Hollywood Smothers is active for No. 1 Texas at Tennessee on Saturday, clearing an ankle injury that threatened his availability for the Longhorns’ first true road test of the season. The game airs on the ABC network at noon ET, and will be the first meeting between the two powerhouse programs since 1968 — and the first one not played on New Year’s Day in the Cotton Bowl.
But the news isn’t all great for “Hollywood.” Texas plans to keep Smothers’on a strict snap count, giving additional carries for Raleek Brown and true freshman Derrek Cooper.
Smothers injured his ankle against UTSA on Sept. 19 and missed two full days of practice last week, according to an ESPN report.
“The expectation is that he’s going to dress and attempt to play today,” ESPN reported. “Smothers will be watched closely in pregame to see how that ankle responds.”
Thamel pointed to Cooper as the next man up if the ankle limits Smothers, calling the true freshman “the future at Texas.” Cooper carried 11 times for 44 yards and a touchdown against UTSA and was ESPN’s top-rated running back prospect in the 2026 recruiting class.
Raleek Brown, the Arizona State transfer who rushed for 1,141 yards last season, will still handle a heavy share of the carries no matter how the ankle responds, according to Gridiron Heroics’ Olamilekan Ajayi.
Hollywood Smothers’ Injury Clears Just Before Kickoff
Smothers was off the Southeastern Conference injury report entirely by Saturday morning and will start, according to Sports Illustrated’s Zach Dimmitt. He had been the only Texas player with a real question mark heading into Knoxville, with defensive back Xavier Filsaime, defensive lineman Justus Terry, tight end Nick Townsend and offensive lineman Jordan Coleman already ruled out for other reasons.
The ankle scare threatened to negate what Smothers accomplished through three games. He has produced 271 total yards and three touchdowns and leads the Longhorns in rushing, a stretch that includes a 45-yard burst in his Texas debut against Texas State and 21 carries in the Longhorns’ comeback win over Ohio State, according to Sports Illustrated’s JD Andress.
Through the first two games alone, Smothers out-carried Brown by 10 attempts, numbers that turned an offseason running back competition into a clear No. 1 job in Austin.
Texas Longhorns’ Backfield Equation Shifts With a Snap Count
A snap count changes the plan against a Tennessee team built to run downhill and control tempo. Steve Sarkisian wants two backs sharing the load at Neyland Stadium, not a single feature back carrying every down in a loud SEC road opener.
Smothers arrived in Austin as the No. 2-ranked running back in the transfer portal, flipping from Alabama to Texas within a week of first committing to the Crimson Tide.
“NIL didn’t play a big factor for me. I honestly just want to win, and I feel like we are in the best position to go win it all with the talent and depth at Texas,” Smothers said, as quoted by On3’s Pete Nakos.
The Charlotte, North Carolina, native began his college career at Oklahoma before transferring to NC State, where he rushed for 939 yards and six touchdowns in 2025 and earned first-team All-ACC honors.
Texas needed exactly that kind of production after a 2025 ground game that stalled behind an offensive line still finding itself. Smothers has answered that call through three weeks, and Saturday’s ankle scare is the first real test of how much the Longhorns can lean on him before conference play gets tougher.
A win at Neyland Stadium keeps No. 1 Texas unbeaten and validates the two-back build Sarkisian assembled out of the portal. How much of it Smothers plays on one good ankle will say plenty about how deep that build really is.
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