Awards and Honors
Gary Thompson Iowa State Male Athlete of the Year (2022)
Two-Time Consensus All-American (2020, 2021)
First Team All-American – AP, AFCA, Walter Camp, Sporting News (2020, 2021)
Second Team All-American – FWAA (2021)
Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year – Coaches, AP (2020, 2021)
Heisman Trophy Top-10 (2020-6th, 2021-10th)
Doak Walker Award Finalist (2020, 2021)
First Team All-Big 12 – Coaches, AP (2020, 2021)
First Team True Freshman All-American – 247Sports (2019)
First Team All-Freshman Team – PFF (2019)
Second Team Freshman All-American – The Athletic (2019)
Second Team All-Big 12 - Coaches (2019)
NFL Draft
Selected by the New York Jets in the second round with the 36th overall pick.
2021
First Team All-American by the AP, AFCA, Walter Camp and Sporting News … second two-time consensus All-American in Iowa State history (Troy Davis, 1995-96) … Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year … one of four players in Big 12 history to earn offensive player of the year honors multiple times (Ricky Williams, Texas; Jason White, Oklahoma; Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma) … one of three finalists for the Doak Walker Award … 10th in the Heisman Trophy balloting … First Team All-Big 12 … ended career owning/sharing 11 school records … rushed for a touchdown in his final 24 games, breaking the NCAA all-time record for consecutive games with a rushing touchdown … equaled his own ISU season records in scoring (138) and touchdowns (23), ranking second nationally in both categories … had seven games with two or more rushing touchdowns, tying for second nationally … the ninth player in school history to reach 1,000 rushing yards multiple times with 1,472 yards, the fifth-best season total in school history … led the Big 12 and was sixth in the nation in rushing per game (122.7) … was tops in the Big 12 and was fourth nationally in rushing touchdowns (20), one rushing touchdown shy from his own school record he set in 2020 … had seven 100-yard rushing games, the fourth-most in school history, and three games with over 200 scrimmage yards … averaged 5.82 yards per carry, the third-best averaging in school history … had four 50+ yard rushes, tying his own school record … tallied 1,774 all-purpose yards, the third-best season average in school history … caught 36 passes for 302 yards and three touchdowns, tying for the second-most receptions by a running back in ISU history … posted 190 rushing yards, 241 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns (two by rush, one reception) at Baylor … tallied 197 rushing yards, 232 scrimmage yards and a pair of touchdowns at Kansas State, including a 75-yard touchdown dash on the first play of the game … had 167 yards on the ground at West Virginia … posted two touchdowns and 136 rushing yards, including 119 in the second half, vs. Texas … had a record-setting day vs. TCU in his final game, establishing career highs in scrimmage yards (281), rushing yards (242), touchdowns (4) and rushing touchdowns (3) to earn Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week accolades … his 281 scrimmage yards ranks sixth and his 242 rushing yards ties for 10th on ISU’s single-game record list … also had a career-long 80-yard touchdown run vs. TCU, the sixth-longest rush in ISU history … ISU’s all-time leading scorer (338), one of 10 position players to be the leading scorer at a Power 5 school … has the most career touchdowns (56), rushing touchdowns (50) and multi-TD games (20) in school history … his 20 multi-TD games ties the Big 12 career record and his 56 career touchdowns is fourth in Big 12 history … second on ISU’s career list in rushing yards (3,941), 100-yard rushing games (20) and yards per carry (5.48) … third in school history in career all-purpose yards (4,675) and receptions by a running back (82) … tied school career record with 10 50-yard plays from scrimmage … ended career with 27 100-yard scrimmage games, 39 20+ yard rushes and 20 10+ yard touchdown runs … in 800 career touches, had just three lost fumbles … in last 32 games played, averaged 120.5 rushing yards, 143.5 scrimmage yards and 56 touchdowns.
