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Living up to the name of a legend is no easy task, and no matter where EJ Smith goes on a football field, he is looked at a little differently than most.
That’s because the Texas A&M running back, who expects to be drafted later this month, is the son of Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.
Smith mostly worked as a substitute in college, but at least he worked out with his father’s former Dallas Cowboys earlier this month.
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Texas A&M Aggies running back EJ Smith runs with the ball during the game against the Miami Hurricanes at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, on December 20, 2025. (Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)
But there was a time in high school, the Hall of Famer said, when his son began to feel pressure to measure up to people like his father.
“He came to me one day and asked me, ‘How can I deal with all the pressure?’ And I was wondering what kind of pressure I was under. He said, ‘Just the pressure of living up to what everyone expects and everything else,'” Smith recalled in a recent interview with Pak Gazette Digital.
“And I looked at it pretty simply. I just asked one fundamental question. I said, ‘What is everyone saying?’ “Everyone expected me to be this and everyone expected me to be that and do this and do that.” I said, ‘What are your expectations? Are your expectations different from what they want for you? And he said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Where’s the pressure?’
“Here’s the thing: You have to run your race and you have to ignore what other people say. Because whatever skill you have, you have to be yourself. And you have to work on being yourself and work on what you need to do to perfect your craft. Just go play. Put on your blinders. Run your race. You like the horses in the Kentucky Derby. And then when you take off the blinders, one day you may look up and find yourself in the damn Super Bowl. You never know.
Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed hands the ball to running back EJ Smith during the first half against Florida at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida, on Sept. 14, 2024. (Matt Pendleton/Image Images)
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“But stay the course, ignore all the noise because it’s noise. And they’re not playing. They’re trying to put their stuff on you and their expectations on you. But if their expectations are different than yours, it doesn’t matter. Just meet all the expectations you’re trying to meet. Everything else doesn’t matter.”
Smith said he and EJ talk about “everything under the sun,” making it clear that his main role in life is being a father. That, along with other personal experiences, is why she joined Narcan’s “Ready to Rescue” initiative to stop overdoses during the current opioid epidemic.
Smith’s sister-in-law had a “couple of overdose episodes” while taking painkillers for chemotherapy to treat colon cancer. Smith also noted that his former teammates have had problems with opioids and that his friends have even lost children. Although the circumstances are unfortunate, the recent partnership is a perfect fit for Smith.
“I think that’s what makes it such a natural way to talk about it. You have to deal with someone you lost, or even growing up and watching your cousins, getting hooked on hard drugs and then watching them get off them, going through that whole process of not understanding that there are mechanisms that people can turn to for help,” Smith said, adding his concern about the “rampant” rise of fentanyl.
“Anyone is subject to getting caught up in something anytime, anywhere, and not even realizing it. And when that happens, you want to make sure that the people closest to you or around you have access to something like Narcan nasal spray.
January 30, 1994; Atlanta, Georgia; FILE PHOTO; Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith (22) before facing the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XVIII at the Georgia Dome. (James D. Smith/USA TODAY Sports)
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The Smith family, of course, hopes to receive good news during the draft. But Smith has one more piece of advice for his son on how to deal with the pressure of waiting for a call.
“I told him on draft day: Go play golf, hang out and don’t even watch the damn TV,” he said. “Let your agent call you and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got something.’ Don’t even worry about draft day.”
