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Lions Are Golden In The Backfield

Tribune photo by JAY CONNER (2007)

As a junior, Kevin Smith led the nation in scoring after finding the endzone 30 times.

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By SCOTT BUTHERUS | TBO.com

Published: November 22, 2008

Before they were sharing the backfield for the Detroit Lions, runningback Kevin Smith and quarterback Daunte Culpepper were circling Orion Blvd. looking for a place to park, walking past the reflection pond on their way to class and spending their Saturdays playing in the concrete behemoth that is the Citrus Bowl as members of the University of Central Florida Golden Knights.

Their college careers at UCF were nearly ten years apart so they never shared the same backfield at UCF but their names share numerous pages in the Knight's record books and they were the only two players in school history to receive votes for the Heisman Trophy.

As a junior in 2007, Kevin Smith led the nation in scoring after finding the endzone 30 times, with 29 of those coming on the ground. His 2,567 rushing yards was also tops in the nation and was second all-time behind Barry Sanders' mark of 2,628 set in 1988. His 450 rushing attempts that season set an FBS record.

After setting nearly every school record for single season and career rushing categories, including career rushing yardage and touchdowns, Smith passed up his senior year and a chance to break Ron Dayne's career rushing record to become the first pick of the third round in the 2008 draft by the Detroit Lions.

Despite being recruited by some of the biggest football schools in the country and also being drafted by the New York Yankees in the 1995 MLB Draft, Daunte Culpepper, who grew up in nearby Ocala, chose the University of Central Florida and would help bring the modest program into national prominence and would set over 30 school records along the way, including the NCAA record for single-season completion percentage at 73.6% which had been previously held by Steve Young.

During his senior season, in which he led UCF to a school best 9-2 record, Culpepper passed for 3,690 yards with 28 touchdowns. He finished his career with 11,412 yards passing and 1,020 yards rushing to become one of only three players in NCAA history to pass for over 10,000 yards and run for 1,000 more during their college career. He was drafted eleventh overall in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings. After a brief retirement, Daunte signed with the Detroit Lions in November.

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