Tamron Smith had a very successful career as a tailback for the Penguins from 1990 through 1993, but where he made his biggest impact was the postseason.
In 13 career playoff games he rushed for 1,361 yards on 304 carries and scored 15 touchdowns. Smith's success in the postseason helped the Penguins win national titles in 1991 and 1993 while finishing as a runner up in 1992.
He used rushing excellence to amass school record 4,866 yards on a school-best 987 carries. His 52 touchdowns rand second to Adrian Brown's 55 in YSU history. Smith also holds school marks with 22 100-yard rushing games and 5,128 all-purpose yards.
In regular-season play, Smith was impressive rushing for 3,505 yards on 583 carries and scored 38 touchdowns.
As a senior, Smith went out on top of Division I-AA leading YSU to a 17-5 victory over Marshall in the 1993 National Championship game. In that game he scored a touchdown and rushed for 124 yards.
For the year, he had 1,433 yards on 287 carries averaging five yards per rush. Smith scored a team best 20 touchdowns including a score in each postseason contest.
He was an AFCA and Kodak All-American for his efforts during the season while being named YSU's John Delserone Most Valuable Player as well as team captain.
Hi junior season, the Penguins again made the national-title game, but came up short losing to Marshall 31-28. Youngstown State trailed 28-0 in the contest, but Smith did not let his team go quietly scoring three touchdowns, including one that tied the game in the fourth.
For the year, he had 1,403 yards 322 carries and scored 21 touchdowns. He had two four-touchdowns games scoring four times against James Madison and Delaware State. Seven of his scores came during the postseason.
During his sophomore year, he rushed for a career-best 1,545 yards on 301 carries for an average of 5.1 yards a carry. During the 15-game season, he had a school-record-tying nine 100-yard games he also scored 10 touchdowns for the year.
His biggest score came in the National Championship Game against Marshall. With the Penguins leading 18-17 in the fourth Smith scored on a five-yard rush to cap a 19-point quarter as YSU rallied from a 17-6 deficit. In the semifinal win over Samford, he had a performance for the ages rushing for 246 yards on a school-best 46 carries. His 246 yards still rang as the fourth most all-time.
After redshirting as a freshman after a stellar career at Youngstown's South High School, Smith had 485 yards rushing on 77 carries for and impressive 6.3 yards per carry and scored two touchdowns.
Smith earned his degree in Social Work from YSU and currently works as a community support provider for Valley Counseling Services.
Tamron currently resides in Youngstown. He has three children, Marques, Tamron Jr., and Teann.
