Trey Smith announces decision to return to Tennessee

Trey Smith, Tennessee’s All-SEC guard, announced on Thursday that he will remain in school for his senior season and and bypass the 2020 NFL Draft.

It’s a decision that comes as a shock to many, both inside and outside of the Tennessee athletics community, as Trey Smith was considered to be one of the best linemen in this year’s 2020 NFL Draft class. Smith, a 6-foot-6, 325 pound guard has also played both tackle positions in his time in Knoxville, but his NFL fit is expected to be inside, where he has excelled and shown the most promise.

Smith is an absolute monster who loves to hit people, and he’s not going to budge if a defender tries to just use pure strength to get by him. He uses his feet well to get set and balanced, and doesn’t lose many competitions at the line of scrimmage. He’s also agile enough to pull and move up to the next level in the running game, allowing the running back to find holes and get further upfield before being touched.

The primary concerns for Smith are his health. Twice in his career as a Volunteer he had blood clots in his lungs that required him to miss extensive time. While most of these health concerns have only caused him to miss offseason training time, it’s still troubling and is something that could return at any time. While doctors and Smith say it is under control, the risk of it returning is something that may scare teams away from the freakish talent that he is otherwise.

Smith says his reasons for returning to school are to fulfill a promise made to his late mother, and improve his overall game. When asked what he most needs to work on, Smith said he needed to improve his balance, footwork, and control the violence on the field. He stated he can get over aggressive at times, letting guys get through the line, and wants to do better at staying in control of everything.

Trey Smith was the fourth ranked interior offensive lineman by The Draft Network, and will look to improve that ranking with another season at the collegiate level.