Jason Munz

Hattiesburg American

HOUSTON, Texas — Sam Dejarnette didn’t do it, nor did Derrick Nix.

Neither did Sammy Winder. Nor Harold Shaw.

Not even Damion Fletcher (the school’s all-time leading rusher) did what Southern Miss senior running back Ito Smith has accomplished in his career. Smith, who will go down as one of the most prolific players to ever wear a Golden Eagle uniform, also became one of the 10 most productive in FBS history Saturday.

And he didn’t wait long to add his name to the very select list. With his first carry of his team’s 43-34 win against Rice — an 11-yard scamper up the middle — Smith eclipsed 4,000 career rushing yards. The Mobile native came into the game having already reached 1,000 receiving yards, making him the 10th player to ever hit both plateaus.

More:Southern Miss survives Rice, achieves bowl eligibility

Smith admitted he is proud to join such elite company — Stanford’s Darrin Nelson, Colorado State’s Steve Bartalo, Miami’s (Ohio) George Swarn, Florida’s Errict Rhett, Boise State’s Brock Forsey, Tulane’s Mewelde Moore, North Texas’ Lance Dunbar, San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey and Louisiana-Lafayette’s Elijah McGuire.

But the victory is what matters most right now.

“It means a lot, you know,” he said. “I put a lot of hard work into this. I’ve been playing since I was 4 years old. But I’m just happy we got this win. We got a win and got back on the winning side. And it’s big for the seniors. We didn’t want to cut our year short. This team, we’ve got a lot of potential on it.”

Second-year coach Jay Hopson can't say enough positive things about Smith.

“He deserves every accolade he gets,” he said. “He comes to work and works hard. We’re so glad he’s a Golden Eagle and (reaching 4,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards) just speaks volumes about the type of player Ito Smith is.”

Smith finished the win versus Rice with 150 yards on the ground and a pair of rushing touchdowns. The senior now has 38 rushing scores, one shy of tying Winder for second-most ever by a Golden Eagle. He also went past the 1,000-yard mark for the season against Rice, the third time he’s done that in his Southern Miss career. Only Fletcher (four times) and Nix (three) have accomplished that feat.

“Ito Smith, can’t nobody stop Ito Smith,” junior quarterback Kwadra Griggs said. “He’s a great, incredible player. I hope to see him in the NFL one day.”

“The line created a lot of running lanes (Saturday),” Smith said. “We were running the ball at will. We haven’t really been able to do that all year. So it was good. It was fun. We had fun out there.”