Kendal Briles offers high praise for Rocket Sanders on, off the field

On3 imageby:Kaiden Smith08/22/22

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Arkansas offensive coordinator Kendal Briles gave some high praise to his running back Raheim ‘Rocket’ Sanders at a recent press conference. Sanders surely proved himself on the field during his breakout freshman season last year, but Briles had nothing but great things to say about him off the field as a person as well.

“Rocket is going to be a tremendous ambassador for this university, the way that he conducts himself on a daily basis, there may not be a better pro in the building. Just everything he does, he can come babysit my kids anytime he wants. He is a first class person, role model, player; just everything about him and that’s why he’s able to be the player that he is. Everything he does is about taking care of his body, he’s in there all the time just maintaining himself,” Briles said.

Briles elaborated a little bit more on Sanders’ outstanding character, and also his skillset and development as a player under running backs coach Jimmy Smith.

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“He’s really smart, coach Smith’s done a great job with him. With the running back you know he didn’t play much of that in high school and you saw flashes last year of him being really good. He catches the ball well, he’s extremely tough, he finishes runs, he’s got some really good elusiveness stuff to him, and he’s really smart. So he’s a guy you talk about, raise your hand if you trust Rocket, every single guy in the building is going to raise their hand,” Briles said.

Sanders surely learned the position fast, as he was the team’s third leading rusher last year behind star dual-threat quarterback KJ Jefferson and Trelon Smith, who transferred to UTSA. His 578 rushing yards and five touchdowns along with 11 receptions for 109 yards and a score were good enough to earn him SEC All-Freshman honors voted by coaches.

Briles also mentioned how Sanders has been elevating the entire running back room and showed confidence in that position group as a whole this season.

“So I love where he’s at and he’s really developed some of the other guys in that room, especially with Dominique [Johnson] right now not full speed, so we feel good about our depth in the room. AJ [Green] and Rashod Dubinion have done a really nice job, Javion Hunt‘s been a stready steady player for us and I think James Jointer‘s gonna have a chance, he’s a big guy that can run and he’s really tough,” Briles said.

The Razorback rushing attack was lethal last season, having four players rush for over 500 yards. Only one of those players, Smith, isn’t on the roster this year, and with Sanders leading the group the way he is on and off the field as a sophomore, the Arkansas running game should be in good hands not only this year, but in the future as well.