Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Smallwood, Wentz off to a solid start
PHILADELPHIA >> Wendell Smallwood is a snorer.
If you need confirmation, ask Carson Wentz, his roommate at Eagles training camp. Smallwood made it sound as if his snoring can be heard all the way back to his hometown of Wilmington, Del.
Wentz, by the way, is a “cool” roommie.
“Carson’s a fun guy,” Smallwood said Tuesday after the second day of camp at the NovaCare Complex. “We went to L.A. together and we’re roommates so I see him every day. He’s cool. He tries to go to sleep before I start snoring.”
Wentz and Smith also are the team’s future as the Eagles approach the first year of the Doug Pederson era.
Right now both are buried on the depth chart. Smith, the fifthround running back out of West Virginia, almost certainly will get on the field before Wentz in Ped-
erson’s anticipated Ground and Pound attack.
Smallwood measured 5-10 and weighed in at 204 pounds at the scouting combine, where he clocked 4.47 in the 40-yard dash. He was rated 14th out of 204 running backs by NFLDraftScout.com.
In 13 games last year Smallwood had 238 rushes for 1,519 yards (6.4 average) and 9 touchdowns, and caught 26 passes for 160 yards. Though he led the Big 12 in rushing, curiously he was second-team
all-conference.
For what it’s worth Smallwood dropped big numbers on bad teams and decent numbers on ranked teams, although the ranked teams crushed the Mountaineers, who finished with an 8-5 record.
At any rate Smallwood felt it best to forego his senior season and get on with his life’s passion – playing for the Birds.
Smallwood is a lifelong fan of the Eagles and running backs from the Andy Reid era. The list includes third-round picks Brian Westbrook and Duce Staley, now the running backs coach, and Correll Buckhalter, a fourth-round
pick.
“Duce was a tough runner, a tough guy,” Smallwood said. “And B-Westbrook, he just did it all for them. He fought for yards. He was a fighter. Buck? I’ve got his No. 28. Most people say ‘Adrian Peterson’ when they see my number. I’m like, ‘no, Buckhalter.’”
Staley’s tough-guy example has made an impression on Smallwood, who’s anxious to put it to use when the veterans practice Thursday, and during the ensuing full contact practices that begin Saturday.
For Smallwood, that’s basically living the dream.
“Being a running back
is an important part of this offense and I’m definitely excited being with Duce,” Smallwood said. “We take pride in being those guys that the team is going to lean on. We want to be the ones the team looks at to make a big play and to lead the team and carry the team day in and day out.”
Down the road, Smallwood and Wentz will share the backfield, not necessarily training camp accommodations.
If the Eagles evaluated Wentz properly, teammates will look for him to make plays and carry the squad.
That would make for a
great storyline.
Rooming with Wentz, and being around the Eagles, Smallwood doesn’t feel like a third-day draft pick. And he doesn’t get that impression from Birds fans, like the crowd who hit him up for autographs this past season on South Street, where he’s a fan of Lorenzo’s Pizza.
“I definitely don’t think it meant a whole lot,” Smallwood said of where he was drafted, because the city, the team, they treat me like I was Carson Wentz, the first round pick. They treat us all the same, give us all the same attention. No one gets more and that just drives me.”