Snell Keeping Proper Perspective as Hype Runs Wild
The rain was falling on everybody, but the fingers were only pointing at Benny Snell, Jr.
After a week of back in forth in the media – both traditional and social – Snell and his opponents from Mississippi State came face to face at the 50-yard line during warmups on Saturday night. The Bulldogs’ focus was trained on Kentucky’s star running back.
“They’re like, ‘Yeah, I want you. I want you,” Snell said.
Under normal circumstances, that would have been almost anyone’s primary source of motivation. These circumstances, unfortunately, are far from normal. Snell needed only look at the tape on his wrists – on which he had written “RIP Marco” – for a reminder of that. The message was a tribute to Marco Shemwell, the 4-year-old boy whose life was tragically cut short in an accident during Kentucky’s game last weekend.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Snell said. “When you really just look at life and how short it is, it’s just heartbreaking. This team, we play for him. We play for that family. For his life to be so short, him just wanting to see a football game for the first time and enjoy life. Just thinking about it, it just makes me so sad, but it definitely gave that extra push, that extra heart up under us that we gotta do this for him.”
Snell and the Wildcats certainly followed through, as UK moved to 4-0 with a resounding 28-7 win over No. 14 Mississippi State (3-1).
“I’m glad we played good for Marco and the Shemwell family,” Mark Stoops said. “We’re going to bring this game ball to them tomorrow for Marco and the Shemwell family and I’m so glad that we played well in honor of him and that family.”
No one played better than Snell, who piled up 165 rushing yards and all four of UK’s touchdowns, even if the performance didn’t elicit much more than a shrug of the shoulders from his offensive coordinator.
“Normal Benny,” Eddie Gran said. “That’s how he runs every day. He runs like that in practice and he ran like that the first day he got here.”
That’s why Snell’s assault of the UK record is happening. His consistency over two-plus seasons has now landed him atop the list of all-time Wildcat touchdown scorers after he passed Randall Cobb on Saturday. UK’s all-time rushing record – held by Sonny Collins, who was honored at Kroger Field on Saturday – is also in imminent danger on Snell’s account, though he’s quick to point out he’s not the only one to blame for that fact.
“My o-line, my tight ends, I’m nothing without them,” Snell said. “Especially with the receivers blocking on the outside. They do such a great job getting movement and getting me to the end zone.”
As good as the players around him have been, there’s just something special about Snell.
“He’ll be the first one to credit the physicality of the offensive line but he has a determination about him and a toughness and vision,” Stoops said. “And he’s Benny. He’s done—he doesn’t surprise me because once again he’s a dominant football player and he deserves the credit that he gets as well.”
Plenty of credit is beginning to come Snell’s way. The SEC’s leading rusher is averaging 135 yards per game through one-third of the regular season and is now beginning to even garner Heisman talk, though he’s not about to serve as the spokesperson of his own campaign.
“I’m going to let that just be in the air,” Snell said. “It is what it is. My play speaks for itself, that’s all I can say.”
And if he ever needs a dose of perspective in the midst of the hype surrounding him, he need only look at his wrists.
