Lions senior vice president and GM Martin Mayhew doesn'...

Lions senior vice president and GM Martin Mayhew doesn't dole out lavish praise often.

So it was notable when he was asked about areas on the team he was pleased with at the start of training camp, he singled out the running backs -- Kevin Smith in particular.

Mayhew was impressed Smith was more than willing to play through pain in last season, his rookie year.

"That's who Kevin is," Mayhew said. "And there were times I would say to Sam (Gash, running backs coach), 'Hey, Kevin's ankle is bothering him a little bit, maybe you ought to pull back a little bit.' Kevin would have none of that. He wants every rep, he wants every carry, he wants to try to help this team win, and that's the most important thing to him."
Mayhew expects even more from Smith this season, as well as the rest of the running backs.

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