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Living up to the name of a legend is no easy task, and wherever EJ Smith walks on a football field, he has looked a little different than most.
That’s because the Texas A&M running back, who hopes to be drafted later this month, is the son of Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.
Smith primarily worked as a backup in college, but at least he got to work 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 Dec. 20, 2025. (Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)
But there was a time in high school, the Hall of Famer said, that his son began to feel the pressure of living up to his father.
“He came to me one day, he asked the question, ‘How do I handle all the pressure?’ And I wondered what type of pressure he was under. He said, ‘Just the pressure of living up to what everybody expects and everything else,'” Smith recalled in a recent interview with Pakinomist Digital.
“And I broke it down pretty simply. I just asked the one basic question. I said, ‘What’s everybody saying?’ ‘Everybody expected me to be like that, and everybody expected me to be like that and do like that and do like 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 gotta run your race and you gotta ignore what other people say. Because you’ve got all the skills you’ve got, you gotta be yourself. And you gotta work on being yourself and work on what you gotta do to hone your craft. Just go and play the game. Put on the blinders. Run your race. You like the horses at the Kentucky Derby and you can find yourself when you can find yourself a blind day. the damn Super Bowl, you never know.
Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed passes the ball to running back EJ Smith during the first half against Florida at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla., on Sept. 14, 2024. (Matt Pendleton/Imagn Images)
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“But stay the course, ignore all the noise out there 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 go and meet every expectation that 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 most important role in life is being a father. That, along with other personal experiences, is why he 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 on pain medication for chemo to treat colon cancer. Smith also noted that his former teammates have had problems with opioids and friends have even lost children. Although the circumstances are unfortunate, the recent partnership is a natural fit for Smith.
“I think that’s what makes it such a natural way to talk about it. There’s dealing with someone that you’ve lost, or even growing up and seeing cousins get hooked on hardcore drugs, and then watch them wean off of it, go through that whole process of not understanding that there are mechanisms out there that people can go to for help,” Smith said of the “disabling” run off of the fentanyl.
“Anyone is susceptible to being caught by something at any time anywhere and not even realize it. And so when that happens, you want to make sure that the people closest to you or around you have access to something like the Narcan nasal spray.
January 30, 1994; Atlanta, GA; 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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Of course, the Smiths hope they get good news during the draft. But Smith has another piece of advice for his son about how to handle the pressure of waiting for a call.
“I told him on draft day, go play golf, hang out, don’t even watch the damn TV,” he said. “Let your agent call you and say, ‘Hey man, we got something.’ You don’t even have to worry about draft day.”
