Here is a synopsis I was writing about about the Kenny Irons/ Tre Smith situation.
Kenny Irons is a pretty good player, but I don't think he's elite by any stretch. Irons ran for a decent 5.1 YPC in '05, the same as Tre Smith. Irons ran for 4.5 YPC in '06 (I'll agree, he struggled with injury), Tre ran for 4.9. However, Tre's career YPC at Auburn is higher than Irons. I think Tre's is 5.2, Irons is in the high 4s.
I've heard the argument that they weren't running against the same defenses, but that isn't true. It is true that sometimes Tre came in as the mop up back. However, it is harder to get a high YPC when the opposing D is expecting run. And often the opposing defensive starters are still in anyway depending. And Tre always did well when called upon earlier in games. He absolutely dominated in the Iron Bowl that year against Alabama.
I don't think Tre should have started over Ronnie Brown, who I always though of as a very elite player, when Tre was an underclassmen. However, Tre is an elite player himself. I've heard the stupid argument that Tre Smith didn't have great breakaway speed, even though he ran a 10.6 100 meter. Tre ran a 4.49 40 yard dash at his Pro Day which is about the median time for a starting NFL RB. Reggie Bush's "career long" in his first two yrs in the NFL is 23 yards. It is really the 10, 20 and 30 yard times that matter, in fact I don't think it should be a 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine, it should be a 30 yard dash! Eddie George in his entire 10,000 yard career had two 40+ yard runs.
Tre's gift is his elite cutting ability and burst. He was one of 3 in all the '07 Pro Day's to run a sub 4 short shuttle (no one went sub 4 at the '07 combine if I recall) which takes phenomenal burst and agility to do and he ran "an elite" 3-Cone time to boot.
When Tre was a freshman in 02' and Cadillac got hurt he became second string behind Ronnie Brown. Tre did phenomenal as a freshmen when called upon running for around 6 YPC on the year. Then Tre struggled w/ a nagging injury in '03 posting 3.8 YPC on "very limited" carries. Then in '04 he had two runs for 36 Yds on the season as he missed most of the season with injuries, which are common to the tailback position.
Then in '05 Tre was ready to take over as the starting HB. I remember reading an article online about how impressive Tre was in off-season camps. Tre had waited his turn and deserved the starting spot unless he lost it from bad play on the field. Tre had a phenomenal resume as the best Prep back in Florida running for 9+ YPC against the top competition in the state.
Here are his workout numbers from a combine out of H.S
Ht: 5-foot-11
Wt: 190 lbs
Forty: 4.44 secs
Bench max: 285 pounds
Squat max: 470 pounds
Vertical: 40 inches
GPA: 4.0
Class: 2002 (High School)
Those are very impressive numbers. Tre is faster and more elusive than Irons. Irons ran a 4.55 at the Combine. The only area in their games that Irons might have "an ever so slight edge" is in power running abilities. Even biased Rivals ranked Tre as the 21st best RB, which is very similar to where Irons was ranked 18th.
I don't know what happened with the coaches, so that they decided the new transfer Kenny Irons deserved the starting spot right from the 1st game in '05. I think race definitely was factor though. It is hard for a coach to justify playing a white RB to the drunken fans and anti-white stereotyping media when there have been virtually none in the NFL since the mid 80s when college's stopped recruiting them.
In fact it is usually the black coaches that have been the fairest to white RBs (Dungy w/ Alstott & Fred Jackson w/ McGuffie) b/c they won't take heat for it from the drunken fans and media. Universities have their agenda to give as many of the athletic scholarships to African Americans b/c of white guilt b/c of our maltreatment of blacks in the past and b/c of the socio-economic gap between black and white. Liberal universities feel a guilt complex over it as they should, but that is not the way to handle it. The bottom line is Tre Smith is the last in line of elite white RBs that have been screwed. Tre Smith could have been a faster version of Brian Westbrook in the NFL, but was never given the chance!
