Running Back
2001
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. There is far more to the Rod Smart story than opening scrambles and skycams. Hailing from Lakeland, Florida, Smart starred for Lakeland High's football and track teams and was named "class clown" by his classmates before moving on to Western Kentucky University from 1996 to 1999. He had a breakout year as a senior, and his 1999 campaign ranks among the top five individual offensive seasons in WKU history. Highlighted by his 1,556 all-purpose yards (good for fourth in school history), Rod's efforts earned him All-Ohio Valley Conference honors and a ticket to NFL training camp, not to mention a degree in Recreational Science to fall back on.
Rod Smart has been called many things in his short lifetime, but never call him a quitter. Despite going undrafted, Smart joined the San Diego Chargers, who went on to a 1-15 season, in training camp only to be cut just before the regular season. Undaunted, Smart went north of the border to try and make the cut in Edmonton's CFL franchise. However, the Eskimos (coming off of a 6-12 season) would also cut Smart before the regular season. If the pro football bottom-feeders won't take you, what's a guy to do?
That's where Vince McMahon came in. The Las Vegas Outlaws used the 357th overall pick in the XFL draft to select Rod. Thanks to a rule permitting players to put nicknames on their jerseys, Smart became the league's most notorious player after audiences saw his "He Hate Me" nameplate. As he explained it, "My brother's my opponent. After I win, he's gonna hate me... I was saying [it] when I'd feel something wasn't going my way." In fact, his name garnered so much attention that two L.A. Xtreme players changed their XFL names to "I Hate He" and "I Hate He Too." Although Las Vegas blew a 4-3 start to finish at 4-6, "He" finished as the league's number two rusher with 555 yards. When the XFL folded after its only season, Rod was confident that football was still in his future.
Despite glowing praise from Outlaws coach Jim Criner ("Rod has blazing speed and is a Marshall Faulk type of back."), NFL teams were not exactly lining up for a chance to sign He Hate Me. Smart got his break when the Eagles signed him to their practice squad in October 2001. Smart already knew someone on the team: his cousin just happened to be number one pick Freddie "Hollywood" Mitchell. Rod was activated in November and would appear in six games as a special teamer, posting one tackle. Smart finally got his first NFL carries in the final game of the regular season against Tampa, in which the Eagles and Bucs benched their starters because they already knew they would face each other in the first round of the playoffs. Rod only got the ball twice, but 6 yards on two carries is still a 3 yard per carry average! That was the end of his Eagles career, as he was waived after the season.
However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The Carolina Panthers, who had just put together the longest losing streak in league history, claimed Smart off waivers. Over the next two years, Smart became the Panthers' top special teams tackler and in 2003 took on kick return duties and even saw a few snaps on offense. The more Rod's afro grew out, the more success Carolina had. After a game Eagles fans would sooner forget, Smart and the Panthers found themselves in Super Bowl XXXVIII. After years of rejections and moving around the football world, things were finally going Rod Smart's way. The Panthers were selling Smart's #32 jersey as often as Julius Peppers' #90 and Jake Delhomme's #17; in fact, his popularity was so high that he had trademarked "He Hate Me" and even considered legally changing his name so he could wear it on his Panthers jersey. On top of it all, Rod was playing in the most exciting Super Bowl in recent memory.
The Panthers would lose the Super Bowl, but Smart stayed on for two more years. Injuries limited him to three games in 2004, but he rebounded in '05 to resume his special teams duties. But after four seasons of stability, Smart once again found himself in football purgatory. The Panthers released him in March of 2006, and injuries prevented him from cracking the lineup of the Oakland Raiders in the fall. Rod Smart's football career is on hold for now, but if history is any indicator, he will not go out without a fight. Look out, Houston Texans; you may soon find yourselves loving "He Hate Me."
We'll admit that Rod Smart literally contributed nothing to the Eagles during his brief stay here. However, the Eagles gave him a foot in the door in the NFL as well as his first experience as a member of a playoff team. And besides, anyone who is an ex-XFL star and a cousin of FredEx definitely deserves a spot here in the Hall of Obscurity.
Hall of Obscurity