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May 3--Former NFL running back and Grant High School legend Onterrio Smith was arrested early Friday in Sacramento on suspicion of driving under the influence, authorities said.
The 27-year-old Smith was arrested at Morrison Avenue and Disk Drive in Del Paso Heights, said Sacramento Police Sgt. Matt Young. Smith was booked into Sacramento County jail just after 4 a.m., jail records show.
Smith also is facing an arrest warrant for allegedly driving with a suspended license and other traffic infractions, according to jail records. He is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
A former running back for the Minnesota Vikings, Smith has been out of football since 2004. He is considered one of the Sacramento region's greatest high school football players, but a long list of disciplinary actions cost him his professional career.
Smith was suspended for the entire 2005 season and later cut by the Vikings after two seasons. In May of that year, he was detained at the Minneapolis airport for carrying "the Original Whizzinator," a device designed to beat urine drug tests.
Smith violated the NFL's anti-drug policy three times and was denied reinstatement to the league in 2006 for failing to comply with mandated drug counseling. That same year, he was cut by Winnipeg of the Canadian Football League.
It was an abrupt end to what was once a promising career. His senior year at Grant, Smith rushed for a Northern California season record 3,154 yards and scored 60 touchdowns. He finished his high school career with 6,123 yards and 99 touchdowns, both NorCal career records.
He went to Tennessee but left after he tested positive for marijuana and was suspended.
Smith transferred to Oregon, where he amassed 2,199 yards and 19 touchdowns in two seasons with the Ducks. He was drafted by the Vikings in 2003 and deemed himself "the steal of the draft." In his rookie season with the Vikings, Smith rushed for 579 yards and five touchdowns. He led the team in rushing in 2004, despite getting suspended for four games.
In a 2007 interview with The Bee, Smith said his experiences had humbled him.
"They say you have to surrender to your problem," he said then. "For the longest time, I didn't think I had a problem, didn't believe it. But something was always getting me in these situations."
Smith's agent did not return a phone call seeking comment Friday.
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NateO 
