The reigning Big 12 rushing champion won’t be back to defend his crown in 2016.
Wednesday night, Wendell Smallwood took to Twitter to announce that he will be leaving West Virginia early and making himself available for the April NFL draft. The running back wrote that "[t]here are no words for what the past three years at West Virginia University have meant to me, not only in my development as a football player but more importantly as a man.”
That said, “I believe the time is now to pursue” the dream of playing in the NFL, Smallwood wrote.
Smallwood’s 1,519 yards rushing were tops in the Big 12, and the fourth-most in WVU history. The 5-11, 201-pound back is also a weapon out of the backfield, catching 57 passes for 486 yards the past two seasons.
