got left off with the USFL left a nasty taste,” Smith said. “If I wouldn't have been able to play football again, that was the last thing people would remember about me. I definitely wanted to get back on the field no matter what.”
Any doubts about Smith’s ability and leadership have largely been wiped away during his season with the Renegades where he became the model for the offense.
Although Smith sat out Week 10 as a precaution for an ankle injury, he’s clear to play in Saturday’s South Division title game.The Renegades enter the game as 6.5-point underdogs.
It probably won’t be Smith’s final game. A win sends Arlington to the championship and Smith has assuredly earned an opportunity elsewhere or if the XFL becomes a rare spring league to get to a second season.
Wherever Smith competes, he’ll be physical and he’ll continue to define his legacy on his own terms.
“I love the game of football,” Smith said. “I'll do it until my wheels don’t work anymore, until these legs don’t want to go anymore.”