2020
First Team All-American by the FWAA, AP, AFCA, Walter Camp and Sporting News … first unanimous All-American in Iowa State history … Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year … runner-up for the Doak Walker Award … sixth in the Heisman Trophy balloting … First Team All-Big 12 … three-time winner of Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week … started 11 of 12 games … nation’s leading rusher with 1,572 yards, the third-best season total in school history … also had 23 receptions for 180 yards … set or tied five Iowa State season school records: touchdowns (23), rushing touchdowns (21), scoring (138), multi-TD rush games (8) and consecutive games with a rushing touchdown (12) … only player with 75+ yards and a rushing touchdown in all 12 games, the first player in FBS to do it since Ladainian Tomlinson (TCU) in 2000 … tallied eight games with multiple rushing touchdowns, tying for the most in Big 12 history and second nationally … led the nation with nine 100-yard rushing games … was second nationally in rushing touchdowns (21) and third nationally in overall touchdowns (23) and scoring (138) … responsible for 34.9 percent of ISU’s scoring … averaged 131.0 rushing yards and 146.0 scrimmage yards per game, ranking third on ISU’s season list in both categories … had four rushes of 50+ yards and 14 rushes of 20+ yards … rushed for over 100 yards and at least one rushing touchdown in the first eight games, one of only four FBS players since 1996 to match that start to a season … his streak of eight-straight 100-yard rushing games ties for the second-best string in school history … had 154 rushing yards and tied a career high with three rushing touchdowns vs. TCU … tied a season-long rush of 75 yards vs. TCU … posted 139 rushing yards, including 100 after intermission, and two rushing touchdowns in win over Oklahoma … tallied 185 rushing yards in back-to-back games vs. Oklahoma State and Kansas … recorded 133 rushing yards and three touchdowns (two by rush, one reception) vs. Baylor … recorded 136 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the win over Oregon in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl … first player on the season to reach 1,000 rushing yards (seventh game) in 155 carries, the second-fewest in school history.
2019
First Team True Freshman All-American by 247Sports … Second Team Freshman All-American by The Athletic … Second Team All-Big 12 … one of the nation’s best rookies who led the Cyclones in rushing with 897 yards … started the last seven games of the season while seeing action in 12 games … his 897 rushing yards ranked fourth among FBS true freshmen and is second all-time among Cyclone rookies … led the team with 10 touchdowns, including nine rushing touchdowns to break the Cyclone freshman record … also caught 23 passes for 252 yards and one touchdown … second Cyclone rookie to record over 1,000 all-purpose yards (1,149) … tallied four 100-yard rushing games, the second-best freshman total in school history … had limited carries in first five games, but averaged 101.6 yards and had nine touchdowns in the last eight games of the season … in Big 12 play, was second in the league in rushing at 95.0 yards per game … broke out with back-to-back 100-yard outings vs. West Virginia (132) and Texas Tech (183), the first Cyclone true freshman to record two-straight 100-yard rushing efforts en route to a pair of Big 12 Newcomer of the Week awards … tallied three rushing touchdowns vs. West Virginia, breaking ISU’s freshman single-game mark, and 183 yards vs. Texas Tech, the third-best freshman total in school history … also had 73 receiving yards vs. Texas Tech for 256 yards from scrimmage, the ninth-best total overall and the best-ever by a Cyclone freshman in school history … posted ISU’s longest rush of the season with a 75-yard touchdown dash and had a 63-yard catch vs. Texas Tech, the first Cyclone to record a catch and rush of over 50 yards in the same game since 1971 … tallied 100-yard rushing efforts vs. Oklahoma (110) and Texas (101) … had 97 rushing yards and 40 receiving yards vs. Kansas, scoring a touchdown on a rush and reception … tallied 100 all-purpose yards (55 rushing, 45 receiving) vs. Notre Dame in the Camping World Bowl.
High School
Chose Iowa State over Iowa, Baylor, Kansas State, Michigan, Nebraska and Tennessee … four-star recruit by 247Sports and a three-star recruit by Rivals and ESPN … ranked as the No. 135 overall player and the seventh-best running back nationally by 247Sports … rated as the No. 2 player out of Kansas by 247Sports … invited to the 2019 All-American Bowl … two-time first-team all-state and all-metro selection … named Metro Player of the Year as a senior, helping team to a runner-up finish in Class 5A with a 12-1 record …rushed for 2,127 yards and 29 touchdowns as a senior … also caught 20 passes for 588 yards and eight touchdowns … as junior, rushed for 2,082 yards and 32 touchdowns at 10.3 yards per carry for a team that was runner-up in Class 5A … also caught 12 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns … ended career with 4,516 rushing yards … coached by Steve Martin.
Personal
Born May 31, 2001 … son of Larhonda McDaniel … communication studies major … cousin of former NFL star Roger Craig, the 1988 NFL Offensive Player of the Year … stepfather, Jeff Smith, played football at Nebraska and was a running back for the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.